We have been asked to say a little bit about the formation of the Sheffield Occupational Health Project (SOHP, now SOHAS ) and the crucial role Simon played in its development. Through the prism of time, imperfect memories and the fact that we mostly met in pubs where no minutes were taken, here goes! In the mid to late seventies we were friends with Martin Walsh a GP who had trained in Occupational medicine. He first involved me in agitating for better working conditions at a local foundry I was working in at the time as a fettler. Either during or after his training he floated the concept of having teams of workers with shop floor experience and others with from a scientific/ occupational hygiene background to work together in GP surgeries. At the time we had already met Simon who was part of the hazards movement in Sheffield. He had helped deliver some training courses to groups of safety reps organised by the Trade Union safety Committee (TUSC) with which I had become involved with and who were to be supportive of the concept. Simon, with his knowledge, expertise and research skills quickly became involved and, over the following two or three years was totally committed to bringing the ideas to fruition and worked tirelessly for the cause. Eventually, initial funding was identified by Tom Heller I think to enable the first sessions to take place in Darnall Rd surgery in 1980 which Simon and Sue ran. A little later that year we started work in Birley Moor Health Centre after the Family Practitioners Committee agreed (with much arm twisting) to fund the work. Later, as the work proved its worth, more surgeries recognised its value and the SOHP expanded even more. All in all it took around three years from conception to fruition. None of this took place in a vacuum, the seventies and eighties were times of huge swings in workers confidence. The miners brought down Heath in 1974; the Health and Safety at Work Act came in the same year. In 1978 Safety Reps were given greater powers in the workplace. 1979 saw the Winter of Discontent and Thatcher and her cronies were plotting in the wings to destroy the Trade Union movement when it came back to power. In 1980 there was the Steel strike, civil servants strike and the great miners’ strike of 1984 all of which led to further demoralisation of workers and their organisations. Despite all of the above the SOHP thrived throughout the eighties and early nineties and similar projects developed up and down the country. Simon was once again instrumental in helping these new projects get off the ground. It says much about Simon’s endurance and political commitment that the OHP ethos continues to this day through SOHAS. We are aware that much of the above does not capture fully Simon’s spirit and energy or the actual day to day excitement of the work we did together. Simon believed in the old slogan “agitate, educate and organise” and boy did we agitate together. Throughout those fifteen years of campaigning and Simon being our friend and comrade we felt a sense of achievement and pride in ourselves that we never had before. He gave us that and we will be forever grateful. Personal circumstances meant that me and Sue left the project in the early nineties and we lost touch with Simon until last year when we learned he had contracted mesothelioma. Fortunately, we were able to spend some time with him and Mandy reminiscing about the times we shared together. When we look back on those times what really comes to mind is the fun we had, camping in the lake district and Whitby, partying, Simon was a mean dancer, (imagine John Travolta in Pulp Fiction and you’ll get the idea!) our kids even named a dance after him (doing the Pickvance) had the occasional spliff and he once showed me which were the best mushrooms to nibble on in Burngreave cemetery. The working classes have lost a true friend Much love John and Sue Lawson Nils Illegitimatum Carborundun Desperundum