Support us from £3/month
We deal with almost 1000 cases a year assisting communities, groups and individuals in protecting their local spaces and paths in all parts of England and Wales. Can you help us by joining as a member?
Our former chairman has died aged 90. Tim was a trustee from 2004 to 2016, and chairman from 2011 to 2014.
Pensive Tim, August 2005. Photo: Nigel Crowther
Tim lived in Weybridge, Surrey, for 60 years. He had a degree in estate management from Wye College and, among other jobs, he was estate manager at Bisham Abbey. He then became editor of the Chartered Surveyor and from the early 1960s worked for the Commission for New Towns. He retired aged 58 and became involved in local politics, being elected a Liberal Democrat Elmbridge Borough Councillor in 1999.
He disliked cars, never going above 50 mph, and was an avid train-traveller. His collection of hundreds of used railway-tickets reveals his many adventures.
Our general secretary met Tim when she spoke at the first AGM of Evergreen in June 1987, an association of which he was a founder, established to protect Elmbridge’s green belt and urban open space. We kept in touch after that and, when he retired, he joined our board.
Evergreen press release, June 1987. Photo: Open Spaces Society
He was kind and patient, dealing with some difficult personality clashes among the trustees with calmness and tolerance. His gentle, mild manner hid a determined and purposeful streak. He was enthusiastic about the Open Spaces Award which we ran in 2012 and 2013, visiting the applicants and then presenting the awards. He championed the society’s incorporation in 2011, giving us greater stability.
Speaking at his funeral, fellow borough councillor Graham Winton summed up Tim perfectly: ‘I don’t know anyone who has done more to ensure that leafy Surrey lives up to its name than quietly successful Tim.’
We were very pleased to receive more than £1,000 from generous donations made in his memory.
Header image: Sandro Cenni