Friday 13 January 2017

Daniel Hope Funeral Arrangements and Tributes

Former Barnet Councillor and Blogger Daniel Hope tragically passed away earlier this week at the age of only 44.

As many friends, colleagues and associates of Dan read this blog, I've been asked to publish the funeral arrangements.The funeral will take place 11am today (Friday 13 Jan) at 


Bushey Jewish Cemetery
Little Bushey Lane
Bushey
Herts WD23 3TN.

All will be most welcome.

Perhaps the best tribute to Dan was not surprisingly written by his friend and co-conspiritor David Miller AKA Don't Call Me Dave - www.notthebarnettimes.co.uk/2017/01/heckling-from-heaven.html

There have also been nice tributes in the Barnet Press and The Barnet Times.  The Evening Standard has also been tweeting and put an article online.


In his short life, perhaps the thing Dan will probably best be remembered for his dedication to filming Council business and other public events in Barnet. I think the best personal tribute I can make is put a link to his video channel on Vimeo.  Dan posted a total of 466 videos on the site. That is a huge body of work. Without doubt the loss of Dan and his video camera is something that will do nothing for transparency in politics in Barnet. Whatever disagreements anyone had with Dan, one can only applaud his efforts to improve council transparency. 

Maybe a fitting memorial would be for the Council to make arrangements for a proper Barnet Council video channel, to ensure that all meetings are available for Barnet residents to review, in his honour. In line with Dan's views on such matters, maybe this could be run by volunteers and perhaps could be done as a  joint venture with Middlesex University or local schools. Such a channel would provide young people with an opportunity to get experience of filming/editing and broadcasting and would be a huge innovation. The one thing Dan proved beyiond doubt is that a video record of Barnet Council meetings is a highly useful resource. Lets make sure that this lesson isn't lost with his passing.

2 comments:

Mrs Angry said...

I think that is a great suggestion, Rog.

Unknown said...

A fitting tribute Rog. I always enjoyed his playful yet serious debates and I respected (indeed often sought) his candidness on many issues locally. It would be great if the Council would honour his quest for transparency and put a live stream of Council meetings up for people to see. It won't cost much and it would bring local democracy to more people.