In memory of Professor Tim Darvill
Our friend and colleague, Professor Tim Darvill, died on 5 October after receiving treatment for cancer since February of this year. He married his partner, Caoimhe, at the end of September and then spent his last days at home, where he died with his wife beside him. Our thoughts are with her and we hope it comforts her to know how much Tim will be missed and how significant his contribution has been in changing many lives for the better through Human Henge
We made contact with Tim in 2015 to ask for advice about how we might use Stonehenge and its landscape as part of a project to help people living with mental ill-health. Instead of the dire warnings we were expecting about the difficulties of access and of working with English Heritage and National Trust, Tim was immediately full of enthusiasm and offered to help us develop the project that became Human Henge.
Together with Yvette Staelens, co-opted on Tim’s advice, and Martin Allfrey, Head Curator of English Heritage, Tim developed the programme for Human Henge. Our participants were recruited by Danny O’Donaghue, Locality Manager of the Richmond Fellowship. Tim also recruited Professor Vanessa Heaslip of Bournemouth University to undertake the research into our participants’ well-being before, during and after the project: this provided the hard data to demonstrate the impact of the programme.
To this formidable collection of talents, Tim added qualities of his own: a certain wildness and freedom of expression and thought, a love of flamboyance, story-telling and theatre, all of which would contribute to the excitement and magic of the sessions. Yvette as leader and facilitator attended every session, with Martin and Danny. Tim often contributed to the sessions in person, wearing his expertise lightly, treating people seriously, showing them respect and paying them close attention. Listening to Tim and Martin, laughing at Danny’s headgear, singing and performing with Yvette and observing the trust and friendship between Yvette and Tim, our participants grew in self-confidence, formed friendships, took risks, made memories and learnt to be imaginative and creative in the presence of the ancient past.
Tim’s legacy endures. Many recent projects have been based on the Human Henge template that he helped to create: these include Scaling Up Human Henge, which Tim initiated and delivered from Bournemouth University, strongly supported by Kerry Barrass. There is a growing acknowledgement of the therapeutic value of heritage resources in academic publications and conferences. Most of all, his legacy survives in the living testimonies to mental ill-health overcome and lives made richer and happier.
Thank you, Tim.
Laura Drysdale, Director (retired) Sara Lunt, Trustee
