Last modified on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, 12.50 EST

My friend Eric Pye was 67 years old. He is an adult educator who is passionate about creating equity in the world. He is also a creative recycler, and he has found a way to reuse everything, from clothes to towel racks.

Eric described himself as "the peasant class". He was born in Reinford, near St Helens, and now in Merseyside, is Nee Harrison and Horace Pye. He grew up on the farm they rented without electricity, in the toilet or bathroom.

At Ormskirk Grammar School, he was bullied because of his humble background, became a rebel and expelled, although one of his teachers was able to ensure that he reached O-level. Then, he studied grammar in the sixth grade at Wade Deacon in Widnes.

He always said that when he came to East London University of Technology (now the University of East London), all his belongings in his life were packed in a plastic bag. He graduated from Biophysical Science in 1976.

In 1979, he started working on the Blackfriars Adult Literacy Project and soon became one of its coordinators. It was this experience that inspired him to enter the adult education career.

His residence at the time was in Brixton and Islington, where he was good at avoiding waste and ensuring that everything was used or reused for other things.

After traveling to South America and Russia in the early 1980s, Eric and his partner Jean Ireland moved to Sheffield and in 1984 became Nacro's education manager, a charity that works with criminals to reduce crime. Six years later, he became the governor's support service manager for Sheffield City Council School. In addition, he also participated in the council's counseling and reconciliation services, worked with the school to help resolve conflicts, and affected the lives of thousands of children and parents. He retired in 2013.

He and Jean have two sons, Daniel and Ben. For them, he is a naughty and caring father. They invent games and use recycled garbage to make various toys-shadow puppets, thunderbird costumes and models. .

After Eric and Jean separated, he became the life partner of adult educator Jan Novitzky (Jan Novitzky). After retirement, they began to learn modern jazz dance and travel extensively. Eric also joined a choir and served as team captain at his local bowling club Whiteley Woods, where he brought new ideas for a restrained and quiet game, creating the crumbling interior of the Woods club championship. He often wears a headscarf to participate in competitions.

He is also a keen and creative distributor. There are living roofs everywhere in his self-built shed, and all kinds of old plastic animals roam on it. The plot is full of award-winning scarecrows-ballroom dancers, Jimi Hendrix, bikers and feminists. Eric bought nothing, supporting his vegetables with curtain rods, towel racks, and even an old trampoline frame.

Eric's remains are Young, Daniel and Ben, his brother Keith, and his nephews Dean and Michael.