The sad news that party legend Vera Head had died came via Candy Piercy on Facebook:
Sad news. The redoubtable Vera Head died last week at the age of 97 after a long illness.
Long time campaigners and members of Lib Dem Women will remember her dedication to Women’s Rights and to getting women elected.
Vera taught me so much as an agent. And I still quote her in training sessions today.
When I was a Campaigns Officer in 1992 I asked Vera to agent Liz Lynne in Rochdale. I could not think of anyone else who would stand up to Cyril Smith and make sure Liz won her seat. And of course Vera delivered a famous victory.
Again in 1997 I asked Vera to be the agent for Jackie Ballard in Taunton. Again Vera pulled the campaign together and Jackie was elected. Another great win.
There are so many stories about Vera. We will put them all together soon. But to end on, until this May Vera was a councillor on Amershsm Town Council.
Still enjoying scaring the living daylights out of the local Tories as one of the oldest councillors in the country!
Oh, and scaring a few Lib Dems along the way too!
A fierce friend and a ferocious political adversary. And I suspect you are now giving St Peter a hard time about his organisation of Heaven!
Vera, we shall miss you. RIP.
I am so sad to see this. Certainly Vera could scare people when they deserved it, but she was also kind and incredibly wise. I and very many people across the party learned so much from her. I can’t quite believe she has gone. She’s been there throughout my entire involvement in the party. I first came across her in the early 90s when I was first involved with the then Women Liberal Democrats.
She was also a stalwart of Humanist and Secularist Lib Dems.
We have much to thank her for.
Please feel free to share your memories of her in the comments.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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4 Comments
I have many fond memories of Vera from Candidates Development Days. She was always kind to Candidates but very astute, missing nothing.
Vera told me that her grandson, when he was a small boy, asked her how old she would be when she died. She told him I ‘ll live until I’m in my 90’s. You were right!
You will be sadly missed, we need more Vera’s in the world
This is sad, if not entirely unexpected, news. I remember Vera from countless conferences, when she was a stalwart on the WLD stall. She was taught too. I remember hearing that she’d had a heart attack and had not expected to see her at conference, but there she was enthusiastic as ever on the WLD stall.
We do indeed need more people like Vera, who loyally dedicate their lives to public service and our party. Vera will be sadly missed
Vera was a force for good and one of those people key to our success who just got on with it often very quietly and behind the scenes. Helpful and supportive but not to be crossed! 🙂 RIP.
Vera was my agent when I successfully stood in the Amersham Town Council Bye-election of 1984. We would never have won the seat without her.
Thank you Vera
Rest In Peace
Michael Ansell