We were very saddened to receive an email from Pat Swinnerton informing us of the sudden and unexpected passing of her husband Colin. Colin was a staunch supporter of the Swinnerton Society from the beginning, being one of the first people to join when Dad sent out invitations in 1975, and as such was very much a founder member. The first mention of him that I can find is in Vol. 2 No. 4, May 1976, when he wrote to inform the Society that Pat had been awarded her B.A. from the Open University. 25 years later, Colin wrote to us about gaining his own Postgraduate Certificate from Leeds Metropolitan University.
Colin Leonard Swinnerton was born in Chester on May 17th 1941, and is in our records as CS104. He was descended from Ralph Swinnerton, the third son of William Swinnerton of Betley, to which tree he belonged. He was the son of Leonard and Elsie Swinnerton, and Leonard was also a long-time member of the Society, Elsie sadly having died in 1971. Together Leonard and Colin provided a great deal of research, often gleaned from the Cheswardine Register.
Colin was a Surveyor by trade, and in 1992 was elected Chairman of the North West Region of the Architects and Surveyors Institute. He spent a lot of time researching his family of course, and was a frequent contributor to the Saga and its previous incarnations. He was a long-time committee member, and for a while was the Society’s Treasurer – I found a note in Vol. 4 No. 1, December 1979, thanking Colin for ‘getting all his sums right at the receipt of custom’ at the Family Gathering earlier that year. He regularly kept us updated with news of his family, whether it was his son Neale’s Electrical Engineering degree in 1993, or the birth of his sister Jean’s children, or their son Paul’s career as an actor/producer. However, according to the pages of the Saga, Colin was known to tread the boards himself now and then, appearing in An Evening with Gilbert and Sullivan at the Grove Park Theatre in Wrexham, and as Lord Brockenhurst in The Boyfriend at the same venue!
We send our deepest condolences to Pat and the family on this very sad news. Colin will be remembered with very great fondness by the members of this Society, and we give our great thanks for 50 years of support .
This tribute will also be published in the Spring edition of the Saga.
