IN this weird and sometimes wonderful job I get to meet various people deemed to be “stars” and influential but for me the most impressive person I have had the pleasure to come into contact with and then been able to call a friend is Betty Tebbs.

We met many years ago when I was asked to read from her autobiography at the Working Class Movement Library in Salford. I knew of Betty but I didn’t know her and immediately I realised what I’d been missing.

Betty worked tirelessly for peace and for the women’s movement. She touched the lives of everyone who came into contact with her.

She always lit up the room and was a consummate storyteller (she would have been a fantastic actress but maybe not self-involved enough!) and had a wicked sense of humour. Betty’s stories from her travels around the world were always laced with a joyous punchline.

She was anarchic, from leaping over walls to deface Tory Party posters to getting arrested at Faslane.

Even in her final days when Betty was very poorly her wonderful daughter Pat jokingly threaten to switch on the Trump inauguration to which Betty replied with the V-sign.

The proof of Betty’s influence and humanity was the various comrades who surrounded her. Through Betty, I have met the best kind of people and she was blessed with a fantastic family. Her daughter Pat, who is a chip off the old block as they say, was there for Betty at every turn with her unwavering support and love.

Meeting with Betty you always came away full of hope and inspiration. The struggle wasn’t over and age did not mean apathy or political disengagement.