I have the sad duty of announcing the passing of Simon James Herbert, aged 52, on 29th January 2024.
Simon Herbert
Simon was born on 12th July 1971 in Cuckfield to Margaret and Trevor and has one sister, Amanda. He had several jobs before trees including at Do it All, in a bicycle shop and on building sites before moving into sales roles including at Oakley – and thanks to this he had a lovely collection of sunglasses!
His last job prior to entering arboriculture was as a sales person for classic car parts. Apparently, one day he was peering from the window of his office, intrigued by watching a tree team working outside. When the opportunity arose, he took redundancy and enrolled on an arboricultural course at Shuttleworth College in 2006.
This proved to be a pivotal choice as it was here that we met, but more importantly he met Jess, and they became a couple in 2007. Simon went on to work as a contractor in various arboricultural companies and later was encouraged to become an instructor and NPTC Assessor at various private training companies and arboricultural colleges including Moulton, Askham Bryan and recently Merrist Wood.
Simon and Jess were very active in the climbing competition scene – travelling to America and Switzerland to name just two of many locations. Simon used those connections to help many students travel the world. Simon and Jess also enjoyed providing tree climbing experiences in several festival locations, introducing the fun of tree climbing to the wider public.
Simon and Jess got married on 29th October 2011 and went on to have a daughter, Willow, in 2015 and a son, Oaken, in 2020. Sadly, Oaken only lived for two days but remains a much loved and missed family member. He and Simon will share a final resting place.
Other important family members include Tili and Woody, their dogs.
Outside of trees, Simon enjoyed cycling and had recently constructed a road bike from parts he sourced from all over the world. He enjoyed mountain biking and we had many happy trips to Wales and Cannock Chase. Other interests included snowboarding in his earlier life, and music. He had an impressive, eclectic selection of CDs and loved tinkering with cars.
Jess describes him as very practical – turning his hand to various projects.
Chris Cooper Abbs said, ‘I’ve met many people who knew Simon and not one person has ever had a word to say that isn’t positive, whether that be his professionalism, his humour, his hugs, his character or his do-anything-for-anyone attitude.’
Simon’s funeral took place on 29th February at Guildford Crematorium and his impact on so many people’s lives was evidenced by the large number of people who attended (more than 130) with a further 250 watching online. His casket was beautifully hand made from willow by Jess, Willow, other family members and close friends. It also included rope handles from Courant ropes, for whom he was an ambassador.
Simon was a fantastic husband, father and friend and will be greatly missed by all who knew him, his infectious smile, boundless enthusiasm and huge passion for arboriculture.
Ant Harley
This article was taken from Issue 205 Summer 2024 of the ARB Magazine, which is available to view free to members by simply logging in to the website and viewing your profile area.