Tributes paid as ex-Walsall mayor dies aged 89 after catching Covid-19
Tributes have been paid to a former mayor of Walsall and long-serving councillor who has died after catching coronavirus.
Stalwart Labour member Malcolm Barton died at Walsall Manor Hospital in the early hours of Bank Holiday Monday at the age of 89, having been admitted over a week ago with pneumonia.
The diagnosis that the father-of-two and grandfather, who served as the town’s civic leader in 1991, had caught Covid-19 is believed to have been confirmed at the hospital.
Mr Barton represented the Birchills-Leamore ward for more than 30 years and lived in Beechdale with his beloved wife Joan, who was also a Labour councillor on the authority, until her death in 2011.
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His daughter Tina Jukes currently serves the ward as a member and her colleague Councillor Lee Jeavons said she and her family were deeply upset by his death.
Councillor Jeavons said: “Malcolm was a pillar who worked tirelessly for his community and was the ‘go to’ person across the whole ward from Birchills to Leamore.
“His heart was in Beechdale and he was one of the first people to move on the estate.
“Malcolm was a champion of pensioners, on the board of governors at Frank F Harrison school and involved in so much across the community.
“He really was a dedicated councillor and a stalwart of the Labour Party and had been for more than I can remember.
“Tributes are flooding in from councillors from across the Midlands, he was so well known and respected. He was a really big character and his loss will be keenly felt.
“He is now reunited with his wife Joan, who was also a councillor and Mayoress. He missed her terribly after she died in 2011.”
Councillor Jeavons also urged people to observe the rules on social distancing to stop the spread of the virus further.
Walsall Council has closed the town’s Arboretum park and cemeteries across the borough due to visitors not abiding by the rules.
Councillor Jeavons said: “I’m pleased to see prime minister Boris Johnson and others have recovered from this.
“But it has now taken Malcolm Barton and many others. The Arboretum has had to close and we’ve seen issues at Reedswood Park with people playing football.
“The more people do these things, the longer this will need to go on. It might not affect those people themselves but they need to realise that they could pass this on to a vulnerable or elderly relative at home.”
