Janet Harris, the respected Haringey-wide activist and campaigner, has died - an obituary‏

Janet Turk was born in 1937 in Canning Town, East London, an area heavily bombed during the Blitz in her early childhood. Despite losing her mother aged 9, she went on to pass the '11 Plus' and gain a place at Plaistow Grammar School for a time--sadly having to leave before completing her education there. Her uncle Carl was German (interned at Alexandra Palace during World War One), and she also boasted of her Irish ancestry.

Shortly after leaving school, Janet married Norman Harris, and they eventually moved to Essex to raise their two children, Eve and Jenny. Janet juggled family life with unremarkable factory and administrative  roles, but always remained keen to learn, joining various societies and avidly  reading the daily broadsheets - The Daily Telegraph being her favourite.

After Eve and Jenny grew up and moved away, Janet's marriage ended, and she swiftly moved back to London where she became a mature student of nursing. After qualifying, she worked across North London eventually specialising in supporting drug users in rehab programmes.  Janet lived in Higham Road, Tottenham, for a number of years before moving to the Edmansons Close almshouses in retirement, where she continued to pursue her studies and threw herself into social activism. She was highly popular with the residents there who would often seek her help when they ran into problems with, for example, filling in forms.

From her arrival in Haringey in 1985 until her passing, she founded, promoted and remained active in a number of local and campaigning organisations. For instance, Children with Disabilities, a charity and family support group, where she edited their newsletter Autism Us, and the Tottenham Civic Society where she edited Civitas for a time.    She immersed herself in local history by invading the archives' section of Haringey's Bruce Castle Museum and went on to publish two local history books, Tottenham Outrage and Alexandra Palace - A Hidden History. The incredible story of the former - where a policeman and an 8-year old schoolboy were killed by Russian anarchist armed robbers. This book received a trail of publicity from Little Russia to BBC's Radio Three.  Janet later toured the borough to give slide presentations of this story from her laptop. Janet also succeeded in getting a blue plaque installed in Mitchley Road to mark the site of  the schoolboy's death.  

Janet was also , in its early stages, Chairman and  Treasurer of the Friends' of Bruce Castle Museum, established the Haringey Local History Forum, was active in the Tottenham Conservation Area Advisory Committee (CAAC) , and in community campaigns to save Crouch End's Red Gables Children's Centre and the Wolves' Lane horticulture and garden centre project for children and adults with learning difficulties. She was never shy in positioning herself at the forefront of campaigns, often launching them from scratch herself and occasionally indulging in the odd stunt to draw the media's attention to a heart-felt cause. On one such occasion, she was threatened with arrest after dressing up as a sheep and sitting in the road outside the Ministry of Agriculture, causing traffic chaos, to oppose the live export of animals. Janet was a prolific and respected letter-writer to local and national publications, including the Broadway Ham&High and the now defunct Tottenham and Wood Green Journal series. 

Decades of frustration with Labour-run Haringey Council led Janet into party politics in 2008, after becoming good friends with local Conservative Justin Hinchcliffe, a fellow parishioner at St Mary The Virgin Church in Lansdowne Road, Tottenham. By early 2010, Janet was actively campaigning to become White Hart Lane ward's local councillor. Although she did not win, she came a credible second place, polling a respectable 972 votes. Later that year, she made legal history in the Court of Appeal (Janet Harris v. Haringey Council and Grainger Seven Sisters Ltd) and halted the demolition of Ward's Corner, the thriving Latino market at Seven Sisters. She successfully argued in front of Lord Justice Pill, as a member of the Ward's Corner Community Coalition, that Grainger (Seven Sisters) Ltd proposed development of the site was in breach of section one of the Race Relations Act of 1976, which requires local authorities to "have due regard to... the need to equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups".

In the landmark ruling, the senior Law Lord concluded that the borough had failed to discharge its duty to “promote equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups” when granting permission for the controversial "regeneration" project. This, a few years later, was something Janet's own granddaughter Claire was  taught whilst reading law at Bristol University. This was a very proud moment for Claire and the wider family.

Janet went on to resurrect the women's branch of the local Tory Party, which raised thousands of pounds through social events with high-profile Members of Parliament, and serve on the Parochial Church Council (PCC) of St. Mary's, Tottenham.

In 2011 Janet suffered a major stroke which led her to being hospitalised for three months and thereafter relying on a wheelchair and with only limited use of one arm. Th Despite this, Janet remained determined to live life as fully as her new disability allowed, supported by her daughters and helped by Justin, her close friend who became her carer. The pair could often be spotted at Bruce Grove's San Marco's restaurant when not going for days out further afield. It did, though, halt the research and publication of Janet's third book which was going to be on the Hankin Family, who were servants at Bruce Castle (the House's most famous resident was, of course, Sir Rowland Hill, the great postal reformer and founder of the modern postal service). In 2014, Janet stood as a 'paper' candidate in the Northumberland Park Ward, a Labour stronghold, and polled 239 votes (but beating the LibDems!). She later joked that she could barely sit, let alone stand, in that contest. Laughing - mostly at herself - was something she often did and carried on with friendly 'banter' and "being out there doing something"was something she achieved right up to her final week.

As a life-long learner, Janet asked for her body to be donated to medical science. She is survived by her loving daughters Eve and Jenny, five grandchildren and great-grandchildren in addition to leaving behind hundreds of friends, colleagues, parishioners, neighbours and a collection of her trademark hats.

The family will announce the details of a church memorial service once they are known.

Janet Dorothy Harris - 1937-2016. RIP.