About Geoff Heathcock
Early years
Geoff Heathcock was born in 1952 in St Thomas’s Hospital london. He was brought up by his parents in Surrey, Somerset and latterly Cornwall where all his grandparents then resided. He was a borderline 11 plus pupil, and ended up at Liskeard Secondary Modern School.
Business experience
On leaving school he worked with Plymouth Co-op, then Co-op Retail Services, the Cambridge & District Co-op, and the South Western Electricity Board. In the 70’s and 80’s through to the late 90’s, he worked at Eastern Electricity in variety of roles pre-privatisation. He then experienced a period of unemployment having been made redundant.
In more recent years he has worked with independent funeral businesses and is now Branch Director of a funeral business at Sawston.
Public service
He first stood for election as a Liberal Democrat to Saffron Walden Town Council in 1976, for the County Council at Sawston, and then for Cambridge Coleridge in 1981 and 1985. He was elected in 1993 as County Councillor for his home division of Cambridge Queen Edith’s.
He was a member and then Leader of Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats on the Fire Authority stepping down in 2007. recently returned when there was a vacancy for an ordinary member.He has been Spokesman for Transport and Social Services and was Chairman of the Health and Adult Socialcare Scrutiny Committee from 2005 to 2007. In the spring of 2007 he was appointed Shadow Cabinet member for Health, Communities and Adult Social Care. In June 2009 after the elections was appointed afresh to Chair the Health and Adult Socialcare Scrutiny Committee - a position he will hold until May 2011.
Geoff Heathcock was a JP from 1984 to 2000 on the Cambridge and East Cambridgeshire Benches. He was Vice Chairman of the Cambridge Community Health council until its abolition in 2006. He was Treasurer, then Chairman, of the Saffron Walden Hospital League of Friends from 1975 to 1993.
Other interests
His main non-political interests include working for the RNLI as a voluntary speaker on the work of the Lifeboat Service and its history. He visits lifeboat stations for research and for photography of the fleet. He is keen on gardening - with a particular interest in growing dahlias and roses.
