GREEN Party activist and former South Shropshire District Councillor, John Lloyd, has been made Honorary Life President by the South Shropshire Green Party.

Last year was the 70th anniversary of his first general election campaign in 1945.

John Lloyd, who lives in All Stretton, has been made Honorary Life President by the South Shropshire Green Party in recognition of many years of dedicated service to the party and the people of south Shropshire.

He was active in the 1945 general election, attending hustings and debating the need for radical change in a society that had just emerged from one of the most serious crises ever faced by this country.

In the post-war period John went on to be one of the founders of the Colchester Labour Youth League and campaign for the Common Wealth Party and the Ecology party, both of which were the political forbears of the Green Party.

He then went on to be a well-known Green Party activist standing in elections in Burnham in Buckinghamshire and then becoming a councillor in South Shropshire from 1995 until the adoption of unitary status.

“It has been a pleasure and privilege to be so active and so involved for seven decades,” said John Lloyd.

“In that time the Green Party has made dramatic progress to the point where we have over 50,000 members, one MP, three MEPs and a huge influence on dozens of local councils.

“There are now Green councillors in every county in the West Midlands, including Shropshire."