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We are extremely sad to report that Chris Beney, our trustee and local correspondent, has died aged 93. He was active to the end.
Chris was an electrical engineer who was able to retire at the age of 55. That was to the great benefit of the Bushey and District Footpaths Association, which he founded in 1991, and to the society. He became our local correspondent for Hertsmere and Three Rivers in Hertfordshire in 1993 and remained in post until his death. He joined our board of trustees in 1996, serving for 30 years, two of them as chairman.
Chris starting to install a kissing-gate to the new British Standard. Photo: Open Spaces Society
Chris’s particular interest was in making paths as accessible as possible, removing any unnecessary clutter of stiles and gates. His ethos was ‘gap, gate, and stile’ with no structure at all unless it was absolutely necessary. He chaired the British Standards Panel for three revisions of the BS5709 on structures, obtaining agreement from users, local authorities, and land managers that the standard should advocate the least restrictive option on public paths.
In 2022 we awarded Chris our Eversley Award, named after our founder Lord Eversley, for outstanding personal endeavour in the protection of commons, greens, paths, and public access. Chris was only the second person to receive the award, and truly deserved it, for he had dedicated more than 30 years of his life to making paths accessible to all, defending and improving the path network in Hertfordshire, and helping and training others to do similar work.
Chris was the second ever recipient of our Eversley Award in 2022. Photo: Open Spaces Society
We shall miss Chris’s enthusiasm, attention to detail, kindness, and intelligence. He contributed so much to our movement. His legacy is the many paths which are now much more easily accessible. We are grateful to Chris for giving so much to our society and to our movement.
Header image: Jan Kraus