IT WAS sad to read about the death of my friend Bob Edwards (Letters, October 23).

I met Bob Edwards after seeing his photo in the Evening Press when he was calling for what is now known as St Nicholas Fields, but then was Tang Hall tip, to remain “gloriously wild”.

That was in 1988. I went that week to my first meeting of York Natural Environment Trust (YNET). Little did I know how Bob would change my life.

Bob was chairman of YNET, a friendly welcoming man, and as time moved on we became good friends. When at a meeting in 1992 I put forward the idea of starting a group that later became the Friends of St Nicholas Fields, Bob volunteered to be our treasurer, a job he did till 2004/5.

I am not going to pretend it was all plain sailing. Bob and I clashed now and then, but he was a true friend.

He coped well when we went from being a small charity to a body with hundreds of thousands of pounds when the friends won funding to build York Eco Centre from the BIG Lottery. And when I set up the John Lally International Foundation in 2003, Bob helped then.

Bob will be sadly missed by all who knew him; he was a genuine guy.

Gordon Campbell-Thomas, Chairperson, John Lally international Foundation, Kolkata, India.