Public display created in honour of community hero who died aged 99

Memoirs, pictures and other items of Doug Keddie MBE will be on display at the Guildhall until at least July 10.

The former town clerk dedicated his life to serving the community and was instrumental in many projects throughout the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, before he died at the age of 99 in 2015.

The Keddie family contacted Newport History Society, which went about creating a display to honour Doug and his work.

Linda Fletcher, of the history society, said: "He was hugely important and was somebody who would always be helping out in any way he could.

"He was a big church goer so was heavily involved in maintaining that, but did so much for the boys and in fact the girls of the town at the time.

"The boys club was somewhere to go when at the time people didn't have much money. A lot of people didn't have tellies and nobody had a car so it was a vital asset to the town and Doug played an incredibly important role for all within the community."

As well as establishing the boys club, Doug also helped set up Cosy Hall, fund the recasting of broken bells at St Nicholas Church and organise trips abroad at a time when they were considered rare even among the wealthy.

"Originally the boys club was set up for the choristers of St Nicholas Church, but it really took off and by the 1960s they had bought a three-storey premises on High Street," said Linda.

"It was a big deal throughout the 50s, 60s, 70s and so on – all the young people went there and they also founded a girls section and held many dances, sports clubs and other events."

The display consists of photos, diary entries and pictures belonging to Doug and the boys club.

Newport History Society has a number of items in the collection which are not currently on show, and said it plans to create a full display of them all where it hopes people will be able to give greater details about the origin of the various items.