Lawrence Templeman
Parish Councillor
1958-2000
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Laurie Templeman was elected to the Parish Council in May 1958 and served continuously for 42 years until he died in 2000. For 35 of those years he held the position of Chairman. Here, Sue Lousada, a fellow Council member, recalls some of the memories of Laurie during their times together on the Parish Council.
Laurie Templeman
His contribution to the community was recognised in many ways. In 1987 he and his wife Marge were invited to a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace and in 1999 he was nominated for 'Citizen of the Year'.

Parish Council Meetings with Laurie in the Chair always followed much the same pattern. He was dressed immaculately in jacket and tie, with shoes polished to perfection. He would always be there in good time and always prepared. His knowledge was immense. He could recount the details of every issue ever faced by the Council, in every one of his 46 years.
He had an eye for detail and would often have a long list of "Any Other Business". Here he would list the things that were important to him - the hole in the road, the overgrown hedge or broken fence. Things that he had noticed and things that he would see put right. In fact only 3 weeks before he died Laurie rang County Hall to complain about the overgrown grass verge that made it impossible for the newest wheelchair user to negotiate the footpath. When asked who this new wheelchair user was he replied, "Me!".

Laurie's service to Husborne Crawley did not stop with the Parish Council. At the church the access to the belfry had been via a dangerous trap door but Laurie, with the help of Philip Jackson, replaced it with a proper door.

Laurie worked tirelessly to keep the Recreation Ground safe. He would repaint the slide, mend the swings and when the old play equipment became unsafe, he then worked hard to raise the funds to buy the new play equipment that was installed in 2000.

Laurie also gave much of his time keeping the Reading Room running, often carrying out essential repairs on his own. One of the last projects as Chairman was to try and raise the large sums of money needed to have the major repairs carried out. Although, to his great disappointment, his bid was unsuccessful, it has laid the way for others to continue with his wish and hopefully this project that was very dear to his heart will eventually be completed.