Schoolchildren are raising money to pay for a headstone for the grave of a much-loved reading volunteer who was one of the pioneers of the Evening Standard’s literacy campaign.
Peter Greenspan was found dead from a suspected heart attack last weekend. He was sitting in an armchair at his home in Pimlico and had been reading a book.
The 72-year-old was one of the first volunteers to sign up to the Get London Reading campaign and spent more than three years mentoring children at St Mary’s School in Battersea.
He is set to be buried in a pauper’s grave by Westminster council. The school will hold a memorial mass and children will take part in a sponsored readathon in September to raise money for a headstone. Mr Greenspan was a child film and television actor before becoming a distributor of European films to British cinemas.
Friends said his time volunteering at the school with literacy charity Beanstalk had “revolutionised” his retirement. Kate Loyns, recruitment and training executive at Beanstalk, said the children “adored him” and he used his stage school training to bring characters in the books they read to life.
Jared Brading, head of St Mary’s school, said: “He was a part of the life of the school, attending assemblies, productions and other events and he will be sadly missed by the whole school community.”
Mr Greenspan’s friend Janet Price said the last four years were some of his happiest times, and he “never stopped talking about the children in the school”. She described the former Samaritan volunteer as “universally good company. He was very funny and we will miss him enormously”.
