My father-in-law Robin Norbury, who died recently after a short illness aged 78, was widely regarded as ‘a true champion of the environment’ whose work benefited many in his adopted home town of Barnsley. He played a leading role in establishing the Trans Pennine Trail, Old Moor Wetlands Centre and Elsecar Heritage Centre, as well as being a prominent peace campaigner and a leading local advocate for mental health.

Born in Coventry in 1931, Robin was old enough to vividly remember the blitz and firestorm which devastated the city in November 1940 and killed hundreds of civilians. His family, including older sister Daphne, then moved to Leicester. After attending the Friends School at Sibford, a Quaker boarding school near Banbury, Robin became a conscientious objector to national military service, and instead joined the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU), working as an orderly on a cancer ward at Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Returning to attend Art College in Leicester, Robin met and married Margaret Hatton, with whom he went on to have four children, George, Helen, Harry and Isobel. Training as a teacher, he taught at Stratford Grammar School and lived in Upminster, taking his two year old son on the first CND march to protest against atomic weapons at Aldermaston in 1958 (and again in 2008).

It was in 1964 that the family moved to Yorkshire, where Robin took up an exciting post as lecturer at Bretton Hall College in the new discipline of environmental studies, working under the inspiring and radical leadership of Sir Alec Clegg. At first they lived in Denby Dale (where they were known as ‘the family that missed the pie’ for moving in 3 days after the first pie festival for 36 years), then Woolley, then Haigh Hall. Whilst at the college he oversaw the acquisition of a historic collection of farm machinery and helped set up the first exhibition at what is now the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. During this time Robin was also active in Barnsley Quaker Meeting and served as Quaker chaplain at Wakefield Prison.

Taking early retirement from higher education in 1981, Robin stood for election to Barnsley Council, serving as a Labour councillor for Darton ward from 1983-99.  His commitment, hard work and mastery of detail saw him soon promoted to be Chair of Housing Committee and Chair of Planning Committee; and even after he stepped down the regard of his former colleagues was shown by his subsequent co-option to the Environment Scrutiny Commission, where he recently stated his desire to see “Barnsley’s very fine environment fully valued and cherished by all; and Barnsley’s education system nurturing human values and sustainability, learning from and about its society and surroundings.”

Whilst on the Council, he played a major role in linking up with other local authorities to establish the Trans Pennine Trail for walkers and cyclists from Liverpool to Hull via Barnsley in 1989 , and later to link this across Europe with long distance footpath E8 from Cork to Istanbul. During his time as Chair, TPT won the ‘Amazing Space’ category of the 2006 National Lottery awards competition which Robin was presented with on national television by Linda Barker.

Robin spoke of the Trail as: “a complex blend of pathways, tracks and off-road routes designed to permit users to pass through areas of great natural beauty, sometimes in very close proximity to areas of industry and urban sprawl, so that beautiful, wild places can be enjoyed in one of the UK’s most densely populated corridors.”

He also played a leading role in setting up Old Moor Wetlands Trust (now RSPB), was Chair of Elsecar Heritage Centre when the Queen visited in 1994, Vice-Chair of Dearne Valley Groundwork Trust and latterly had thrown his considerable enthusiasm into being a trustee of Wentworth Castle Gardens, where he was credited with playing ‘a huge role in the rescue and revival of this historic estate.’

But his concerns were not purely environmental. He supported striking miners in South Yorkshire during the Miners Strike, a grim time when he believed his phone was being tapped by the authorities, and was active for many years in both Barnsley CND and the Barnsley Stop the War campaign. At the height of the Cold War he helped set up the Barnsley branch of British Soviet Friendship Society, and persuaded the council to town twin with the Ukrainian mining town of Gorlovka. More recently he had been appalled by the devastation in Gaza and had hosted a fundraising garden party for Medical Aid for Palestine. Just last week the national Stop The War campaign produced a pamphlet of the best questions sent in to the Chilcott Inquiry on Iraq, and Robin’s question was one of the ones selected.

Arising from direct experience within the family, Robin also had a great concern to ensure better support for patients and families of people with mental illness. He was active on the regional carers group of the Making Space charity, and championed carer involvement in the health service through Barnsley Arena and the Patient & Public Involvement Forum. In recent years he helped set up the Barnsley Carers Garden and jointly with Margaret was named Barnsley ‘Carer of the Year 2008.’

Robin was a very committed family man, for whom his four children and six grandchildren meant everything. In the 1960s there were ambitious family expeditions in a VW camper van to the Outer Hebrides and along the Galician coast to Santiago de Compostella, whilst in later years he took grandchildren to Cuba, Morocco and Norway. However, only months after celebrating their Golden Wedding in 2007, it was found that Margaret had a terminal illness. Although devastated, Robin felt privileged to use his early FAU hospital experience in being able to nurse her at home throughout her final weeks until her death in February 2008.

As a person Robin has been described as having a ‘quiet and kindly demeanour which hid a real fire for all his passions’. He had a huge fund of stories and memories, which linked into his great charm and ability to relate easily to all kinds of people. Although a scholarly person, with a great historical insight which helped him read landscapes, and understand great art, architecture, and music, this was rooted also in his own skills as an oil painter, woodworker, poultry keeper and gardener. Throughout his final months, perhaps unaware of the extent of impending illness, he managed to drive across the Pennines each week to look after a daughter recovering from brain surgery and then to fulfil a long held ambition to visit Auschwitz just weeks before his death.

A truly gregarious companion, his hospitality was wide-ranging – from hosting the repentant USAF chaplain who had blessed the atomic bomb destined for Hiroshima, a lifer from Wakefield Jail, and a Soviet Cosmonaut to (a source of great family mirth) the appropriately named Belgian President of the European Ramblers Association, Monsieur Eeseboot.                     [Ian McHugh 8^th February 2010]