Fans rally round to help open garden in memory of Ben | Latest news

Fans of a well-known stage and screen actor have rallied to support his widow in creating a relaxing outdoor space for the NHS staff who cared for him.

Ben Roberts, famous for playing the gloriously dour Chief Inspector Derek Conway in the long-running TV drama, The Bill, died on 7 June. He had been a patient at the Renal Unit at Nottingham City Hospital for 15 years.

“Ben and I both had such immense gratitude for everything all the staff did for us,” said his widow, Helen. “We were at the unit a lot over the years; we got to know all the staff and formed many lasting friendships. Ben was adamant that we should do something to thank them for their care and support in the event of his death, which sadly came more suddenly than we had anticipated.”

Helen launched an appeal to create an outdoor space and was overwhelmed with the response, with donors across the world recalling fond memories of Ben, who was nothing like his on-screen character.

“One of his lifelong nicknames was That Awful Boy, given to him by a school friend’s mum, and it stuck,” said Helen. “He had a wicked sense of humour; was a practical joker. He was also political and a Francophile; he couldn’t speak French but he shrugged very effectively.”

Helen grew up in Nottingham, and the couple moved to the area in 1979 - “because it was in the middle. We were both actors, we went where the work was. Living here meant there was a chance that – despite work commitments often putting us at opposite ends of the country - we might see each other occasionally!

“In fact, I was working in London when we married at Marylebone Register Office in 1981. There were crowds milling outside when we arrived. But they were nothing to do with us; Ringo Starr had just married Barbara Bach.” 

Son Joe was born three years later, when Helen was a Continuity Announcer at Central Television in Nottingham.

Ben – who had developed rheumatoid arthritis in the early 2000s - suddenly started to feel ill.

Helen said: “He’d lost a lot of weight and was very frail, and incredibly breathless. He couldn’t walk a few yards without having to stop; tests at Derby Royal revealed kidney failure.”

His symptoms improved slightly after peritoneal dialysis and Ben was referred as a potential transplant patient at the end of 2008.

“Ben was very lucky to wait only three months to get a kidney transplant,” said Helen, “but ongoing complications meant he visited the Renal Unit regularly. The unit is special - the concentration of care is huge.”

Even though the kidney transplant didn’t cure all Ben’s ills, Helen said they were both grateful to his anonymous donor and their family and for the extraordinary care he received from staff at the unit.

“They gave us an extra 13 years together; we had more holidays in France when appointments eased off, and Ben was able to get to know our granddaughter Elsie. Elsie and Ben were partners in crime from the year dot. He once ‘painted’ her face with felt-tips, not realising they were permanent markers. She had a green nose for months.”

The couple isolated completely for two years: “Ben was terrified of catching Covid because he knew it would kill him.”

On June 6 2021, Ben and Helen emerged for the first time, for a day at a D-Day memorial vintage airshow at The Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden.

“The family had visited the previous week. Elsie spent a day with us too, for the first time in two years”.

“But the airshow was the first time Ben had been out anywhere except into the garden or into the Renal Unit for two years. We had a wonderful day – Ben was a qualified pilot and I have a half-built aeroplane in my garage!”

Ben became ill on the way home from the show, and Helen took his straight to City Hospital. He died the next day, with Helen, Joe and Joe’s partner Vikki, at his bedside.

“The airshow was his last day, and a lovely memory to have. He was hanging on in for his second transplant,” said Helen. “If Covid hadn’t happened he might have had it.”

After his death, Helen decided to carry out his wishes to do something to thank the staff at the Renal Unit: “they were all just amazing.”

“Hayley Bell was Ben’s first nurse, and was special to him. She told me that Ben never, ever complained. And he didn’t. No matter how ill he felt, he never complained.”

Hayley and Helen have kept in touch and Hayley mentioned that a door in the staffroom had been opened up, creating access to a courtyard.

“I said ‘that’s it, we’ll do a garden – Ben’s Garden’”.  Helen launched a fund-raising campaign on Facebook: “I got donations from all over the world – it was amazing! There were so many small donations from people who’d never met Ben, because The Bill was their favourite programme, or they’d seen him on stage somewhere.”

“I’m really grateful to Hayley and Dr Mark Jesky – they were the movers and shakers who made it happen. And to volunteer Chris Cochane for looking after it.”

“The garden is special, and I’m immensely grateful to those who are keeping it going. Everyone is growing cuttings, including me from my garden. There are seats, and cushions; it gives the staff somewhere to go, and sit quietly for a while, and reflect for five minutes. There are so many crises happening on those wards, constantly, and the staff become attached to the patients – not just the medics, but all staff because they see patients so regularly. In the transplant unit, patients are seen so often, three times a week or more immediately post-transplant. It’s such a busy unit.

“And now other families want to donate to the garden, in memory of their loved ones or just as a thanks to the staff, which is fantastic. It is Ben’s Garden – it was us who got it started, but it mustn’t be just Ben’s Garden, it is so much more than that. I want it to be everyone’s garden, where loved ones are remembered, whether that is for thanks for a successful transplant, or sadness that someone didn’t get a transplant or we’re sorry they didn’t get another five years. Whatever the reason, all the staff, they just give so much - such concentrated, focused, intense care.”

Ben’s sisters Monica and Ann, nephew Darren and his wife Vicky and their two children joined Helen, son Joe, partner Vikki and Elsie – and close friends – for the official opening of the garden. “It was like meeting old friends when we came to the garden opening,” said Helen, “just wonderful”.

Hayley thanked Helen and everyone who made the garden happen and said: “To be able to sit outside (particularly in the heat of the summer this year) has been so welcomed by our staff.

“Chris - who works for Nottingham Voluntary Services - is a keen gardener. He helped me plant up the troughs and pots and kept the plants going by watering them throughout the scorching summer and happily maintains the garden whenever he is at work.”

Dr Mark Jesky said: “One of the privileges of being part of a kidney team is that we are able to support people like Mr Roberts and his family through their journey with kidney disease, though both good and more challenging times. We are really grateful for the wonderful outdoor area. It is already getting lots of use from staff members and provides a relaxing space to help support the wellbeing of the kidney team.”

Helen paid tribute to the staff at the Renal Unit: “They are very special people doing a very special job. We are also immensely grateful to Ben’s anonymous donor who gave Ben 13 amazing years with his family and friends, and the opportunity to continue working.”

“If I got my way organ donation would be mandatory, and there would be no opting out. Think of all the thousands of people whose lives could be saved.”

Helen still calls at the unit occasionally, and takes time out in Ben’s Garden to reflect.

“The staff in the Renal Unit gave me and Ben time together that we wouldn’t have had in any other way. And ok, he wasn’t always in the best of health, but it is far, far better than the alternative.

“Life with Ben was never ever boring – not for one second,” said Helen. “He was a very generous soul. He was good fun, and a complex character. As the inscription on his bench in the staff garden says ‘He was complicated’.

 “I miss him dreadfully.”