Neil Trafford

I had held off from posting about Neil Trafford up to now.
I had hoped to be attending his funeral on Wednesday, but I have such a mountain of work to do, that this is looking more and more unlikely. I hope that Neil would appreciate the reasons if I don't make it if I am tied up with working on Liberal Democrat campaigns. I am not going to rewrite what I said in the comments on Liberal Democrat Voice. I will just repeat it here. Rest in Peace Neil.
He was a great campaigner, he knew the issues to fight on.

He was a great literature person, and would phone me occasionally for tips, and the thanks were always sincere and the questions always precise.
He was, as others have said, just a really nice person.
We were colleagues for many years. We weren’t close friends, we had a large age gap (which makes his passing far more tragic), we were at opposite ends of the country and our social circles were different. But in the intensity of many stressful situations, Neil always smiled and got on with the job with conviction and enjoyment. I don’t think we have ever argued about the tiniest of things. He was a total joy to work with and that he should be stolen from us at such a young age is truly tragic. It has been hard, if not impossible, to concentrate since Hilary Stephenson told me earlier today. My mind drifted to Belinda Eyre-Brook, also taken from us recently. Another bright and happy person truly committed to campaigning for the cause, I really began to wonder if their is any justice in this world. I hope I don’t offend anybody by this, but we have lost two people who have selflessly worked to put fellow Liberal Democrats into positions of power, with extreme talent, who frankly in many ways had more talent, humour and conviction than many they promoted. The loss is not just of them, but to all that would follow on their coat tails. I hope that those who have gained from their enlightenment will for just one moment think “we are not worthy”, but will then go on to realise that you are the products of exactly what Neil and Belinda wanted, strong conviction Liberal Democrats selling the message and most of all delivering the action in Town Halls and the House of Commons.