'Kennedy Centre' named in honour of councillor who died in September

A community centre has been renamed to honour the memory of Councillor Leanne Kennedy, who died in September 2023.

Trustees and committee members voted unanimously to rename Dawdon Youth and Community Centre as the Leanne Kennedy Community Centre.

A new chair, Leanne Page, was also elected at the meeting, which took place last week.

The committee said Cllr Kennedy worked incredibly hard in the role of chair previously and was a dedicated member of her community who put others before herself.

She worked with community groups during the Covid lockdowns to deliver emergency supplies and food parcels to the area’s vulnerable and elderly, while preparing, cooking and delivering hot meals to ensure nobody identified as “at risk” went hungry.

Trustee Councillor Kevin Shaw made the proposal to re-name the centre in memory of Cllr Kennedy - the former Chair Trustee and his former County Durham Labour and Durham County Council colleague - which was unanimously backed.

Cllr Shaw said “Leanne gave so much of herself to this centre and our community helping to maintain its social fabric during extremely difficult times, which included austerity, the pandemic and the worst cost of living crisis since the 1950’s.

“Leanne always put the needs of others first and never wanted anything in return. Her loss as a colleague is immense and as a close friend it’s so very painful, but this centre is the hub of our community and the fact it will carry Leanne’s name in memory of all her outstanding work is incredibly fitting.”