Many members of KTS will be very sorry to hear that Joan Griffiths died on October 19th. She had been diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, but typically kept on working and enjoying life as long as she was able.
Joan was a force of nature and a fount of energy, and sometimes seemed to be doing every job that needed doing round the Estate. At various times (and sometimes concurrently) she was Treasurer, Secretary and Membership Secretary of KTS, as well as editor of the Newsletter and organiser of the Society’s trips to Chichester Theatre and Glyndebourne. She also joined the board of Kemp Town Enclosures, and was a keen Vole in the days when much of the Gardens was still postwar primeval jungle. When she and Griff moved from Sussex Square to Rottingdean Place, she took on the overgrown gardens there with the same formidable vigour.
In recent years she became membership Secretary and treasurer of the Brighton and Hove Arts Council, under the aegis of Vaughan Rees, attracting lots of new members, distributing programmes by hand round the Estate and curating the annual art exhibition. It was an ideal job for her, with her keen appreciation of music and modern art. BHAC as well as KTS will long miss her vivid sense of fun, her elegance and her sheer indomitable drive.
We send our thoughts and condolences to Griff and all her family.