Sir Bert Massie President of our BPF Branch

I have just composed aa letter to Bert Massie's widow on behalf of our branch of the British Polio Fellowship, he was our branch president. Tributes have been paid to Sir Berte, the former Commissioner for the Compact and disability campaigner, who died yesterday aged 68 after an illness he was Commissioner for the Compact from 2008 until the role was abolished with the closure of the Commission for the Compact by the coalition government in 2011, also spent seven years as chair of the former Disability Rights Commission.
Bert, who was a wheelchair user because he contracted polio as a baby, was a governor of the charity Motability, which helps people with disabilities to lease cars, scooters or powered wheelchairs.
He was chief executive of the disability charity Radar in the 1990s and was appointed OBE in 1984 and CBE in 2000, then knighted in 2007 for services to disabled people.
Bert was a strong campaigner for disabled people but also a vocal supporter of the Compact, the agreement set up by the Labour government in 1998 that sets out how the voluntary sector and central and local government should behave towards each other.
He was also a member of the former Panel on the Independence of the Voluntary Sector, which produced four annual reports between 2012 and 2015 on the independence of charities.
Richard Corden, who was chief executive of the Commission for the Compact while Bert was the commissioner, said it was an "unalloyed pleasure" to work with him.
"He was a very generous and warm-hearted man, and of course a shrewd and effective campaigner who used a mixture of humour and steel to get what he wanted," said Corden, who is now director of the Southampton Hospital Charity.
"He believed passionately in the power of voluntary action to change people’s lives for the better. He was a force for good in national life."
Declan O’Mahony, director of Motability, said today: "It was with deep sadness that we learned of the death of Sir Bert Massie yesterday morning after his recent illness.
"Bert had been a powerful campaigner for the rights of disabled people for more than four decades and a governor of Motability since 2002.
"We will miss his contribution and expertise in disability matters, as well as his warm manner and distinctive sense of humour."
Tom Levitt, the former Labour MP and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Community and Voluntary Sector, said on Twitter that Bert was a "breath of fresh air, crap-cutter extraordinaire and a great champion of the possible".
Richard Hawkes, chief executive of the British Asian Trust and former chief executive of the disability charity Scope, said on Twitter that Bert was a "lovely man who made an enormous difference for the rights of disabled people".

Today I filmed at Stobarts Widnes inland port and did well, my first ( and last?) experience of the new bridge over the Mersey, no toll booths you have to go online and struggle to pay£2, was it worth it. There is very poor signage to the Stobart port and chaos as trucks are wandering in circles. I then went to film at Seaforth docks but they had roadworks on my favourite spot from exit to the roundabout, I hope they don't destroy everything it was good to have a few blades of grass among all the commerce. Tomorrow I'm up early and off to the North East. Photos Merseyside today