Staplehurst says farewell to Ron Hegarty

Ron Hegarty, a stalwart of villlage life in Staplehurst, has died.

Mr Hegarty was born in 1936 and grew up in South East London. He did his National Service in the Royal Air Force, spending most of his time in Germany.

He moved to Bathhurst Road in Staplehurst in 1963 and lived in the same house ever since.

Ron Hegarty

Initially he commuted to London, working for Yorkshire Television.

He helped to set up Channel Television, but grew tired of the daily train journey and so in 1971 joined the Kent Messenger’s advertising department, then in Week Street, Maidstone. He was one of the first of the company’s employees through the door when the KM opened its new base at Larkfield, where Mr Hegarty became a page planner.

In 1973, he moved on to Clout and Baker, printers at Park Wood, but retained a connection with the KM by becoming the village correspondent for Staplehurst, a position he was to hold for a record 38 years until his retirement on his 75th birthday in November, 2011. He also covered Hawkhurst for the last five years of that time.

His final full-time employment was with the Automobile Association as a call-taker, assisting motorists in trouble.

On retirement he had an annual job going door-to-door updating the electoral

Article source: http://www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/news/village-stalwart-ron-hegarty-has-39826/