It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Carl Roberts at Penrice Hospital on Tuesday 25th July 2023 at the age of 96.
Carl was a founder member of Cornwall Heritage Trust; a long-serving trustee; our first Treasurer; Honorary Vice Chairman; Life Member; Member Emeritus; and latterly Honorary Life Vice President. But more importantly, he was our friend.
A proud St Austell boy, Carl was passionate about local history and was an ardent supporter of Cornwall Heritage Trust, serving as a trustee until his late eighties. Carl’s particular interest was in Castle an Dinas, an Iron Age Hillfort owned by the Trust and the place where he spent lots of hours re-laying tracks and doing his best to preserve the very precious historic features.
Over the last few days, our trustees have been reminiscing and sharing stories of their time with Carl. The overwhelming theme has been that he was always so interested in people; so friendly, enthusiastic, full of energy, engaging and generous with his time and knowledge. He was unfailingly courteous and smartly presented; as one of our former trustees commented: “Carl was a gentleman in the old-fashioned, best sense of the word.”
Carl was never negative, never critical and never said if we were repeating things that had been tried before – which we must have done many times! He was always supportive and full of ideas for his next project. He was so proud to be a part of the Trust and to be our Honorary Life Vice President. Even in recent months he would telephone the office and exclaim “I’m still interested”!
It really is the end of an era for Cornwall Heritage Trust. We are so glad to have such wonderful memories of a very special man. Carl lit the bonfire at last year’s Platinum Jubilee Beacon Lighting ceremony at Castle an Dinas and enjoyed a merry time with old friends and a glass of sloe gin. We had hoped he would once again cut the cake at our forthcoming 40th anniversary, as he did with such joy at our 30th celebrations, even if he was rather exuberant with the ceremonial sword!
Our love and thoughts go to Carl’s sons, Nigel and David, and their families. Carl was so proud of his family and overjoyed to become a Great Grandfather in recent years.
He leaves a huge gap, a great loss to Cornwall and we will miss him very much – a life well lived.