Robin Thornber - A Tribute

Robin Thornber – A Tribute

R Thornber Glossop It is with regret that we have to report the death of Robin Thornber, 66. Robin died last Sunday (5/12/10). Robin, aged 66, passed away on Sunday 5th December 2010 at the Christie Hospital.
Robin was born and schooled in Blackburn. He achieved a scholarship to study History at Oxford. On leaving University he took up employment with The Oxford Mail and later moved to The Guardian Newspaper as Theatre Critic where he remained for 30 years. Robin was a well known and popular character in Glossop and has supported many worthwhile causes locally and abroad. He was a regular at the Labour Club.
Robin also set up the original Glossop.com website and always seemed to have his finger on the pulse, able to report local news stories very quickly.

Robin’s funeral will be held on Wednesday 15th December at Dukinfield Crematorium at 2.30pm. This will continue at Glossop Labour Club on Chapel Street.

Family flowers only please, donations greatly received for
Amnesty International.

If you would like to leave a tribute on Robins Facebook page, it can be found here. (you will need to be on friends list)

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Written by Martin

Website:

http://n/a Glossop Bowling Club (North Road)

Robin was always quick in adding our reports to the website and supporting our aim of getting Glossop folk playing the great game of crown green bowls. He will be greatly missed in our community.

God bless.
http://www.shinylearning.co.uk Helen Melhuish

Glossop.com was an invaluable and reliable source of information to us, particularly when we were newcomers to the area. We appreciate the positive comments Robin made about Shiny Learning. He was obviously a real man of the community and his contributions will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are very much with his family.
malcolm. whittaker@wanadoo,fr

Robin lived with me for about ten years on and off before I moved to France.During which time we consumed more vodka than a party at the Polit bureau, I did not know about the crown green bowls, but he would have supported any sport played within 25 yards of a Bar, He was a Bon Viveur, As far as I am aware , like myself he had no religeous convitions. Blaize Pascal said you might as well hedge you bets,anyway.
If so and there is a bottle of vodka up ther he will find it.
A good friend sadly missed. my condolences to his children and grand children,

Malcolm Whittaker.
http://tonykennah.co.uk Tony Kennah

I only knew Robin from 15 years ago ( via Malc ) and not on a very personal level as such. (even though I shaved his head once for a charity event at the labour club )but he was a very sincere and genuine guy who would always help anyone in need, He will be there always in my memory ……
Philip Wray

I was proud to know Robin as my brother-in law during his marriage to my sister Kay. Even after they parted Robin still remained a treasured member of our families. His wiliness to help other is legionnaire he was a wonderful person to share a drink with, so able to put a perspective on any event. Robin we will miss you but please save me a place at the bar in Heaven.
http://www.kevinfegan.co.uk Kevin Fegan

Robin reviewed several of my stage plays before I met him outside the professional theatre scene. I was campaigning for the release of a miscarriage of justice case, “Alex”, who I met while I was working as a writer at Stocken Prison in Leicestershire. Robin was already aware of the case so I went to see him when I was writing a stage play loosely based on Alex’s experiences in prison. When Alex did a runner from prison (having served 20 years at that time) to draw attention to his case, he came to me for help. I was also negotiating with Granada TV about a documentary on Alex (“The Curious Case of Alex”). All Alex wanted was to tell his story and spend Xmas and his birthday on the out before giving himself up. Robin agreed to use his influence to have the case covered in “The Guardian” and negotiated an article written by Alex himself while he was on the run. But much more than that, Robin offered to share with me the sheltering of Alex for what turned out to be thirteen weeks. It was a measure of the man that he was prepared to do what was right and just rather than what was lawful and wrong.
A measure of Robin as a theatre critic was the time he reviewed my play about the rave scene, “Excess XS”, at Contact Theatre in Manchester. Against the protocol of reviewers, he approached me immediately after the show to say how concerned he was that the loud music had put him off what was probably a very good play and asked if he could read the script before he wrote the review that night. It was unprecedented for a reviewer to care so much about a play. I gave him the script and he read it. His review the next day was glowing about the script but less so about the production.
I will remember Robin for the way in which he was true to his political beliefs in his professional and personal life.
Kevin Fegan