Maura Swift

MAURA Swift spent a lifetime thinking of others: caring was ingrained in her political outlook, and when she passed away in April aged 84, she did not let her generosity pass with her.

This week, the New Journal was contacted by her relatives to tell us that Maura, who lived in King’s Cross, had left £5,000 in her will to our annual Christmas Hamper Appeal.

The amazing gesture means more people will feel less isolated and alone when the festive season comes around later this year.

Maura was born on a farm in Rosslea, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland in 1942. It is a border town and Maura was a lifelong believer in re-united Ireland.

She moved to England in the early 1960s with siblings: her brothers settled in Huddersfield, while she headed south and made a home in Swinton Street, King’s Cross.

Later, she trained as a paralegal, working for law firm Trowers and Hamlins.

Maura never married but settled down with her life partner Anthony Cunningham, also from Eire, who she had met in London.

For a time she also worked for the Home Office and recalled having to deal with identity documents for the Royal Family, including verifying Prince Philip’s passport.

That was a quite a task for a lifelong republican.

Her nephew John McNamara recalled this week how his aunt was a staunch Socialist with Marxist leanings. Holidays would be spent each year on trips to Cuba, and she was a member of the Cuban Solidarity Campaign.

She read the New Journal every week and kept up with life back in Ireland by reading the Fermanagh Herald every week, covering the area where she grew up.

She would call her nephew to discuss the local events and politics with him.

Growing up in London in the 1960s gave her a passion for the music of the period and bands like The Kinks provided a sound track to her life, as did traditional Irish music too.

Maura was an atheist and she left her family specific instructions to follow in the event of her death.

As well as her hugely generous donation to the New Journal’s hamper fund, Maura left legacies to a range of Camden charities.

She told family and friends she did not want a funeral or memorial at a church.

Instead she left her body to the London School of Medical Science.

However, relatives and friends decided after she passed to celebrate a life so very well lived with a memorial near the town she grew up in.

Everybody at the New Journal is incredibly grateful to Maura for her kind and generous donation. It will certainly be well-used to help others when Christmas comes around.