MARRIED former town councillors who died within weeks of each other will have their contributions to Berkeley permanently honoured with a new town centre bench.

As well as both serving on Berkeley Town Council for a combined 19 years, Helen and Michael Jones were involved in various groups in the town where they lived for 40 years.

In June last year Helen died after a battle with cancer and just five weeks later her heartbroken husband died following a heart attack.

Installed at the front of the town hall in their memory, a presentation ceremony attended by dozens of family friends took place on Saturday as it was gifted to the town.

“They were both very conscientious people and liked to be involved in the town,” the couple’s daughter Suzannah, who together with her sister Rosalind purchased the bench, said.

“The idea to buy the bench came from my sister and was because of how much they wanted to be a part of everything which was going on in Berkeley.”

In the 1980s Helen ran Hickory Dickory Dock in the High Street before working at Break charity shop in the town.

She had two stints as a member of Berkeley Town Council, first from May 1984 until April 1988 and then from May 1992 until January 2001 – which included a spell as deputy mayor.

Michael, a former engineer at Rolls-Royce in Filton took an early retirement before becoming a popular member of staff at Tesco Express in Wotton-under-Edge.

He served on Berkeley Town Council between June 1996 and April 2002.

Dozens of their friends and family members gathered at the town hall on Saturday for the bench presentation where they let off 26 biodegradable balloons.