Tower and Town, October 2026 (view the full edition)Family NewsRobin Nelson, who died peacefully on 21 August, was Tower and Town’s Nature Correspondent until May 2025. Robin’s passionate interest and knowledge was broader than simply that of an ornithologist and it showed in his lively articles. His annual birdwatching course at Marlborough College’s Summer School was hugely popular for his good-humoured idiosyncratic leadership “thorough bush thorough brier”. As the College’s Director of Music for two decades, he never let up, running the Orchestra, Chapel Choir, Choir tours, House Song Competition and umpteen varieties of musical activity around the school, besides teaching. He invited top-class musicians to the regular Subscription Concerts and ran the Choral Society. Both were immensely popular and attracted wide support locally. After he retired, he conducted the Swindon Choral Society and performed in the Swindon Railway Centre the cantata he himself composed, Atlantic Odyssey, which celebrated the remarkable migration of the Arctic Tern, combining his two passions: music and birds. His musical taste and expertise was of the broadest sort, as his much-appreciated home-based music courses also demonstrated. A performance of one of his Christmas Carols in the King's, Cambridge annual Nine Lessons and Carols was a fitting triumph. We miss his vitality and energy. Swatting his way around a squash court, he was the noisiest player in Marlborough. With a slap on his thigh, things were “Hilarious” and “Terrific” and lots more. Our thoughts and sympathies are with Sally, Giles and Kirsty. Naomi Painter |