Written by Matt Reed – Director of CCRI
For most of us, grief is a familiar but unwelcome companion – being part of a community is to take a risk on friendship but also on the probability of loss. On the 25th October our friend, colleague, and mentor, Professor Nigel Curry, died. We had known that Nigel had been unwell for some time, but late last week came the news that we had been dreading.
Nigel’s contribution to the CCRI, which he founded in 1986 (previously known as the ‘Countryside and Community Research Unit’) continued after his formal retirement from academia, when he continued to serve rural communities and his fellow citizens, particularly those facing challenges. What cannot one see from this sharing of his achievements is the ‘how’; the way in which he conducted himself, and in that, the legacy he left with people.
I always found Nigel to be incredibly kind. One time, we were travelling together, and I was robbed, not physically harmed, but I lost some possessions and some of my work. In that moment, Nigel was incredibly kind and thoughtful, which he continued to be for weeks afterward as the losses were put right. Which is not to suggest he was unworldly; he navigated opportunities and worked to create new structures to benefit others, and to do that requires a bit of nous. I also remember the fun, the stories of six-legged chickens (eeking out the family budget when he was a child), his home-stitched leather (PVC) trousers, and the deep humour he could summon from a life thoroughly and fully lived. In the last few years, I realise how much of the craft of research and managing people he was passing onto me. Those of us who worked with Nigel benefited from that time, sometimes decades, sometimes a few years, and others who work in the organisations that he shaped have benefited indirectly.
Many of his friends knew Nigel as a musician but I knew him as a writer and one very dedicated to his craft: he suggested to me that, much like playing an instrument, to write well you had to do so daily, working at and honing your skills. He would carry out bravura acts of academic achievement – such as writing papers in a matter of weeks, deftly demonstrating his command of the form. As a scholar his was insightful and well read, probing and questioning in a way that was meant to build you up, when others were looking to pull you down. None of that was achieved without a huge effort, but he hid his labour, as he was largely focused on you in conversation when he was obviously carrying a great deal more but at that moment he was in conversation with you.
Nigel was someone who never stopped building and imagining how things could be better – more impactful in the world, more effective in policy, more fair and balanced in society and more embedded in community. He was also funny, quietly creative and disarmingly humble about his achievements. The CCRI past, present and future owes a massive debt to Nigel’s spirit and vision which will live on in our work for years to come.
Much mourned here; missed and admired in equal measure.
Professor Nigel Curry 20.12.1951 – 25.10.2025 was a Board member of ACRE and of YMCA/Community Lincolnshire Rural Community Council in 2021.
He was a trustee of the Gloucestershire Rural Community Council (now Community Action in Gloucestershire) between 2002 and 2013.
Secretary of State appointment to Dartmoor National Park Authority between 1998 – 2004.
Chaired the South West Regional Development Agency Rural Research Priorities Board between 2004 – 2007.
He founded the Countryside and Community Research Unit, (later Institute) in 1986, held a lifetime chair at the University of Gloucestershire and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for his contribution to community development in 2021, by Bishop Grosseteste University.
A memorial page has been set up in tribute to Nigel, where friends can share tributes to a man whose life, spirit and ethos touched many.
