It was almost standing room only at the funeral of a former mayor of Carlisle this week.
Carlisle Crematorium was packed yesterday, April 16, as friends and family gathered there to pay tribute to long serving Labour city and county councillor Cyril Weber who died earlier this month aged 78.
His fellow councillors also later paid tribute at the Harraby Community Centre following the service – which was led by the presiding minister Keith Teasdale – which seemed appropriate as the centre was part of his legacy for the city.
Former Labour leader of Cumbria County Council, Stewart Young, said it was a privilege working alongside him on the former local authority and added: “We worked together very closely on the county council when he was first elected for Belle Vue and then subsequently switched across to Harraby.
“We worked on a number of projects. He was the chair of our Carlisle local committee, and he led on a number of initiatives in the city, and in my role as leader of the council I’d like to think I was able to support him.
“He will be a great miss and I still can’t really believe that he is no longer with us. He leaves a great and lasting legacy for the city and everything that he did.”
Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Julie Minns said they had said goodbye to a real champion of Carlisle and added: “It’s rare that you get to say that someone is irreplaceable but Cyril was.”
She said when she first heard that he was ill a few months back she felt he was a national treasure who needed to be protected at all costs.
She added: “Today we are paying tribute to his fantastic service to the Harraby community and to Carlisle. We are saying goodbye to a good man and a good friend.”
Councillor Abdul Harid (Belle Vue, Labour), the current mayor of Carlisle, said: “He was my neighbour, he was my county councillor before, he was my city councillor and he was a very close friend.
“Being the mayor currently he insisted that we keep the city’s heritage and the city’s status and he was a keen supporter of the mayoral role and he wanted to keep it as it has been going on for hundreds of years. It is the city’s tradition and the status of the city that he wanted to retain.”
He said Cyril had always been there for the local community and added: “He was a pillar of the community and a local champion.
“I’ve known Cyril for over 30 years since I moved to Carlisle and he has always been supportive, always in his mind was how to improve the services for the local people, for the people of Harraby, the people of the city.
“Every time I spoke to him he said: ‘How do I do this? How do I improve this?’ He has always been fully committed to Carlisle.”
John Mallinson (Conservative, Houghton and Irthington) said had also known Cyril for the 30 years that he has been in Carlisle and added: “We always worked together very well, particularly in the last 15 years when we were chair and vice chair of the local committee. Any differences we ever had we could always sort them out amicably.
“He was a great guy as can be seen by today’s funeral. He was loved and respected by all who crossed his path.”
Councillor Roger Dobson (Corby and Hayton, Lib Dems) said he first met Cyril for the first time in September 2021 and added: “From the very start we liked each other and recognised shared interests and values.
“Cyril could not have been more generous and welcoming. From a position of huge experience, considerable knowledge, and wisdom he was gentle and courteous with guidance and counselling – so often delivered with a disarming smile and a glint in his eye.
“Across the party political divide he extended a genuine hand of friendship that was transparently sincere.”
He said he felt he was an outstanding councillor and a classic role model for others.
He added: “He will be sorely missed by his family, his constituents, his Labour party colleagues, council officers and by colleagues from other parties.”
Cyril’s son Adrian said: “I would just like to say a great thank you to the people of Harraby and Carlisle for the turnout today. It just shows you how much a loved man he was.”
Cyril’s election in May 2022 for Cumberland Council’s Harraby North ward followed a more than 40-year career in local politics, having served as an elected member for both the former Carlisle City Council since May 1979 and Cumbria County Council since 2001.
He served as the mayor of Carlisle from 1988-89, and later, as the chair of Cumbria County Council’s local committee for Carlisle, played a pivotal role in organising the City of Lights event, which comes by each year.
He was also a representative for the social welfare charity Mary Hannah Almshouses, and the Lowther Street Trust – a Carlisle charity which provides financial support to help educate people aged under 25.
He was well known as an accessible councillor who would often lend a listening ear to local concerns, who championed local causes, the environment, and social work.
He leaves wife Rosemary, sons Adrian and Gareth, daughters-in-law Nicola and Sharon, grandchildren Conor, Lewis, Ellie, Daniel and Ewan, and sister Loraine.
