GORDON HARTLEY

The whole Society, and particularly the Birmingham Region, of which he was local Chairman, are shocked and dismayed by the untimely and quite unexpected death of Gordon Hartley, Chairman of the Society of Bookbinders since 2002.

He came to bookbinding late in life and taught himself from textbooks, supplementing this with weekend workshops when possible. A highly effective Chairman, he brought to this role the enthusiasm that characterised everything he did. He was a good communicator and colleague, and he greatly enjoyed the contact with people and the challenge of preserving a disappearing craft.

Born and brought up in central Birmingham, Gordon spent most of his life in the Rugby area as a teacher of the Classics. He and Linda, whom he had known since their schooldays, had five children covering a wide range of ages and occupations (including teacher and rock drummer). Some of his students became highly successful - one or two in his own field - and it is a measure of his teaching abilities and outgoing personality that many of them kept in touch with him long after they had left school. Whether his passion for Greek and Latin was stronger than his passion for bookbinding is debatable, but they were both intense.

Having retired only last year, Gordon had just moved house with the purpose of establishing a bindery there. It is sad to think that he will never use it.

Gordon was a devout Roman Catholic and so it seems appropriate to end with the words of the Tridentine Mass:

'Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.'

Angela Sutton

photo by Linda Hartley