I first met Hamish when I started as Vicar of St John and St Stephen in 2019. He was clearly 'a big personality' in the church. Everyone had told me how intellectual Hamish was and deeply into theology and philosophy, how he used to discuss for hours with the previous vicar, so I went to visit him in some trepidation. I needn't have worried, because as anyone who knew Hamish found out, as well as having a lively intellect, he was also kind and open to other people. He was so affirming that I felt full of renewed confidence after visiting him. During lockdown we corresponded by letter and I treasure those exchanges. My thinking was stimulated and my sense of humour tickled by his unstinting conviction that 'the Church of England' as an amorphous body, was largely irredeemable, yet Hamish himself had a life-giving, Christ-centred faith that worked itself out in real life pressing issues. Every church should have a 'resident theologian' like Hamish!