Local historian and tour guide Michael Robins has died at the age of 64.
Mr Robins, who used to live in Brunswick Terrace, Hove, worked as a British Airways steward for 28 years.
But locally he will be best remembered for his passionate commitment to the preservation and restoration of St Andrew’s Church in Waterloo Street, Hove.
Appropriately, his funeral will be held there next Friday (21 January) at 11.45am.
It will be followed by a wake and a celebration of his life at the Robin Hood Pub, Cross Street, Hove.
Mr Robins gave entertaining tours of St Andrew’s and the wider area, having started his career in the tourist industry at Woburn Abbey, home of the Dukes of Bedford.
He took up the cause of St Andrew’s Church in 2003 on behalf of the Churches Conservation Trust.
The church was built in 1828 by Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament, the Royal Sussex County Hospital and St Peter’s Church in Brighton.
St Andrew’s closed in 1991 as congregations dwindled and was in a rundown state when Mr Robins began his work there.
He died on Monday (10 January) at the Martlets Hospice in Hove.
Valerie Paynter, of Save Hove, said: “His colourful and committed presence within the conservation community will be missed. He was unique.”
