Sad news about Arthur Finch

Arthur Finch 13/2/30 – 22/8/07

We are deeply sorry to announce the passing of Arthur on 22nd August 2007, after months of illness. He died peacefully at our home here in Bembridge, Isle of Wight, with the invaluable practical back-up and spiritual support of the Earl Mountbatten Hospice, IOW.

Some of you may know him as the distinguished professor of inorganic chemistry, with DScs from London and Khartoum Universities. As a chemist, affectionately known as ‘Dr. Arthur’, you may have come to know him through his many travels to universities and institutes in every corner of the world…. the more obscure, dangerous and challenging, the more tempting in his view!

Not only did he excel in science but his knowledge of literature, poetry, politics, music and religion would put most of us to shame.

He played the organ every Sunday, until last month even, at his local Methodist Church in Egham and of course there was his allotment in Egham which he tended at weekends, enthusiastically growing vegetables and fruits and meeting and sharing banter with the locals.

He loved animals too. Perhaps you came across him via the charity we founded ‘Greyhounds in Need’, caring for the greyhounds of Spain, of which he was a Trustee. You might have spoken to him over the phone, met him in London or Dublin at a greyhound welfare meeting, seen him at one of our many fundraising events or visited him in the GIN Wraysbury office where he went every day right up until the last.

Or you may have met him in more recent months, when, due to a hip replacement, a DVT, followed by a diagnosis of cancer of the pancreas and liver, he, for the first time in his life, needed medical attention and the assistance of nurses and doctors in the Egham/Windsor/IOW areas.

Whatever your connection with him was, you most certainly will have been touched by his polite and lovely manner, his generosity, thoughtfulness and kindness, and on knowing him better, his wicked sense of humour! He was much loved and respected by all who met him; even at the last, his oncologist said he lit up the clinic whenever he attended.

He leaves wife Beryl Anne, three children Christine, Robert and Glenda, and three grandchildren Bill, Roger and Polly. Not to forget Lurchy his beloved dog and constant companion these last four years.

We will all miss greatly this wonderfully colourful character who embraced life so fully and contributed to it so generously.

The Burial service will take place on Tuesday 11th September

at Englefield Green Cemetery, Surrey, at 1:30pm

followed by a

Service of Thanksgiving at the Methodist Church, Wendover Road, Egham, at 2:15pm.

All are welcome.

The church has kindly offered to provide refreshments, so if coming, please telephone my sister Barbara, on 01983 612779 so we have some idea of numbers to cater for.

Family flowers only, with donations in lieu please towards the wonderful work of the Earl Mountbatten Hospice, I.O.W.

c/o Robert Duncan of H.V. Taylor & Son, Funeral Directors, 45 Green Street, Ryde, PO33 2QE