(This is a guest post by Andrew Coates)
Harry’s Place often criticises people. Hey, that’s fine with me. But now I would like to do something different.
This is a notice of the death of one of the truly good people in the world: Graham Plumbly, the co-ordinator the CSV (Community Service Volunteers) Media-Club House in Ipswich. Graham was a shining example of what the democratic left can do.
Graham, according to the Ipswich Evening Star, died of a cardiac arrest on Saturday after being ‘restrained’ by the Police. They were called to his house, and “the male became aggressive”. There are concerns about this version of events.
Graham’s work in the CSV was a model of how people can, as they say, “make a difference”. His help for the deprived and excluded, from asylum seekers to young people, his commitment to anti-racism, and the real acts of kindness and support he gave to those in need were so admirable I am lost for words. But not for long….
Graham also backed a host of other voluntary associations in Ipswich. In modest, humorous, ways he raised the spirits of all those around him. A supporter of the labour movement he gave his support to many of Ipswich Trades Council’s initiatives such as our annual May Day Festival in Alexander Park (which attracted over 12,000 visitors this year). The fact that we have a democratic left in this town owes something to the acts of fine people like Graham and his collegues in the CSV. Like Dorethea in Middlemarch the effect of his being on those around him were incalculable. I was privileged to get to know him properly last year, and there are those who knew this marvellous man a lot lot better.
He was goodness personified.
