Phil Baldwin: Family launches campaign for 'place to remember' popular Sheffield man who died suddenly at 32

Phil ‘Tek’ Baldwin passed away suddenly in 2018 to the shock and sadness of everyone who knew him. The sound engineer called a taxi for work on the morning of October 6 – only to be found dead at the bottom of the stairs shortly afterwards for reasons still not understood. He was 32.

Now, his family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to create a bench overlooking the city in his memory at Sheffield General Cemetery. It is hoped the seat can be funded and finished in time for the cemetery’s reopening this spring at the end of an ongoing, extensive renovation project by the council.

Phil’s sister Ella Baldwin said: “We want to create a place where we can sit and think about him. It may feel like it’s been a long time since he passed for some, but for his friends and family it feels like it could have been last month.

“Phil was very kind and generous. When we went out for walks, it took three times as long to get anywhere as he would always spot someone he knew. He had lots of friends.

“He was just the best big brother. I never realised how we had become such good friends. When we lived at home together we fought like cats and dogs but when we both moved to Sheffield we became really close friends and I didn’t really realise it. Sheffield without him has been very strange.”

The GoFundMe has set a target of £1,300 to build the bench. At time of writing (February 9), the page was live for just over 24 hours and had raised more than £450 in that time.

Phil was a reportedly a huge Liverpool fan who also loved listening to and creating his own music. He was a sound engineer for community radio and TV station Sheffield Live.

Ella said: “We’ve thought for a long time how we’ve wanted to make a memorial space and wanted it to be somewhere Phil would go to. We might do some fundraising too, but we need to think of something he wouldn’t find cheesy.”