My friend Anni Rainbow, who has died aged 73, was a Quaker, peace campaigner and passionate activist.
Anni was born in Kensington, London, and grew up in Tolworth,
Surrey, where her adoptive father nurtured her love of books, poetry and Shakespeare. She was a gifted artist, potter and sculptor with an eclectic taste in music.
A strong swimmer, Anni belonged to Kingston Ladies swimming club, representing Surrey in her teens. Then, on a Guide camp as a teenager, a van accident caused back and hip injuries; the initial cause of lifelong disability. She was further devastated when her father died suddenly in 1982.
Becoming increasingly concerned about militarism during the Vietnam war, in 1968 Anni was on the anti-war march during which mounted police charged protesters in Grosvenor Square, central London.
A stalwart of the Crawley night watch group, set up to enable the women at Greenham Common women’s peace camp to get some sleep, others appreciated her calm, dependable nature and ironic wit.
Anni had two sons, Matthew and Simon, with Robin Cornish, whom she married in 1977. The marriage ended in divorce in 1985.
She later moved to Otley, West Yorkshire, supported the Quaker body Northern Friends Peace Board and joined Otley Peace Action Group.
In 1992 she co-founded, with the peace campaigner Lindis Percy, the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases, organising protests at Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire and other places, and holding Quaker meetings and raising parliamentary questions about the secrecy of all American military activities in Britain.
Despite significant health issues she campaigned in all weathers – horizontal blizzards never dulled her sense of humour nor infectious chuckle. Quakers are urged to “live adventurously”. Anni certainly did.
Her son Matthew, a corporal in the 1st Light Infantry, was killed in Basra in 2006. Shortly after, Anni suffered a stroke, which aggravated her disabilities, and she moved to Alne Hall residential home near York where she continued to speak truth to power in her inimitable fashion, with irreverent humour and wicked laugh.
Anni is survived by Simon, her grandchildren, Ethan and Libby, and a brother, Chris.
