A BECCLES woman who was twice Mayor of the town and gave many years' service as a town and Waveney District councillor, was honoured at the weekend when a stylish new housing development was named after her.

A Beccles woman who was twice mayor of the town and gave many years service as a town and Waveney district councillor, was honoured at the weekend when a stylish new housing development was named after her.

Eileen Crisp Court is a distinctive group of new homes built on a former petrol station site at the junction of Blyburgate and Peddars Lane.

On Saturday morning, Mrs Crisp's husband John was joined by several members of their family and a number of town councillors to hear the present mayor, David Smith, pay tribute to her life of service to her home town.

Mrs Crisp, who died in 2001, had been a tireless worker who had set very high standards of service to

the community, especially in her Rigbourne ward, said the mayor. It was fitting to have the development - which he described as "a splendid addition to Beccles" - named after her.

She had been mayor of the borough before later being elected to the successor town council's top job after local government reorganisation in 1974.

Her long service was also recognised on Saturday when another former mayor, Chris Scott, presented Mr Crisp with a past mayor's badge in his wife's name.

After the presentation, Mr Crisp said his wife had been a modest councillor who did not talk much about her work. "When she had been out and I asked her what she had been doing, she would often simply say 'council work'," he said.

A person of strong convictions, and a committed Christian, Mrs Crisp was very much a "hands-on" councillor who was dedicated to improving facilities, especially for young people in the town.

She was closely involved in the Castle Hill Youth Centre and the setting up of the St Luke's Church Centre, and she fought a brave but losing battle to save the old Regal Cinema as a community asset.

Having formerly been a Labour councillor, she later served on Waveney District Council as a Liberal Democrat.

However, her council work did not intrude on her devotion to her family, which was also prepresented at the naming ceremony by son Allan and daughter-in-law Kath, grandson Daniel, granddaughters Laura and Frances and great grandson Luke.