It is with profound sadness that we report the death of Sylvia Martin MBE; a stalwart of the Conservative Party and a formidable personality but with a deep underlying kindness.
Sylvia lived in Chelwood Gate running a successful bed and breakfast business until she moved to live in Suffolk closer to one of her three daughters in 2017.
Sylvia was awarded the MBE for Political and Public Service in 2018 and no-one deserved it more. She had been a longstanding Wealden district councillor including being elected chairman of the council, Chairman of the local Conservative branch in Chelwood Gate, Danehill and Nutley, Chairman of the Wealden Conservative Association and Chairman of Sussex Area Conservatives. She continued as Secretary of both the branch and the Association until she left to live in Suffolk.
Sylvia was a founding member of the committee which started and continues to run the Chelwood Gate and Danehill Village Markets. She ran the tombola at the village markets for many years and taught the necessary sleight of hand to ensure every child won a prize! She was a lifelong committed Christian and a regular attendee at Danehill Parish Church.
She was a keen bridge player and she continued to play regularly until her death. Moving house and increasing physical frailty did not stop her activities as she joined her local Conservative Branch in Suffolk and soon became its Secretary. When friends spoke to her on the telephone, and asked her how she was, she said her only problem was OA (old age) which she resented for the limits it placed on her activities.
Despite her move, her connection with this area continued with her many friends remaining in regular contact with her and her with them. She was much loved and will be greatly missed.
Details of her funeral will be announced in due course.
EGU Association Chairman, and former Wealden Conservatives Chairman, Helen Galley writes:
From a personal perspective it was Sylvia who is to blame for my and Roy’s continued involvement in local politics. The first time we met her was when she called round to our house one weekend morning unannounced when I was cooking breakfast.Silvia had lived in our house with her first husband some years previously, which was a coincidence but one which led to other things. She signed us up there and then as members of the local Conservatives and it was not long before she had Roy standing as a candidate for the District Council to which he was elected a councillor alongside Sylvia in what was then the two-man ward of covering Danehill, Chelwood Gate, Fletching, Maresfield and Nutley. She persuaded me to become chairman of the Branch and later Association chairman.
Rest in peace Sylvia, rise in glory and we know your organizational skills will be put to good use in a better place!
CAPTION: Sylvia Martin MBE pictured as Chairman of Wealden Conservatives, with David Cameron and then county councillor Bob Tidy OBE, receiving a certificate to reflect Wealden as a Premier Division Conservative Association, one which it proudly retained for over 60 years.
