Brain tumour kills Hackney church leader

Tributes were paid this week following the death of a woman church leader who was active in Hackney politics.

Maxine Hargreaves, a Pentecostal pastor and founder of the Hephzibah Christian Centre and the East London Christian Choir in Kingsland Road, died of a brain tumour.

The 51-year-old stood in two council by elections as a Christian People’s Alliance candidate in Hackney Central in 2002 and as a Christian Party candidate in Springfield ward in 2007

Her husband, The Rev George Hargreaves, leader of the Christian Party, said: “She refused to pull out of the Springfield Ward elections despite having undergone brain surgery to remove a malignant tumour and being diagnosed with a rare liver condition.”

She also stood for the Christian Party in the 2008 GLA elections for Hackney’s London Assembly seat as well as contesting the Hackney North and Stoke Newington Parliamentary seat in last year’s General Election.

She lived in Thistlewaite Road, Lower Clapton, and later on the Wrens Park Estate, Upper Clapton, before moving a few years ago with her husband to Ilford.

“Hackney was always closest to her heart and her main focus,” added her husband, Rev Hargreaves.