Tributes pour in for Jeff Bartley champion of the environment

Environmental and fair trade campaigners across Brent have been paying tribute today to Jeff Bartley, the Brent Council officer who led on these issues who died on Monday. Along with others  I was due to meet with him this afternoon to further plans for a School Climate Change Conference to be held in the Spring.

I have sent the following message to his colleagues at Brent Council:

I am so sorry to hear about Jeff's passing. He was an unfailingly kind and considerate man who in his understated way was passionately committed to the environmental cause. It was a pleasure to work with him on the Schools Climate Conference and on other issues within the borough.  He was a good man who will be greatly missed.

Here are other tributes that have been sent on to me:

Peter Moore, Vice Chair of Brent Fairtrade Network::

I am shocked and saddened to hear the news of Jeff’s death. As the former Chair of Brent Fairtrade Network I have greatly valued working with Jeff over the last 5 years. Jeff was such a reliable supporter and friend of our work. The strength of his values was clear and his personal commitment to causes such as Fairtrade and his loyalty to the work of the Council as a whole shone through. I shall miss him greatly and his family and colleagues are much in my thoughts.

Jayanti Patel, Chair of Friends of Eton Grove Park:

For many years Jeff has been one of our strongest supporters among Brent Council staff. He was a strong supporter of our annual "Queensbury Eco-cultural festival" in Eton Grove Park and always pointed us to the right department in Brent Council where he could not help us. Being members of the Executive committee of Brent sustainable forum we worked closely with Jeff on environmental issues in Brent.

On behalf of Friends of Eton Grove Park, we would like to express our most sincere and heartfelt condolences on Jeff's passing. He was the senior Council Officer liaising with and offering support to Friend of Eton Grove Park and we are extremely grateful for all that he did for us.

Ken Montague, Secretary of Brent Campaign Against Climate Change:

Jeff was a good man and will be sorely missed. He was completely committed to his job and to fighting climate change.

Viv Stein, Co-ordinator, Transiiton Willesden and formerly Brent Friends of the Earth and Green Zone board member

During the past 8 or so years I have known him Jeff was keen to involve community groups in Brent in environmental projects, and always asked me how the various groups I was involved with were getting on.  Whether it was setting up the Brent Sustainability Forum, the Green Zones project or developing Brent's Climate Change strategy, he has overseen a raft of programmes designed to make a difference in Brent.  He will have had a tough job to tackle these areas of work at a time of harsh budget cuts across the Council, and his passing will be a great loss to the Borough and its residents.

The Brent and Kilburn Times has posted  story about Jeff on their website HERE

I will be happy to post messages from any other individuals or groups. Please send via e-mail.