Story by: KELLY GREEN A PERMANENT memorial to an inspirational teacher and councillor has been unveiled in a Fenland village to mark her years of dedication to the community. Eva Kemp served as a parish councillor in Walpole Cross Keys for more than 40

Story by: KELLY GREEN

A PERMANENT memorial to an "inspirational" teacher and councillor has been unveiled in a Fenland village to mark her years of dedication to the community.

Eva Kemp served as a parish councillor in Walpole Cross Keys for more than 40 years and taught at the village school for 43 years.

She also represented the Walpole parishes on West Norfolk Council for 35 years, and was Borough Mayor in 1991/1992. She died in 2002.

To mark her work, a garden was built close to the site of the now disused Walpole Station, which was part of the Midland and Great Northern Railway that closed in 1959.

Mrs Kemp's great granddaughter, Becky Malkin, attended the opening ceremony with the Mayor of West Norfolk, Councillor Michael Pitcher.

A second plaque was also unveiled in Mrs Kemp's old classroom at the village school.

David Hackett, chairman of governors at Walpole Cross Keys Primary School, said: "She was inspirational to many."

Mrs Kemp - nicknamed the "great-grandmother" - was born in Croydon in 1913 and moved to the Walpoles in 1933 to teach at Walpole Cross Keys Primary School.

Mrs Kemp was also a governor at the school for 20 years, and served on a local play group committee.

She was a member of the liaison committee for Sutton Bridge Power Station and served on two trusts, along with the Wingland and West of Ouse drainage boards.