TRIBUTES have been paid to a former Shepherd's Bush councillor who played a key role in promotion black history after he died this month.

Ken Martindale, 62, died at his West Kensington home on January 4 after suffering from heart disease.

A Labour councillor between 1986 and 1990, Mr Martindale represented Wormholt Ward and set up the council's Ethnic Minorities Committee.

He moved to England from St Lucia when he was nine and was educated at North Paddington Boy's School where he was subjected to racism from other pupils.

That experience sculpted his life and he went on to set up Black British Heritage, in Goldhawk Road and then Hammersmith Road, in the 1990s to celebrate the lives, struggles and achievements of black British citizens.

He combined his council work with a varied full-time career which included time as a care worker for Ealing Council, professional photographer at English Chamber Orchestra and then running small escorted tours around the UK.

Friend and former borough mayor Dan Filson said: "With his rich bass voice and articulacy, combined with a winning smile, charm, charisma, and great courtesy, he had immense energy, driven by powerful enthusiasm.

"Over several decades, he assisted a wide range in the communities of North Kensington and Shepherds Bush. Decades later, many who remembered him still greeted him as he shopped with his elderly mother in Shepherd' s Bush Market.

"His community activity and influence went well beyond whatever he achieved on the council in a relatively short period as a councillor, as his life and career illustrate."

Mr Martindale also helped oversee the restoration of the memorial to Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton MP, abolitionist and social reformer, by the House of Lords and the grave of abolitionist Thomas Clarkson, in All Saints Churchyard, in Fulham.

He also devised a heritage trail in Hammersmith and Fulham which passed the graves of former slaves Ellen Smith and William Craft who found their way to Cambridge Grove near King Street, Hammersmith, and the memorial to Sir Nicholas Crisp in St Paul's Church.

MP for Hammersmith Andy Slaughter (Lab), said: "He was a man of great ability, knowledge and intelligence. If he wasn't always as appreciated as he should have been, it is only because he was so unassuming, generous and relaxed as a person."

Mayor of Hammersmith and Fulham, Councillor Adronie Alford, said: "I am deeply saddened by the death of Ken Martindale. Ken was a well-known member of the community and he will be greatly missed. I send my condolences to his family and friends."

Councillor Colin Aherne, Opposition Chief Whip, said: "Ken played an active part in the black community and will be missed."

Mr Martindale also served as a governor at Miles Coverdale School, in Coverdale Road and headteacher Anne Hennessey described him as a 'passionate' community man.

She said: "I remember him as a very pro-active and passionate school governor, passionate about the community and always champion of the under-dog.

"As a person, I found him supportive, full of empathy, a good critical friend and very charming. His achievements leave me in awe yet he was such a modest man."

He is survived by his elderly mother, four sisters and six children.

Email your tributes to Mr Martindale to gregburns@trinitysouth.co.uk.

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