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Robert Hill - In Memoriam

Matthew Shaylor




It is with great sadness that we report the passing of a longstanding member of Streatham Action. A former chair, Robert Hill, died in the early hours of Sunday, 10th November. All of us on the committee and well beyond send our condolences to his widow, Christina, their son, Michael, daughter, Natasha, and all other members of the family.


Robert lived in Streatham for almost 40 years. He and his Labour councillor colleague, Saleha Jaffer, were the first Labour councillors to be elected in St. Leonard’s ward, which they served between 2014 and 2018.


Robert had long been passionate about Streatham, particularly in relation to transport-related matters. He had, for instance, been a regular attender at our Streatham Action Transport group meetings from their inception in 2012. During his time as a St Leonard’s ward councillor, he fought hard for the local community, especially on road safety issues, and played a key role in getting the pedestrian crossing installed at the dangerous pinch point just prior to the St Leonard’s junction at the top of the “Dip”.

Whilst Robert was precluded from being a Streatham Action committee member during his 4-year period as a councillor, his loss of the seat in the May 2018 local elections was Streatham Action’s gain, given the fact that he was then able to join our committee, which he did in early 2019.


Following on from what was inevitably a quieter period for Streatham Action during the Covid lockdown period, Robert was ambitious for Streatham Action thereafter as things started to get back to normal. He was subsequently elected as chair in the summer of 2021 and was re-elected to the position towards the end of the following year. He chose to resign as chair in May last year.


His wish to take Streatham Action to the next level of its development was seen right from the outset by his encouragement of more people from the local community to join the committee. This thereby enabled the Streatham Action committee to start to get involved in many more areas than had previously been the case where its main focus had been on transport matters.


Aside from Streatham Action, Robert’s passion for Streatham and improvements to the area was also evident from his involvement in many other local organizations. Through his work with the St Leonard’s Safer Neighbourhood Panel, which he chaired over the past couple of years and vice-chaired prior to that, he established and maintained strong links with the local police teams, on the back of regular liaison and collaboration.

Much of Robert’s career for over 30 years was dedicated to working in social care management, where he fought for people with learning disabilities, their families, and carers. This passion for his work extended to being a key instigator in setting up Lambeth’s Patient Participation Groups. In this regard, he chaired the Prentis Road Practice PPG.


Robert’s funeral takes place in his native Glasgow on Thursday, 28th November. For those of us unable to be there for his funeral, there will be a small event taking place in Streatham at some point in the near future. We shall provide further information about that when we receive it. In the meantime, Christina and the rest of the family are asking for any donations to be made to St Christopher’s Hospice: stchristophers.org.uk/donation

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