committed and generous than Penny Iveson, someone many local people will remember as a brave and life-long campaigner for women’s rights.

Very sadly Penny died last week at the age of eighty, after a long struggle with cancer that tragically affected her sight and balance and stripped her of her once confident stride. She lost the wild beautiful hair that had been one of her most noticeable features and walked with a new hesitancy, but, as our Trustee Andy Winter has written, “cancer could not blunt that fighting spirit”.

Andy recalls Penny as I do “Tall, elegant with a shock of red hair falling below her shoulders, it wasn’t just her appearance that made an indelible mark. It was also the fire in her belly for social justice, particularly the rights of women, that is unforgettable.” You can read Andy’s Argus article about her here. https://wp.me/pDTWu-2kX?

In her later years, ill and struggling to see, Penny remained  full of fight. From time to time, we’d meet for lunch. We’d often argue. She gave and asked no quarter. 

Over the years Penny was active in almost all areas of feminist campaigning. She’d been a peace campaigner at Greenham Common, then went on to campaign against pornography (well before the internet) and all forms of misogyny and domestic and sexual violence. 

In her last year of life, she became fascinated by the story of Mary Clarke and our campaign to commemorate her and others like her. Penny was fierce in defence of any women or girl subject to sex-based violence – and she admired those, like the suffragettes, prepared to resist injustice and make personal sacrifices in so doing.

She leaves two wonderful daughters and for those of us that knew her, treasured memories. She was a bright star and it is hard to believe she has left us.