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December RIP

Discussion in 'Hull City' started by Chazz Rheinhold, Dec 3, 2020.

  1. Chazz Rheinhold

    Chazz Rheinhold Well-Known Member

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    I’m a little late with this one but worthy of a read and an East Riding lad to boot
    A life well lived
    RIP
    Tenacious housing campaigner whose decades of work with Crisis and Shelter led to improvements in the lives of homeless people
    Bill Randall

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    Tue 27 Oct 2020 18.04 GMT
    Last modified on Thu 26 Nov 2020 20.12 GMT

    Nick Beacock, who has died aged 79, was a young curate at St Barnabas’ Church in east London when Bill Shearman, the founder of Crisis, sought him out in 1967 to be the first chair of the new organisation. He answered the call and so discovered a more pressing mission in campaigning for the rights of homeless and poorly housed people, which he did to great effect for the next 40 years.

    Early Crisis supporters included Ian Macleod, later a Tory chancellor of the exchequer, Reg Prentice, Labour MP for East Ham North, and David Moore, a local Methodist minister. Jonathan Aitken helped with media work. Many of the day-to-day tasks fell to the young curate, and he launched the campaign by organising a 1967 Christmas candlelit vigil at Hyde Park Corner. Addressed by Lord (Donald) Soper, it was attended by 3,000 people and raised £7,000 (worth more than £100,000 today) for East End homeless charities.

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    A one-time man of the cloth with strikingly long hair, Nick Beacock was dubbed ‘Nick the Vic’
    Two years later Archbishop Michael Ramsey launched a 65-mile “reverse pilgrimage” from Canterbury Cathedral to London, which ended with a rally in Methodist Central Hall, Westminster. The “Bishop’s March” , as it became known, made national headlines, put Crisis on the map and was taken up by subsequent archbishops.

    But Nick was also attracting media attention. With his socialist principles, constant campaigning, shoulder-length black hair, beard and leather jacket, he was an unusual man of the cloth even in the 1960s. The Sunday People dubbed him “Nick the Vic”.

    Serious in intent, he never changed his 60s look. The conferences he organised in the 80s were more like rock gigs, observed one long-term colleague, Nick Price: “Everybody on the stage had long hair and leather jackets. I thought I’d have to grow my hair to succeed in this world.”

    Crisis moved forward, campaigning with Christian Action to set up hostels for homeless people in Stepney and Soho. However, Nick felt a deepening anger about tenants enduring squalid and dangerous conditions in houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) and about homeless people living in “death-trap” hostels that were unchanged since Orwell had written about them in Down and Out in Paris and London in1933.

    In 1971 he gave up his church living to found and lead the Campaign for the Homeless and Rootless (Char), where he built a national movement based on networks of local activists – a hallmark of all his campaigning – and worked closely with environmental health and fire officers who shared his anger about poor and dangerous housing conditions.

    Homeless people and tenants were directly involved in the campaigning, and were included in the many Char delegations taking the fight to Westminster and town halls. Nick also attracted national figures to the cause, among them the broadcaster Jon Snow and the director of the mental health charity Mind, Tony Smythe, who described Nick as “having few rivals in the voluntary sector”.

    A quietly persistent and forensic lobbyist who was listened to by politicians of all parties at all levels, Nick was a key player in the campaign that saw the introduction of the 1977 Housing (Homeless Persons) Act, which for the first time gave local authorities the legal duty to house homeless people in priority need.

    Disasters provoked his next move. In 1980, 11 women died in a blaze in an overcrowded Mother Teresa hostel with inadequate fire precautions in north London. The following year fire swept through a bedsit block in Notting Hill, killing eight people and leaving 100 homeless.

    These tragedies spurred Nick to found and direct the Campaign for Bedsit Rights (CBR), and its campaigning eventually led to the licensing of HMOs. Seeking improvements to housing and fire safety standards in the era of Margaret Thatcherwas an uphill task, but the CBR-led “Silent Killer” campaign did lead later to the introduction in 1994 of the annual inspection of all gas boilers in rented housing.

    The Labour party’s 1997 general election manifesto had contained a commitment to take action on HMOs, but it was not until 2004 that the promise was delivered. By that time CBR had become a project run by another housing charity, Shelter, although it continued to be led by Nick until his retirement in 2003. The fact that he stayed in the role for so long was testament to his tenacity, as well as to his continued commitment to causes that others had long since given up on.

    In retirement he moved to Newcastle upon Tyne, where he worked in the Laing Art Gallery and volunteered for Citizens Advice.

    Born in Bridlington in Yorkshire, he grew up in Billingborough in Lincolnshire. His father, Blanchard Beacock, was headteacher of the village primary school, where his mother, Edna (nee Jones) also taught. After leaving Carre’s grammar school in Sleaford he worked for a year in a steelworks before studying theology at Durham University. Two years at Lincoln Theological College followed.

    Generous, wise and self-deprecating, he was a good friend to many, great company, and very funny over a pint, watching cricket or talking politics. His legacy can be found in the improved lot of the many people living in rented housing and in the success of Crisis UK’s 11 advice centres, which have changed the lives of hundreds of homeless people. His methods and philosophies are embedded in the work of the next generation of campaigners, whom he inspired and who learned a great deal from him.

    He is survived by two younger brothers, a nephew and niece.

    • Nick Beacock, housing campaigner, born 3 October 1941; died 8 October 2020

    Since you’re
     
    #1
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2020
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  2. Oregon Tiger

    Oregon Tiger Well-Known Member

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    Hugh Keays Byrne, 73. Indian/Australian actor. He was "Toecutter" in the original Mad Max and more recently "Immortan Joe" in Fury Road.
     
    #2
  3. look_back_in_amber

    look_back_in_amber Well-Known Member

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    RIP Ray Bradley, Sonny’s dad and apparently a spot on bloke. I was told today that he’d died from Covid complications, a blood clot in his lung. I didn’t know the fella personally but a good friend of mine did. Condolences to the family.
     
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  4. Shag

    Shag Member

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    I've known Ray years, we went to school together and he was indeed a top bloke.
    I'm totally shocked by this awful news.
     
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    Last edited: Dec 5, 2020
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  5. Barchullona

    Barchullona Well-Known Member

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    Born in Bridlington so obviously a first rate chap...Good article. Interesting to see an early supporter was Ian Mapledurham, often described as the best Prime .minster we never had.
     
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  6. Barchullona

    Barchullona Well-Known Member

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    Sad. Can't have been that old?
     
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  7. The B&S Fanclub

    The B&S Fanclub Well-Known Member

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    Peter Alliss
    Aged 89.
    RIP the voice of Golf.
     
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  8. spesupersydera

    spesupersydera Well-Known Member

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    Golf commentator Peter Alliss, 89 - one of the last from the 'less is more' school of commentators. RIP
     
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  9. tiptoe through the kempton

    tiptoe through the kempton Well-Known Member

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    I knew Ray many years ago as teenagers, he really was a great guy, this is awful news, RIP Ray.
     
    #9
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  10. philhul

    philhul Well-Known Member

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    Shocking news. He was 3 years younger than me therefore will have been 55. We both went to Bricknell Primary/Junior School. He was in the same year as my brother. <peacedove>
     
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  11. Chazz Rheinhold

    Chazz Rheinhold Well-Known Member

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    I didn’t know him but I think he used to go in National a fair bit when I did
    RIP
     
    #11
  12. boltontiger

    boltontiger Well-Known Member

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    Peter Alliss, a very good golfer, such a charming man and a very witty commentator. Made golf interesting. Probably would not be liked by the lefties who run the BBC these days. RIP.
     
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    Last edited: Dec 6, 2020
  13. TIGERSCAVE

    TIGERSCAVE Well-Known Member

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    john cleese.png Aaaah the brilliant Peter Alliss.... I always thought if he was anymore laid back he'd be horizontal.... a brilliant commentator, insightful, funny and seemingly an admired and adored man. I used to love the A round with Alliss celebrity thing he did when I was but a lad... Golf course in the sky.... I hope so... RIP....
     
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    Last edited: Dec 6, 2020
  14. Barchullona

    Barchullona Well-Known Member

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    Great commentator. Followed on from another great less is more great, Henry Longhurst. Apparently in the USA they went to see if Longhurst was OK as they weren't used to such long periods of silence. They were informed that he told people what they needed to know not what was happening on the screen in front of them.
    Both of a sort we could do with more of. Knowledgeable about their sport having played it and loving it.
    Alliss had a self-deprecating sense of humour. A good golfer it was always said that he would have won a number of majors if not for his putting. He bought the registration plate 3 PUT for his car.
     
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  15. spesupersydera

    spesupersydera Well-Known Member

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    I remember him playing, a fantastic ball striker - I recall how he always empathised with Bernhard Langer when he was struck by the putting 'yips' at the height of his career. He's a great loss to the game.
     
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  16. BlackAndAmberGambler

    BlackAndAmberGambler Well-Known Member

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    We all played football on Bricknell school field every day during summer holidays didn't we Phil. Ray was a hard lad but he was alright with us. Good times that seem like just yesterday.

    RIP Ray.
     
    #16
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  17. Ric Glasgow

    Ric Glasgow Well-Known Member

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    RIP Peter Aliss....Always enjoyed his fantastic golf commentary.
     
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  18. Oregon Tiger

    Oregon Tiger Well-Known Member

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    Chuck Yeager, 97. First person to fly through the sound barrier.
     
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  19. DMD

    DMD Eh?
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    Amazingly, he actually met Orville Wright, one of the men credited with the first powered flight. Wright was alive when the sound barrier was broken.
     
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  20. John Ex Aberdeen now E.R.

    John Ex Aberdeen now E.R. Well-Known Member

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    So sorry to hear of Peter Alliss passing, a truly great commentator, and very good golfer.

    I remember my father telling me that Peter Alliss's father did an exhibition match at Springhead when it first opened, and anyone who knows Springhead will understand, his father Percy drove the ball over the ditch on the 18th on the fly, which even today is no mean feat.
     
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