PAT O’Donnell was a wonderful friend to us in both the Elstree and Borehamwood Green Belt Society and Elstree and Borehamwood NSPCC.

He was a valued member of the Green Belt committee and generously contributed his internet skills to the cause of conservation. He set up our website and ran it for us. He transformed our expenses by masterminding the printing of our Newsletter at a fraction of the previous cost.

We will all miss his participation in our discussions and his readiness to take part in demonstrations and campaigns.

We will also miss his kind and gentle friendship and his soft Irish brogue.

His support of the NSPCC was through the Bookstall team. Twice yearly we run a secondhand book stall which attracts book addicts with its huge selection and rock bottom prices. Pat was very well read and used his wide knowledge to organise the hundreds of paperbacks and hardbacks ranging in subject from 'chick lit' to abstruse philosophy. He would then sell books with the rest of the team making a substantial contribution towards the £10,000 we sent annually to support the work of the NSPCC.

I shall miss him personally as he was one of a band of friends who were fans of the direct transmission films at the Reel Cinema and Radlett Centre and was a guest of my family.

He was involved in so many other community events and gave his help so willingly. We shall all remember him with great affection.

Ann Goddard

Chairman of Elstree and Borehamwood Green Belt Society and NSPCC