Robinson successfully defended his school from closure, fought for the unification of the teaching unions, mentored future trade union leaders and transformed teaching at the Marx Memorial Library, writes JOHN FOSTER

IT IS the council housing that can leave the strongest impression in the villages, small towns and hamlets of our countryside.
Still today, it is the well-built council family houses, mostly semis or small terraces, with their generous garden and community spaces, often paying homage in their design to local building traditions, that seem most practical and homely.
With their old privet hedges, mini-greens and trees often older than the houses, they are as much part of our countryside as old churches, pubs and timber-framed cottages.


