Ben Haines

It is with great sadness we announce the death of Ben Haines. Ben was well known all over Telegraph Hill, a familiar figure on his bike in his boater - or, more recently, his cycling helmet.

Ben was a genuine enthusiast for the world and everything and everyone in it - he travelled widely and spent a lot of time advising visitors to the UK - he recently planned a trip for American tourists who wanted to see snow which included the sleeper to Carlisle and a dash up to the Cairngorms. If you were lucky enough to be invited for Sunday lunch he was likely to get out a cobweb encrusted bottle of Tokay - the real thing - and he had perfected the art of roasting duck!

He was a stalwart of St Catherine's Church and a genuine supporter of the Telegraph Hill Centre, and the Festival. None who saw it will forget his performance as Mr Mushnik in the Festival's version of The Little Shop of Horrors! As well as acting for many years as St Catherine's Church Warden he was the secretary to the Centre Management Committee for many years, always striving to improve the services offered by the Centre to the community, especially its young people - he resigned only a fortnight ago. Ben was conscientious, his eye for detail was second to none and he was always driven by a highly developed sense of responsibility and involvement. For his 60th birthday he had a wonderful bring and share party in the Narthex with an excellent Klezmer band, perfect for a man whose generosity knew no bounds.

The community of Telegraph Hill will be greatly diminished by his loss and he will be greatly missed.