Antony BarronSend a message to

Antony Barron

Antony Barron

Article on Lancashire Live: "Tributes have been paid to a popular county councillor described as “exactly the person you’d want looking after your community”. Tarleton stalwart Malcolm Barron had lived in the village his entire life and dedicated much of that time to fighting for the community. He died at Aintree Hospital on May 13 having been ill for several months. After his death, colleagues were quick to talk of their admiration for Malcolm, who had friends throughout the village and across the political divide at both borough council and county council level. He was a serving councillor on Lancashire County Council up to his death and had also been a representative of West Lancashire Borough Council between 2014-2018. Cllr Sam Currie served alongside Malcolm on the borough council and was hugely saddened by the loss. He said: “He was such a lovable guy, everybody in Tarleton knew him and he knew everybody in Tarleton.” Unusually popular in local politics, Malcolm was well regarded across the council and was known to bring bags full of his freshly grown apples to distribute at meetings. He was also very prone to cracking jokes during the meetings. Cllr Currie said: “I used to have to avoid sitting next to him at meetings because he’d start saying things like ‘I’ve got the best beard in here, no-one’s got a better beard than me’ “It was surreal but that was Malcolm.” Despite his often light-hearted attitude, he fought strongly for the village and to protect the interests of those living there. Cllr Currie said: “He is exactly the person you’d want looking after your community. “He was also just a really decent bloke and I’ve not heard anyone saying anything remotely bad about him” Cllr Currie fondly tells the story of a time when an opposing candidate distributed leaflets claiming Malcolm had fallen asleep three times in county council meetings at County Hall. When he asked Malcolm if he was OK, he angrily responded: “I’m furious. It was only two times!” Cllr Currie added: “In any case, people in Tarleton weren’t annoyed about what it said, they were only annoyed that someone was trying to attack Malcolm” Malcolm lived in the village his whole life and was involved in local politics for more than 30 years. He attended Tarleton C of E Primary School, Hutton Grammar School and The Hutton Institute of Agriculture before moving into the family farming business. He spent more than 25 years in the Agricultural Supply Industry selling farm sprays and fertilizers and was also a director of a Dutch glasshouse construction company and director and company secretary of an agricultural land business. His family have been in Lancashire for almost 500 years and his ancestor Daniel Barron was the first innkeeper of the Cock & Bottle pub in Tarleton. Malcolm was widowed when his children, Antony and Lisa, were aged just nine and four and he raised them as a single parent. In his own profile on the South Ribble Conservatives website, Malcolm proudly wrote: “They were educated at local state schools and I am proud to say that Lisa is a corporate Litigation Solicitor in London and Antony is an IT Manager and graduate of the University of Kent where he has been awarded PhD. “I particularly mention this because I have strong feelings about the current attitude to single parent fathers both legally and in society in general.” At Lancashire County Council, Malcolm represented West Lancashire North and most recently served as Deputy Chair of the Regulatory Committee, as well as a member of the Development Control Committee. County Councillor Geoff Driver CBE, Leader of Lancashire County Council, said: “Malcolm was very well thought of and respected. His sense of humour will be very much missed. He was the epitome of a gentleman and was kind and considerate to others at all times. “He was a superb councillor, supportive of his colleagues and liked by everyone he met. He represented all that was best in our local government tradition. “He was a true champion for the constituency that he represented. He knew the residents in his area, and they knew him. He was dedicated to the people of West Lancashire whom he served for so long.” County Councillor Azhar Ali, Leader of the Labour Group, said: “I deeply regret Councillor Barron’s passing. He was a fine man and a great Lancastrian. He was immensely conscientious.”

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