Obituary: Stratford’s Maureen Hicks was highly influential in local politics and major projects
STRATFORD’S energetic and indefatigable former town manager, Maureen Hicks, died peacefully at her home in Stratford on 13th February shortly before her 76th birthday.
Maureen was highly influential in Stratford with her diligent focus on the impact of tourism on the town starting from her time as director of the Stratford Motor Museum from 1976 to 1982.
She was a leading figure in the town for many years having moved from Hampshire with her former husband, Keith, in her twenties.
Her initial interest and involvement in local politics as a councillor led to her becoming one of only a handful of female MPs when, in 1987, she won the established Labour seat of Wolverhampton North East for the Conservatives, serving under prime ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major until 1992.
After her time in Parliament she initiated the Stratford’s town centre management scheme lobbying hard for Park & Ride and for a coach park at the rear of the leisure centre in order to take coaches off the town’s streets.
She also initiated the Welcome Host training programme for 1,500 retail and hospitality staff in Stratford. The late TV broadcaster Jill Dando was the guest of honour handing out the stars at the awards event, much to the joy of the participants.
Maureen also ran the Visitor Action pilot programme and was awarded the English Tourist Board (now Visit England) Silver Award for Excellence. This visitor management initiative highlighted both the negative impact of tourism on the town and the benefits and led to a Residents’ Week being created where residents could access the town’s tourist attractions for free. She also introduced visitor information patrols to assist tourists and this is still in operation today.
Maureen worked tirelessly with former mayor and councillor, Cyril Bennis, to get a cinema for the town – what was to be the Picture House, in Windsor Street – based on her own research and she was instrumental in new signage and improvements to Stratford railway station to welcome visitors.
Her work in Stratford had wider significance: her recommendations were submitted in a report to all other UK historic towns and cities experiencing similar tourism challenges to Stratford, thus influencing sustainable tourism nationally.
Maureen loved to travel the world and spent many years, until Covid hit, working for some of the most well-known travel companies, including Great Rail Journeys, becoming one of their most popular and successful tour managers.
In addition to tourism, Maureen dedicated a lot of her time to the hospice movement as executive director of fundraising at Myton Hospice, Warwick, and as a trustee at Mountbatten Hospice, Isle of Wight, where she had a home and spent many happy holidays.
Maureen was an extremely active board member up to the end of her life, as a governor of the Warwick Schools Foundation and the Holiday Property Bond advisory board. In recent years she’s also enjoyed volunteering for the Stratford Literary Festival and the National Trust at Charlecote Park.
Alongside her passion for shaping things for the better, in her downtime Maureen would play golf at Stratford Golf Club and play bridge at both Stratford and Broom bridge clubs.
Her funeral service will be held at St Gregory’s Church, Stratford, on 6th March at 1pm. Family flowers only please. Donations, if wished, for Cancer Research UK can be donated online on Maureen’s In Memory page at https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/maureen-hicks, left at the service or sent c/o A E Bennett & Sons, 34 Sheep Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6EE
