My friend Eleanor Stanier, who has died aged 81, helped to turn the political colour of the London borough of Richmond Upon Thames from true blue to apparently indelible orange. In the late 1960s the Lib Dems had no seat on the council, but from the 70s on, Eleanor was among those who campaigned and strove so hard that Richmond is now without a Tory councillor.
Eleanor was a hard-working local politician, who represented Mortlake and became mayor of Richmond, 2001-02. As a councillor she made proper schooling for underprivileged children a priority. When the local postmaster was at loggerheads with the Post Office and East Sheen’s local branch was closed, Eleanor speedily got another one opened.
She was a great community organiser – chairing the Mortlake with East Sheen Society where she pushed to get an old air-raid shelter reopened for public inspection. She worked with schools – as a governor of East Sheen primary and Christ’s Hospital in West Sussex. Culturally she was also active – as a trustee at the Orange Tree theatre and the Richmond Museum. For many years she ran the Barnes History Society.
The eldest of the three children of Sylvia (nee Walsh) and David Worswick, Eleanor was brought up in Oxford, where her father was a fellow and tutor in economics at Magdalen College. It was a Labour household and her father’s chief interest in economics was in how to achieve full employment. Eleanor went to Oxford high school and studied history at St Hilda’s College, and her first career was as a history teacher. In 1965 she married Tom Stanier, a television producer, and they went on to have three sons.
Eleanor was astonishingly hospitable: her “simple suppers” were a Sheen institution. She made people feel comfortable at the table – with a lot of help from Tom. Just a fortnight before she died of cancer, she was offering coffee and tea to all-comers, lively and sharp as ever, as visitors poured in to visit Tom, recently incapacitated by a stroke.
Eleanor could be formidable but she had the warmest heart and was a wonderful friend. For example, she encouraged my wife, Mona, who had just been diagnosed with lung cancer, to become a Lib Dem candidate for Richmond council.
I will never forget leaving Twickenham stadium and walking out into a fresh May dawn with Mona and Eleanor. Against all the odds an unknown, ill and inexperienced candidate had won the seat. It was a moment to savour – of mixed euphoria and disbelief.
Eleanor is survived by Tom, their sons, Alexander, Toby and Robert, and 10 grandchildren, Jessica, Benjamin, Gregory, George, Ella, Darcey, Posy, Tessa, Joseph and Zachary.
