THE local business world and charity and church circles have been shocked and sorrowed by news of the sudden death, at the age of 59, of Graham Whalley.

One of three brother directors of the well-known Betakreet fencing and concrete products company, he suffered a fatal collapse at his home in Green Leach Lane, St Helens, on Sunday.

A cheerful, hard-working and unassuming personality, Graham never sought the limelight although he was extremely generous with his time and effort in supporting a number of worthy causes, including the handicapped, and, more recently, the local homeless.

He leaves a wife, Sheila, a local magistrate who is also a keen charity and church worker, sons Shaun and Giles, daughters Nicola and Kelly and three grandchildren.

Graham had worked within the family construction business since leaving Robins Lane School, Sutton. He had seen it grow from a modest outlet initially set up by his father, Jack Whalley (now retired and in his eighties) on a former allotment site down Normans Road, Sutton, into a major fencing systems business based on the Jackson Street industrial estate and with teams operating throughout the region.

He was the oldest of five self-employed brothers, two of whom, Neil and Geoff, are fellow partners in the Betakreet company -the others being the late Ian, and Alistair who has successfully settled down in South Africa.

Their only sister, Jill, is married to another prominent business personality, George Edwards, well known in local property development and building circles.

The funeral will take place tomorrow (Friday) at St Anne and Blessed Dominic Church, Sutton, at noon. Burial will follow at St Helens Cemetery.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.