Boo Armstrong on her canal boat Moonshine. She had lived in the Cumberland Basin since 1999

Published: 29 November, 2012
by DAN CARRIER

BOO Armstrong, who has died aged 37, was friends to princes and paupers: she counted homeless people in Camden Town and the Prince of Wales as associates.

Her influence in the borough and the lives she touched cannot be underestimated.

She was a political activist and a health expert who put her talents to use for the good of all.

Boo was born in 1974, her father Peter a BBC TV producer, her mother Kate a maths teacher.

Named Rachel – she would later change to Boo by Deed Poll to her life-long nickname – grew up in Ealing.

As a child, she loved singing and football, and showed an aptitude in maths.

Aged 12, she was good enough to be in a sixth-formers’ maths quiz team.

Boo had a rebellious streak: a blue mohican aged 13 was a mark of her self-assertion, and she later persuaded her parents that she could live in Camden Town with her sister Franny while studying for A-levels.

She never went to university, but not through a lack of ability.

In her late teens she volunteered for the Lesbian and Gay Switchboard. At 19, she was appointed chairwoman of the charity.

Boo became linked with Gay Pride, and helped establish the Mardi Gras. This was partly the reason she became interested in health policies: she had friends who had been diagnosed as HIV positive.  

Boo joined the Carol Street health centre Women and Health in the 1990s, working on the reception, and then turned her abilities to helping revamp the centre.

She raised funds and employed architects to make it a green building. This would lead to her establishing GetWellUK, based in Delancey Street, which sought to integrate health options not available on the NHS into general use.

She met her partner Trish Wassell while overseeing a pilot scheme in Northern Ireland to offer complementary health.

GetWellUK won an award which was presented to Boo by Prince Charles: he saw her abil­ity and soon she was working as the CEO of his body, The Foundation for Integrated Health. The Prince, when he learned of her passing, praised her kind, compassionate character.

Boo will be remembered for her love of fun.

She needed no persuasion to stand up in a room full of friends – and strangers – and sing.

Happy evenings were spent clustered around a piano with Franny at the ivories, Boo leading a raucous rendition of a pop song she loved.

Her joy was infectious: she would hire bars with pianos, gathering friends together, ensuring no one should be left out, coaxing even the most shy to get up and have a go.

Boo loved football but refused to support a team. She would say she followed “good” football and played for Camden Town Women’s FC.

Regent’s Canal was an important part of Boo’s life. She lived on her boat Moonshine in the Cumberland Basin from 1999.

The interior was warm, full of books and music, a log-burning stove.

It also included, typically, a striking picture of Boo hanging on a  crucifix outside the High Court after she went to campaign on a civil rights case.

It says much of her individuality that she found kindred sprits among those who live on the waterways.

She set up a communal laundry system and a recycling scheme.

Boo was a vegan with an interest in nutrition: she was concerned for animal welfare and interested in how diet affected health.

Boo was diagnosed with breast cancer 18 months ago. She passed away on October 8, just days before her 38th birthday.

She was an avid reader of the New Journal and a friend of the newspaper. 

She had so many admirers, and her early passing has robbed the people of Camden Town of a friend to all, a campaigner who worked for the underdog, a person who used her talents for the good of everyone.