Peter Saunders, who died on 11 August after many years of heart disease, was a great character - and a great supporter of Wirral Willdife.
He served on our committee for many years, drawing on his career as a local newspaper reporter to author many press articles. He knew just how to get them printed! He also inspired, started, and for a long time edited, our Newsletter, writing much material himself from "interviews" with the rest of us. Peter was very good at getting at what we were trying to say, and putting it in comprehensible form. He was always positive, never one to sit back and do nothing. John Magee wrote to say "I remember the help he gave when he received any article he had requested, he edited and livened up any story in a very professional way. He will be sadly missed by many."
Peter was also active in our sister organisations, Wirral Green Belt Council and Wirral Footpaths and Open Spaces Society. His wife Sheila supported him in many of his activities and cared for him in his later years. We send her our sympathy.
Hilary Ash remembers "Peter had a wide range of interests. I found myself meeting him in all sorts of venues: writing reviews of concerts I played, touring a model railway exhibition (where he enthralled our two sons by telling them of the time he got a footplate ride on the last steam train out of Birkenhead), at Wildlife Trust walks and talks, and simply walking across Wirral on the footpaths. he taught us all the value of good writing and good publicity."
