TRIBUTES have been paid to a Weymouth Alderman and former mayor.

Joyce Litschi, who served on the borough council for more than 17 years and was influential in the building of Littlemoor shopping centre, has passed away.

The flag at Weymouth’s council offices was lowered to honour her passing.

Joyce was a ‘familiar figure’ in Sutton Poyntz and could often been seen walking her dogs around the fields.

She was a founding member and the first secretary of the Sutton Poyntz Society, which began in 1968, and she served on the committee until she was over 90.

In 1970, Joyce became a Conservative councillor for Preston and Sutton Poyntz and served for 17 years, including from 1980 to 81 as Mayor of Weymouth and Portland.

She said that year gave her ‘a great deal of joy’ and she and husband Fredy had attended over 365 engagements during it.

Joyce was born in Canterbury but grew up in the Midlands. She won a scholarship to grammar school and went to a teachers’ college in London.

On a visit to Lucerne, Switzerland, after the Second World War, she met her future husband, Fredy Litschi, and persuaded him to come to England on an ‘exchange’. They married in 1947. For many years she was a teacher and a primary school deputy head.

In 1966, she and Fredy moved to Dorset and bought a bungalow in Sutton Poyntz – ‘Camelot’. Joyce’s maternal grandfather had hailed from Sixpenny Handley and Joyce had ‘Dorset blood’.

Joyce’s daughter Isolde said Joyce ‘was an honest and eloquent councillor, who was respected by all sides of politics. Her years as a teacher and her excellent memory equipped her for being able to argue lucidly in serving the interest of the community she loved’. Joyce was on the Planning Committee for 16 years and one of her achievements was to push for a shopping and community centre at Littlemoor.

“She was so delighted to announce in 1981 when she was Mayor and Planning chairman that a supermarket and shopping complex would go ahead. Only last year she wrote to the Echo defending the keeping of Littlemoor Library,” Isolde said.

Joyce also fought hard against Dorset Council Education Committee to make sure that the land that was designated for St Andrew’s School was not alienated and she was a school manager for St Andrews and for Westfield. For 12 years, Joyce was president of Weymouth Operatic Society and concurrently President of WOW.

She ‘loved’ acting and music and was a keen member of the Sutton Poyntz Players.

“She supported many animal charities and believed strongly in preserving ‘the retention of our green fields and hills as nature intended them to be’. She was a familiar figure walking her dogs in the fields around Sutton Poyntz until age got the better of her in her 90s,” said Isolde.

Joyce is survived by husband Fredy, daughter Isolde, son-in-law John Martyn, grandchildren, Claire and Leo and great grandchildren, Samantha and Zach.

A thanksgiving service will be held at St Andrew’s Church, Preston, on Wednesday at 3pm.