Robert Wilkinson obituary

1 day ago

My father, Robert Wilkinson, who has died aged 73, was employed for more than 30 years in local government, mostly as a community worker for the London borough of Waltham Forest, but also managing lottery funding bids in nearby Camden.Outside his career, Robert’s main passion was oral history, which he believed was a way of giving voice to ordinary people who would otherwise have left behind just birth and death certificates.In 1983 he co-founded the Waltham Forest Oral History workshop, whose members interviewed hundreds of local people; it also published books and pamphlets on subjects such as school strikes, childhood health and local pubs.He later became a long-serving committee member and treasurer of the national Oral History Society.Later in life he worked as a freelance, including as the oral historian in residence for two years at Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge and for the British Library.

Robert was born in Harlow, Essex, to John, a machine parts worker, and Irene (nee Gray), who worked in a pub,After attending the nearby Newport grammar school he studied glass and ceramics at Stourbridge College of Art in the West Midlands, where outside his studies he volunteered with the Severn Valley Railway,Once his college studies were complete he moved in 1975 to South Woodford, Essex, where he shared a house with several others, including Val Clark, a social worker,They moved to Leytonstone in east London and married in 1982, subsequently raising three sons, John, Peter and me,Robert started his working life in the London area as an occupational therapy assistant at St Margaret’s hospital in Epping, Essex, before becoming a social work assistant with the London borough of Waltham Forest from 1977 to 1981 and then retraining as a community worker with the same borough.

He worked in that role from 1981 to 1998, when he switched over to the council’s planning and economic development department as a funding officer.Two years later he joined Charlton Triangle Homes as a development manager and then became national lottery officer for the London borough of Camden from 2001 to 2007, securing more than £15m for community projects.After that he earned his living as a freelancer in the oral history field until his retirement in 2020.Aside from working with the British Library and Kettle’s Yard, he also helped at the British Museum and conducted oral history interviews for Waltham Forest for a project related to the 2012 London Olympics.As a socialist he was a longstanding member of the Labour party and of the union Nalgo (later Unison), for whom he was a rep at Waltham Forest.

He also became a governor at Tom Hood school in Leytonstone (1989-97) and then Leytonstone school (1997-2017).Robert devoted his life to his family but was also able to find time for his many other interests, including art and photography, railways, DIY, Tottenham Hotspur and long walks.In his final years he developed Lewy body dementia.He remained gentle, funny and kind to the end.He is survived by Val, his three sons and five grandchildren.

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