My husband, Ron Taylor, who had died aged 75, was a social worker and teacher, and a lifelong socialist and anti-racist involved in many campaigns for justice.
In the 70s he was a member of the Anti-Nazi League and a founder member of the Hebden Bridge Asbestos Action Group in West Yorkshire along with his first wife, Renata. In 1979 he helped set up the alternative newspaper the Calder Valley Press. During the miners’ strike Ron formed a local support group and organised fundraising gigs including one featuring the folk musician and comic Mike Harding.
Ron had moved to Hebden Bridge in 1971, having graduated in social policy from the University of Leeds. He then worked for Rochdale social services and in 1980 joined Calderdale College in Halifax, teaching social work and later becoming a popular counsellor in student services. Between 2000 and 2007 he was a project worker for the NCH (now Action for Children), during which time he walked the Great Wall of China to raise money for the charity.
After Ron’s retirement in 2007, he and I started visiting Palestine and quickly became involved with Taayush, a grassroots non-violent Jewish/Arab movement to promote peace and co-existence. We made regular visits to the West Bank, working with villagers and subsistence farmers in the south Hebron hills. Ron would send postcards back to Yorkshire that were featured in the local community website, Hebweb. He presented many talks and screenings about the plight of Palestinians and their daily struggles. Ron and I spent long days with the charity Care4Calais distributing essentials to refugees, and Ron also supported refugees locally.
Born in Cheadle, Greater Manchester, he was the son of Margaret (nee Ellis) and Cyril Taylor. Cyril was a pharmaceutical rep who had once served Haile Selassie at Boots the chemist during the Ethiopian emperor’s exile in Bath; Margaret was a homemaker.
As a pupil at Queen Elizabeth grammar in Wakefield, Ron was able to play only rugby but, on leaving school, he was able to follow his passion for football. He was a lifelong supporter of Manchester City. In 1996, Ron and a group of friends formed a local five-a-side football club called the Old Gits, and he played his last game of seven-a-side at the age of 75. The team now call it the Ron Taylor FC in his honour.
Ron’s marriage to Renata (nee Dempsey) ended in divorce. He and I married in 2000. He is survived by me, his daughter Kerry from his first marriage, my children, Sandra, Jürgen and Zoë, and six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
