TRIBUTES have been paid to former councillor and campaigner, Anne Greagsby, who died on November 3.

The cremation at Thornhill on November 22 followed a non-religious service attended by husband Max Wallis and Ms Greagsby’s eight children. Neil McEvoy AM delivered a tribute and led the service. A post mortem found Ms Greagsby’s sudden death at 67 resulted from deep vein thrombosis.

Mr Wallis said: “Anne’s last job was with the Disability Rights Commission in Wales, though she more recently campaigned against privatised military training at the St Athan base – a success she organised behind the scenes. She had strong anti-military sentiments, from teenage years with Belfast’s Civil Rights movement. Anne brought up her children in York, where she became city councillor. She was proud of initiating ‘child-friendly York’, persuading shops to remove steps and redesign doors to allow child buggies easy access. Though started in York, this change spread UK-wide. Anne also started a women’s group under the city council auspices, which gave women confidence to run for council seats, changing the male domination of York politics long before positive discrimination.

“Soon after Anne moved to Penarth in 2016, she ran as Plaid candidate for St Augustine’s ward, but was disappointed at falling short of winning a seat. Her real success came via social media – she designed blogs and blogged herself, then turned to Facebook groups and became very active on Twitter. She gained 2400 followers and issued over 123,000 tweets in 10 years.”

Donations in Ms Greagsby’s memory can be sent to Green Willows Funerals or, say the family, directly to her favourite cause Fair Play for Women or the charity Thrombosis UK; cheques or bank transfers to be marked ‘to memory Annegre’.