Richard Townsend: Bishop’s Stortford’s mayor on building a future without his wife Deborah, who died from brain cancer eight days before his re-election

Bishop’s Stortford councillor Richard Townsend is a puppeteer, a poet, a street pastor and a former police officer.

But the one job he never believed he would ever be given is his current role as mayor – the town’s civic leader and first citizen.

However, May 4’s local elections changed the political status quo and the Liberal Democrat was his party’s choice after it took control of the town council.

The 64-year-old, who held onto both his seats on the town and East Herts district councils, said: “I would almost say I would have been very disappointed otherwise.”

The longed-for honour has been bitter-sweet for Richard. As the election campaign reached its crescendo, his thoughts were firmly focused on his wife Deborah as she battled brain cancer.

She would have made a “phenomenal” mayor’s consort, he said, but he is bravely facing his year in office without her by his side.

Deborah, 59, was a talented horticulturist when they first met at the Fallow Buck pub in Enfield where Richard was working. Her parents used to pop by for a drink while walking their dog and suggested the young couple should meet.

Many happy evenings followed and they married in 1983. Richard said: “She loved being outdoors, working with gardens and plants.”

As newlyweds, they indulged their love of travel and the open air, trips on the narrowboat they built from scratch – “bar having the engine put in” – on canals and rivers including the Lee, Stort and Thames.

After a decade they were ready for a family, and welcomed a son and two daughters and settled in a new home in Bishop’s Stortford in 1992.

When the children grew older, Deborah began a new career in school catering, indulged her lifetime love of music by singing with All Saints’ Church choir and volunteered with the Girls' Brigade.

Their happy family life was shattered over last Christmas when it became clear Deborah was increasingly unwell.

After she collapsed at work, she was diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma – the most aggressive and serious type of tumour.

She was treated at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge and Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow and endured hours of surgery, but her doctors were unable to remove all the diseased tissue and the cancer began to grow once more.

She died at home on April 26 – just a week before the elections – and her funeral took place at Cam Valley Crematorium on May 30.

Richard and the children wanted the memorial service celebrating her life to be held after that private farewell.

All Saints’ Church, where Deborah had loved singing so much, was thronged with mourners dressed “bold and beautiful” as she had lived her life.

He said: “She kept me in line for 40 years, gave me three phenomenal children and will remain in my life without question.”

But he acknowledged: “I know I need to make a new life, so I will have life before Deborah, life with Deborah and life after Deborah.

“I want to honour and celebrate all we had together, but I also have to build a new future.”

His role as mayor and his work as a town and district councillor is central to that poignant endeavour.

Richard has a track record of being able to adapt to adversity and turn his hand to any number of new challenges.

As a teenager at catering college, he was set for life as a chef, but a serious motorcycle accident caused lasting damage to a leg and put paid to hopes of a career on his feet in a busy kitchen.

Later jobs included a stint as a cartographic draughtsman for Eastern Electricity Board and working for Fairview Estates, mapping heating, lighting, ventilation, plumbing, waste management, parking and access on industrial developments and new housing projects.

He then embraced new technology with roles for BT and London Underground, eventually ending up as operations controller at the nerve centre, which controlled computers at 300 stations.

His software and operational skills took him to a training role with EDS, working with the Ministry of Defence among others, and a job as a training and development consultant with FSI (FM Solutions) Limited.

He then changed direction once more to utilise his counselling and coaching skills as a strategic intervention excellence practitioner for SIcoachme.

Richard continued to work after officially retiring. Through his role as a member of the parochial parish council at All Saints’ Church, he became a temporary caretaker at All Saints CofE Primary School and then there were stints as a cover teacher and exam invigilator at schools including The Bishop’s Stortford High School, Herts and Essex High School and Hockerill Anglo-European College. He has also worked as a lecturer.

Four years ago, he became involved with Bishop’s Stortford Street Pastors at the suggestion of John Barfoot, a former Herts county councillor and member of the ministries leadership team at The Community Church in Bishop’s Stortford.

Richard was keen to support the organisation – whose volunteers patrol the town centre on Friday and Saturday nights, caring for those on the street who may be the worse for wear after an evening out – because of his own experiences during a stint as a special constable. He is now a trustee of the charity.

He has connections to the town’s Baptist and Methodist churches as well as All Saints, not least through his puppetry performances at Baptist Church Holiday Bible Week events over the past 25 years. He said: “My faith has certainly helped me in life, especially over the last weeks and months, and it’s a [Christian] ideal I try to follow.”

His political convictions were nurtured by Mike Wood, the Liberal Democrat stalwart who was part of Bishop’s Stortford’s civic life from his first election in 1985 until he died in 2019, and party colleague Cllr Mione Goldspink, now deputy leader of East Herts Council.

Richard was first elected to the town council in 2019 and won a district seat in 2021.

He said: “You have to go into it with your eyes open. You’re not signing up for a little part-time job, it’s consuming if you’re going to do it properly.”

With his party in control of the town council and part of a power-sharing coalition with the Greens at East Herts, the pressure has increased with the expectation that they will deliver real change.

He was frustrated by the former Conservative administration’s policies but, despite the obvious political differences, he said: “I understand that every single person – without exception – is there [at the council] with the best intentions and trying to do the best they can.”

His role as mayor has ramped up his responsibilities. Since taking office, he has already completed more than 150 civic duties and has become a familiar face around the town in his chain of office.

As well as raising money for Isabel Hospice and Hummingbird Cancer Support Group, in memory of Deborah, as part of his year in the chair, Richard’s mission to showcase Stortford’s brighter side.

He said: “We have some problems in this town, but overall we have a phenomenal town with some astounding people.

“We have a great spirit in Bishop’s Stortford and I want to see more of this spirit come to the surface and for people to say ‘yes, we can do this’ and we can really make things happen.”