East Lothian Housing Association (ELHA) is very sorry to have to announce the death of Roy Fawcett, the founding chair of the Association, on 2 January 2017.

Roy was a committed member of the steering committee which planned the setting up of ELHA in 1987/88, and at the first AGM in Spring 1988 was elected chair – a position he held until 1998.

Roy oversaw ELHA’s first development programme in the years leading up to 1996 but was especially influential in the long and protracted negotiations which led to the stock transfer in 1996 of 632 former Scottish Special Housing Association houses.

Thereafter (when ELHA almost trebled in size overnight as a result of the transfer), Roy’s advice and support was invaluable as the Association greatly expanded its staff and sought to provide a new, purpose-built office.

Roy was supremely calm and collected in any crisis with a jovial and open personality which made everyone at ease with him. Some of the people he helped to recruit to the management committee are still with ELHA today, as are many of the long-serving staff. He was deeply committed to the cause of providing affordable rented housing in East Lothian and, along with his many achievements in his personal and professional life, left behind a thriving Association which is indebted to him for his ten years of dedicated service.

A Thanksgiving Service will be held at 2.00pm on Saturday 21 January 2017 at Holy Trinity Church, Haddington, with a gathering afterwards at the Trinity Centre.