One of our busiest citizens is Greg Cejer who is not only active in many spheres of community life but also serves as a magistrate, sitting regularly with the South Lincolnshire bench. 

He has Polish-German ancestry and was born at Derby in 1955, his parents having moved to this country after the Second World War of 1939-45 when his father, also Greg, was first conscripted into the German Army, then deserted and joined the Free French eventually ending up fighting with the Free Poles. His mother, Zdzislawa, whose brother was executed by the Germans, was detained by them in 1943 but survived and the couple arrived here via Italy in 1947. 

After attending school, Greg worked for the Railway Civil Engineers in Nottingham then taught for a while at Grantham College. He married Bernadette in 1982 and they moved to Bourne in 1987 with their son, Michael (born 1986), to organise adult education courses run by Lincolnshire County Council. There were many classes in six locations around the town as well as Morton and Thurlby but he also ran classes at the Deepings and Stamford and several other of the surrounding villages, giving people access to their learning locally rather than travelling to Stamford or Peterborough. 

Their second son, Richard, was born in 1992, and in 1996 Michael joined the local Beaver colony being set up by Francis Bridgewater. Shortly afterwards, Greg and Bernadette attended the annual general meeting of the Scout Group and agreed to join the group executive, a decision that led to a continuing involvement in the movement at group, district and county level. The group grows from strength to strength and each year donates around £1,500 to local organisations devoted to helping the local community, while retaining long established links with the Round Table and Rotary Club in helping them with their fund raising. 

In 1996, Greg was appointed to the Bourne and Stamford magistrates’ bench following a family tradition, his mother having been the first Polish magistrate in Derby in the late 1970s. As chairman of the bench, he had the sad duty to preside over the last court session to be held at the Town Hall in Bourne on 31st March 2008 before it closed. Sittings are now held at Grantham and Spalding and he is currently deputy chairman of the enlarged South Lincolnshire Bench and chairman of the Family Bench. 

In 2005, he was asked to become a trustee of Bourne Arts and Community Trust, which had been set up at Wake House in 1997 and is now home to some 40 voluntary community organisations. He accepted the appointment for one year to establish whether he could add any value to their work but eight years later, he is still there as company secretary and there are now nine members of the trust, their current objective being to take over ownership of the building from South Kesteven District Council to ensure that it continues to serve the town in the future. 

Early retirement from his job as operations director for a logistics company in 2011 has meant more time to support the scouts and Wake House as well as additional sittings on the bench. He has also joined the Independent Monitoring Board at the North Sea Camp at Boston, an open Category D prison, and for the first time has been able to help at the annual Peterborough Beer Festival where he has been a frequent visitor. 

Greg and his wife, who live in Northfields, Bourne, enjoy travelling and Bernadette is also involved in helping local organisations. Both are football fans and have season tickets to watch their old home team, Derby County. They are also music lovers, regularly attending concerts and particularly enjoying going to the Proms, Music in Quiet Places locally and Rock City and Engine Shed in Lincoln as venues.

Their oldest son, Michael, lives in Sheffield and Richard, the younger, is studying in Haarlem in The Netherlands. “We are therefore a quiet household at the moment, with time to help out where we can”, said Greg.

WRITTEN JUNE 2013

See also Wake House