Beverly Thorpe
I first met Bob when Andy Booth and I were putting together the Beluga tour around the UK in 1986. Bob, the sound guy, and Alistair, the film guy, were going to document our Greenpeace toxics sampling that we were about to conduct in all the industrial estuaries. It was a time of great creative ‘go for it’ campaigning and as we did interviews and sailed by toxic discharges, there would be Bob with his headphones and fuzzy mike.
And so began my friendship with Bob Edwards. He was very generous over the years in giving me a place to stay in Holland Park when I needed it, and even a drive from the UK to Ireland when I decided to relocate to Dublin (he told me he had a case of wine that he needed to get over to Ireland anyway so it all worked out well!) I stayed with him for 3 months while I searched for my own place to live in Ireland – drinking great wine, listening to good music and of course discussing campaign strategy all the time.
Other good memories: getting up at 3 am to drive down the road and watch the eclipse of the moon; him picking up my elderly mom in his nice car and being very gracious and charming; then years later coming to Conemara to see what a small scale celebration of the sea with poetry and music was all about (this amused him greatly I believe). And then that crazy skiing adventure in Chamonix when I ended up trying to follow him and Andy down a black run in a white out. I could hardly walk the next day – seriously. More snow memories when he rented a cabin in Quebec for a group of us to cook, drink, party, and of course walk frozen lakes. I always knew he loved to have people around him. The last time I saw Bob was in Suffolk and I remember thinking he was missing the crowd. Well Bob, from the reminiscences I’ve been reading here you certainly had many chapters in your book.
With great fondness, I – and the rest of your crowd -now wish you well on your way. – Bev
Bob Edwards 1945-2016 