Very sadly we must report that David Hinge, who founded SSAIB and became its first Chief Executive, died on 17th November. David’s role preceded the merger of AISC, Integrity 2000 and SSAIB in early-2001, which created an enlarged and unified SSAIB, laying the foundations for its subsequent growth into the UK and Ireland’s leading fire, security and telecare certification body.
David had a 37-year career in the security industry, becoming firstly a surveyor after responding to an advert in his local Newcastle newspaper back in the early ’60s. As he recalled in his final article for SSAIB News before retiring in 1998, there were only around six installers operating in the north-east of England at that time. The company David joined had only started a year before and had 85 alarms on its books. But just over 11 years later, when David left to become chief surveyor with another north-east business, it had grown that figure to some 10,000.
Born in 1932, David Hinge was a warm and colourful character, reflecting his previous background in the theatre – his father owned a chain of cinemas and theatres including the Grand Theatre at Byker in Newcastle, where David was a young house manager when it finally closed. After five years in the Fleet Air Arm he subsequently spent three years in a touring repertory company before going into theatre management, and later had a theatre museum in the Edwardian Handyside Arcade, Newcastle, which he subsidised through sales of his own surrealist paintings.
SSAIB owes David a considerable debt of gratitude for all of the hard work he put into developing the organisation. Our staff will miss him and we extend our condolences to his wife Wendy and family, as well as all of his friends and colleagues.
If you knew David and would like to leave a tribute to him on this website, please feel free to use the comments box below or email your tribute to the editor (tom@securitynewsdesk.com).
