Robin King

THE life of a “compassionate, gentle and reliable” man who dedicated his life to volunteering was celebrated this week.

Friends and fellow volunteers paid tribute to Robin King, “a special, kind and giving friend”, at a funeral in St Mary’s Church, Upper Street, yesterday (Thursday).

Mr King died aged 76 on December 2, 2023, in Islington, where he had lived in Danbury Street, and worked for many years.

Giles Eyre, chair of trustees at the Angel Community Canal Boat Trust where Mr King was also a volunteer and trustee, shared a touching eulogy about his life.

He said: “In his gentle and patient way he was a great teacher of boating skills to our novice passengers and enthusiastic about the canals and the therapeutic nature of canal trips.

“Robin was compassionate, a great listener, someone who regularly came up with very apposite comments, whatever you were talking about.

“He was always happy to prepare meals in the confines of a boat’s galley, and when the boat was in dock, there was no job too grubby or uncomfortable for him to volunteer for – whether painting around the gas locker or blacking the bottom of the boat – which involves lying on the floor of a 200-year-old dry dock and working on a surface a few inches above the head.”

Born in Edgware in 1948, Mr King qualified as an architect, training in conservation architecture.

In July 1974 he joined Pollard Thomas Edwards architects from its beginnings in Jerusalem Passage, designing rehabilitation projects for Islington Council.

Mr King at Culpeper Gardens where he led the Stuart Low Trust Gardening Project until 2018

In the late 1980s he became involved with the successful Anderson’s Yard Campaign Group, which blocked the development of a huge office block overlooking Islington Green on the old Collins Music Hall site.

During the early days of the campaign, he befriended Virginia Low while making a banner for the march.

In 2001, he and Ms Low helped to set up the SLT, a wellbeing charity providing safe spaces and community activities in the arts and nature. He became a trustee and volunteer.

Mr Eyre said: “He gave a tremendous amount of time to the Stuart Low Trust, helping with all the Friday events, even when Christmas fell on a Sunday.

“He led outings to places of interest together with his close friend of many years, Jane. He took groups from SLT on residential canal trips on the narrowboat Angel of Islington, which is where I first got to know him, as I was trustee and chair of the charity running the narrowboat. And he also led the SLT Gardening Project at Culpeper Gardens for several years until 2018.”

Mr King joined the board of the trustees at Islington Narrow Boat Association, which became the Angel Community Canal Boat Trust, remaining a director there until his death.

In 2016 he was awarded the Pat Haynes Trustee of the year award by Voluntary Action Islington.

Ms Low said: “When SLT was awarded the Queen’s Award for Volunteering in 2015 Robin went with me to one of the Queen’s garden parties. We used to laugh about the SLT family, and I personally feel bereaved as if I had lost a rather distant younger brother.”

It is not known whether Mr King had family still alive at the time of his death.