Dieter was the son of a German bank manager who considered himself a free spirit and expressed this in part though beautiful long wavy light chestnut-coloured hair. He wore thick glasses of necessity and discovered a new skill while here when he hewed the sandstone to create, alone, one section of the outer ‘skin’ wall on the Universal Hall.

His is the one with the awe-inspiringly tight-fitting stones that hold a generous mandala that overlooks the waterfall on the south wall.

Amazingly all the apprenticeship he’d undergone was one long summer alongside the local Scottish stonemason who was employed to dress the wall to left of the main entrance. There were four aspiring stonemasons who stepped up to the considerable task of covering the breeze block walls with the warm-coloured local sandstone. Two had experience: Michael ‘Monocle’ Davidson was stone mason and Richard Valeriano was a master builder, although James Hill and Dieter proved more than equal to the task despite being novices.

So Dieter, whom we already loved and appreciated dearly, won our awed admiration and respect. As he does to this day whenever people learn the story.

However, during that period a journalist turned up, and as they so often did, sought out anyone with long hair, presumably bent on promulgating us as a hippie community. Dieter was easy to gravitate to because he was engaging and eloquent while neither pushy nor given to exaggeration. So we trusted him to speak to the press.

Not so Peter. He was furious that Dieters’ locks had locked the journalist, precisely because he knew the primary reason. To the consternation and shock of a number of people nearby Peter subsequently ordered Dieter to get a hair cut.

Now, when news of this outrage reached the ears of one of our gifted satirists he immediately wrote the most hilarious skit. In true and blessed taking-the-mickey-out-of-a-holy-cow style, the incident was lampooned, forever laid to rest, and Dieters’ locks stayed on his head.

We all laughed long, loud and gratefully. The Power of Humour proved invaluable and a lesson Peter bore with good grace.

Amanda Haworth