Margaret Barnes
A brief biography of and tribute to Margaret Barnes, who died in March 2019 just prior to her 90th birthday.
Margaret was born in 1929 in Wood Green, London to Elsie and Albert Ringrose. She has two younger brothers, Keith and John. Her father served with distinction as a signalman during the First World War and worked at King’s Cross Station where he was also a fire watcher during the Second World War. His experiences of war led him to want to help people.
“My father believed the Labour Party was probably the best way to help people have better lives after the war. He and my grandmother were also involved in trade union councils”
“My parents met at a Labour Party tennis club in the 1920s and married in 1927. I remember as a child being taken out canvassing by my father, and I have been involved with Labour ever since.”
The tradition was continued in her own family and some of her children’s earliest memories are of leafleting. Her youngest son, Julian, also had “Vote Gordon Bagier” campaign posters on his bedroom wall rather than pop stars.
Margaret went to Loughton High School for Girls (front row, third from the left) and then onto college in Coventry, where she met her husband Bob Barnes through a Student Christian Fellowship. At the time Bob was a Tory voter, but his conversion to socialism went onto him being a Labour member of Tyne and Wear County Council.
Margaret and Bob later moved from Coventry to Huddersfield, before settling in Sunderland in 1966 with their four children, Jeremy, Harriet, Timothy and Julian. Bob was head of the Social Sciences Department at Sunderland Polytechnic and an active member of The Labour party and West Park church. Bob died in 1977 and with three children at home and one at university, Margaret returned to full-time teaching at Newbottle Primary in Houghton Le Spring , having previously taught part-time at St Mary’s Infants and Broadway Juniors in Sunderland.
Margaret’s middle son, Timothy (age 23), was killed in a climbing accident in 1986, after recently qualifying as a psychiatric nurse.
After her retirement from Newbottle Primary School in 1989, Margaret went onto be on the board of governors and head governor for several schools.
She eviscerated The Guardian daily and The Observer each Sunday , keeping abreast of politics and current affairs, taking many cuttings.
She was a heavy smoker for most of her life, giving up over-night at age 70, over a bet with her youngest son. She never smoked again, saying “I told you I could give up if I wanted to.“
The Labour Party
Margaret was a long-standing member of The Labour Party from Loughton to Coventry, Huddersfield and then for over 50 years in Sunderland. She was presented with a Long Service Award by Sunderland Central MP Julie Elliott just weeks before she died.
https://www.julie4sunderland.co.uk/sunderland/2019/03/01/pleased-to-honour-labour-stalwart/
Julie praised her late party colleague “I was deeply saddened to hear of Margaret’s death. She was an incredible woman, with a great sense of honour, who never wavered in her belief that we could build a better world,”
“Margaret worked tirelessly for a great many local community causes over the decades and her support for the Labour Party was also unstinting. She will be missed by many, many people.”
Margaret was my friend, mentor and co-conspirator since 1992. Without her, I don’t think I would be me. We met just after I had been widowed and she inspired me to take life on board again, get back to what my heart wanted to do, and just be bloody minded enough to get on with it!
I will miss her wisdom, willingness to rethink things, and above all her attitude to housework, which was that she was too busy living to worry about having a tidy home. RIP Margaret Barnes
Cynthia Games
Friend and Labour colleague Carol Freeman said “Margaret campaigned tirelessly for Labour for decades. She canvassed, leafleted, door-knocked, ran election committees and held many positions,”
“She was active in a wide range of community campaigns over the years as well, notably Women Against Pit Closures – when she joined the camp outside Vane Tempest pit in Seaham.”
“On a personal level, she was a loyal and steadfast friend. She had a great sense of fun and really enjoyed amusing her friends and family – and sharing their laughter. She will be greatly missed.”
Ian Galbraith, councillor for Barnes, said: “Margaret was an inspiration to us all. She was a one-in-a-million woman who fought for what she believed in – a better world for all. We will all miss her.”
Among the political posts held by Margaret were chair of the women’s section, as well as delegate to the Constituency Labour Party in Sunderland South, Sunderland North and Sunderland Central. She also served as a delegate to the Tyne and Wear Euro Party during the time of Joyce Quin, and later to MEP Alan Donnelly.
She was also a long standing member of the Fabian Society.
Church, Charity and Community
Margaret was baptised at Loughton Union Church after the war and was a regular attender and member at Warwick Road Congregational Church in Coventry. She transferred to Paddock after moving to Huddersfield and then Grange Congregational Church in Sunderland which later merged with Royalty to eventually become West Park United Reformed Church. Here she was an elder and church secretary and also took on roles for the Synod. She finally moved to Roker United Reformed Church where she remained a member till the end.
Margaret believed in justice and equality for all and supported many charities as well as volunteering in the community. We’re not sure just how many as she didn’t shout about it. These are some we know of.
- Elder at West Park and Roker United Reformed Churches
- Volunteer at Messy Church – Community church
- Volunteer at Sunderland and South Shields contact centres – supporting divided families
- Volunteer at The Food Chain – Supplying fresh local food to the community
- Unicef
- Christian Aid
- Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team
- Fistula Charity in India – Supporting women in childbirth recovery
- Palestinian women’s charities
- Tradecraft shareholder – Fighting poverty through fair trade
- Wearside Amnesty International https://www.facebook.com/WearsideAmnesty/
- Global Justice Now https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/ (formally World Development Movement)
Puritan Pleasures of the Detective Story
One of Margaret’s great loves was literature, consuming several books a week. She was a big fan of Jane Austin, re-reading her works many times throughout her life time. She read them along with many other classics in the year before her death.
But more than anything she read detective novels (definitely not crime fiction), with her children hard pushed to keep up with demand. The detective novel requires the reader to believe in a sleuth with integrity, who strives to do the right thing because it is the right thing, bringing justice to the world. Much as Margaret strived to do herself. The title of this section is a reference to the book on the subject by Erik Routley .
Margaret was an avid Scrabble player with friends and family, scoring nearly 400 (three players) in a game in January. She also won her last ever game just two days before she died, trashing her son Julian and his wife.
So why does Margaret wear purple? This is in reference to a favourite poem. “Warning: When I am old I shall wear purple” by Jenny Joseph. It describes many of the shocking things an old woman may get up to and advocates practicing early.
Margaret was sharp and witty to the end and is greatly missed.