The Campaigner
Dirk’s most vigorous involvement in charitable
work came during the late 1980s and in the 1990s, when he was a
tireless standard bearer for BACUP (now Cancerbackup)
and a vice-president of the Voluntary
Euthanasia Society. Over the years, however, he had supported
many campaigns, charitable and otherwise, on an ad hoc basis, by
making a broadcast appeal, by joining a list of distinguished signatories,
by contributing a painting or drawing to be auctioned for funds,
by speaking at a conference, and - in the case of the Royal National
Institute for the Blind - by reading his books for audiocassette.
Among the other beneficiaries of his efforts were:
The Animal Health Trust (1955)
Campaign against entertainment tax (1958)
The Hertford British Hospital in Paris (1963)
Private Eye (1964 and 1966) - see Obituaries
Appeal for refugees from Tibet (1965)
Unmarried mothers and illegitimate children – televised
appeal (1966)
The Lady Hoare Thalidomide Trust (1967)
The Sunny Bank Anglo-American Hospital, Cannes (1970s-80s)
Sense (1991)
Campaign against the opening of McDonald’s in the
King’s Road, Chelsea (1991)
The Barry Reed Medical Oncology Research Laboratory, St
Bartholomew’s Hospital, Homerton (1992)
Campaign against the imposition of VAT on books (1993)
Children In Crisis (1994)
A27 Action Group campaign against planned dual carriageway
in East Sussex (1994)
Campaign against closure by Westminster City Council of
Great Smith Street library (1996)
The Salamander Oasis Trust (1995) |
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