Lost friends in Horsham and beyond are past, yet ever present

Many will have intense feelings about the year gone by, with painful memories of privation and loss. No one ever expected to live at a time when a nationally widespread disease killed at a rate of 1,000 a day. Behind each number, lies personal anguish, the numbing absence and the deserted future.

We in Horsham have not been spared and our rate of loss has been disquietingly high. This tragedy has come on top of the normal rate of attrition, one which our address books reminds us every year with the crossing out of once familiar names on every page.

In our town we have lost many of those who have contributed greatly to the life of our home and it sometimes appears that the very social fabric is diminishing irretrievably. We have lost a councillor with more than 25 years’ service to our civic affairs, we have lost a stalwart of the town’s music sphere, and we have lost the very pillar of our researches into the history of Horsham’s buildings.

Horsham’s endeavours in natural history have been diminished by a recent double blow, with the demise of a farming couple who added immensely over the years to our observation and knowledge of nature around us.

Yet the poet Andrew Motion reminds us that ‘the voices live which are the voices lost’ and that’s perhaps what we should turn our thoughts to in this the bleak mid-winter. Each of those alluded to above were notable because they made a gift of their interests and labours to the community of the wider town. They all have left a legacy of public effort and true involvement, using their time and talents to enrich each of us who have survived them. We recall them now as exceptional people, excelling in their area and guiding us to emulate their achievements. Whether it be public duty, musical promotion, historical enlightenment or natural reflection, we have something to learn and be grateful for from these our predecessors. We owe both them and ourselves an obligation: to recall with regret their passing but to recall also their humanity and wisdom.

In these highly unusual times, we have often been obliged to reflect more than in normal days upon what is of real value to us in our lives, what we cherish and in a fundamental sense basically desire. That includes valuing the affectionate presence of family and friends but also the atmosphere of cheerful enquiry and investigation which adds so mightily to the quality of civic life. Let us keep with us the sentiments of Andrew Motion’s verse where he ends by saying,

“How in grief we find a way to keep

The dead beside us as our time goes on

Foundations of ourselves our corner stone.”

The Horsham Society is concerned about the past, present and future of the town. It seeks to promote good planning and design for the built environment and open spaces. Membership of the Horsham Society is open to anyone who shares these concerns. For more information, visit the website www.horshamsociety.org