Tribute to Graham Kerr

We were all saddened to learn of the recent death of Graham Kerr. Graham was born and bred in Nairn. He cared passionately about his home town and on retirement devoted much of his time to making Nairn a better place for everyone – visitors and locals alike. He was determined to make the most of Nairn’s assets.

Graham became a director Nairn Improvement Community Enterprise (NICE) in November 2011 and brought considerable professional and human qualities to NICE’s activities. His engineering background meant that he had a very pragmatic approach to all developments. He kept others grounded – it might have sounded like a good idea but would it work in practice – he forensically questioned many aspects of the town centre development; traffic management; drainage systems; housing development.

Graham was known for his dogged persistence. He held people and agencies to account but always in a polite way. His concern was for his community, he was not concerned with personal status.

In his younger day Graham kept a recreational boat in the harbour. In 2015 when one of the local councillors asked NICE to undertake a study of the harbour and seafront area Graham leapt at the chance to lead the project. He had an overall vision of how to improve Nairn and saw the harbour as an important local,and tourist focus, about much more than just boats. One of his ambitions was to help establish a marine life educational centre.

Over many months Graham met a whole range of people with an interest in the harbour and seafront. Their concerns and aspirations were noted and now form the basis of a detailed report

A typical request from Graham  might say “ if we can get a simple graphic to show the speed of the movement of the sand bar this must be a very good justification for positive action being taken to preserve the future of the harbour.” He was similarly concerned about coastal protection and flood risk and management.

Graham’s contribution to NICE will be sadly missed by all his fellow directors as will his selfless desire to help the community and his home town of Nairn.

Sheena Munro

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