My aunt Sybil Ashton, who has died aged 94, was a veteran member of the Socialist Workers party and a familiar face in UK activism. She was something of a local celebrity in north London and could often be spotted selling the party newspaper outside Finsbury Park tube station or Tesco in Crouch End. Sybil was driven by a sense of justice that kept her participating in protests well into her 70s.
In the 1980s she took part in the Greenham Common anti-nuclear campaign and the poll tax protests. What Sybil lacked in height she made up for in presence – she was vocal in the face of authority. The police often received the sharp end of her tongue, but she smiled and said that because she was “just a little old woman” she could “get away with it”.
