With his rich bass voice, articulacy, winning smile, charm, charisma, and great courtesy, he combined immense energy with powerful enthusiasm, serving diverse communities in North Kensington and Shepherds Bush. He played in role in the Notting Hill Carnival in the years before it became massive and corporate, and - then aged 22 - in the defence of the Mangrove Nine (who included Barbara Beese whom Ken and I knew well) in 1971. Decades later, he was still greeted as he shopped with his elderly mother in Shepherd’s Bush Market. Andrew Slaughter M.P., paying tribute, said, “He was a man of great ability, knowledge and intelligence. If he wasn't always as appreciated as he should have been, it is only because he was so unassuming, generous and relaxed as a person.” A Hammersmith and Fulham Labour councillor from 1986 to 1990, he was founder chair of the Ethnic Minorities Committee and, as ex-officio member of the main council committees, had access to all main decision-making forums, which he used to voice the needs of the varied ethnic minorities in the borough. Unlike most ward councillors, people came to him for support and advice from all wards, often in preference to their ward councillors, so he had a formidable caseload. This was not always realised by his fellow councillors. However, his community activity and influence went well beyond whatever he achieved on the council in his relatively short period as a councillor, as his life and career illustrate. Ken Martindale arrived as a 9-year-old by ship from St. Lucia on his own to join parents already in London. He suffered - like many others in that period - from the rampant racism of the period, and acquired most of his learning in the ‘University of Life’, making good by voracious reading of what took his interest. Latterly, he completed a Travel and Tourism Management course, but had little opportunity to use the skills acquired. Finding work as a youngster in those days was far from easy. He moved from a range of poorly paid jobs, to a period as a residential care worker with Ealing Borough Council, and subsequently picked up the skill to become a professional photographer. He was for a period house photographer for the English Chamber Orchestra, providing the still photographs that adorn CVs, posters and programmes. Later he turned to running occasional small escorted tours around London and England, often drawing on his knowledge of black British heritage. From 1986 onwards, he was a school governor of various schools including Miles Coverdale School, Shepherd's Bush where he was for several years vice-chairman of the governing body. Anne Hennessey, the former head teacher of the school, recalls, “I remember him as a very pro-active and passionate about the community and always champion of the under-dog, supportive, full of empathy, a good critical friend and very charming. His achievements leave me in awe - yet he was such a modest man.” He established Black British Heritage in the 1990s to celebrate struggles and achievements of black British citizens, both those of the post-Windrush period and those already in the UK. One focus was on the lives and experiences of Caribbean and African men and women in the armed forces in both World Wars. Black British Heritage operated on a shoestring, and sometimes less, first from a shop in Goldhawk Road and then from far-from-lovely, usually unheated, offices in Hammersmith Road. It also celebrated the achievements of those striving for the abolition of the slave trade and of slavery itself, Olaudah Equiano for example, but also the many white English campaigners. He pressed successfully for restoration of the All Saints Fulham grave of abolitionist Granville Sharp (1735 –1813) and the highly ornate memorial to Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton M.P., abolitionist and social reformer (1786-1846) in Victoria Gardens. He played a major role in ensuring that there would be a bicentennial permanent memorial to the Abolition of the Slave Trade in the City of London. Fen Court was, appropriately, close both to the sugar trade head-quarters and also to the church where worked English poet and clergyman John Newton (1725–1807) author of ‘Amazing Grace’, a former slave-ship captain turned prominent supporter of abolitionism. He devised a heritage trail in Hammersmith and Fulham passing such places as the homes of runaway slaves Ellen Smith and William Craft who found their way to Cambridge Grove, off King Street, Hammersmith, and the memorial in St Paul's Church to Sir Nicholas Crisp who played a less honourable role in the slave trade. Sadly, in recent years loss of funding and premises meant Black British Heritage had lately become almost moribund. With his portable displays, despite his fast declining health, he was still visiting schools even in the weeks before Christmas. He leaves behind his elderly mother , four sisters and six children born over three decades, and others who loved him dearly.