Doreen Rowe: Campaigner who worked for Hackney Pensioners Press dies aged 98

Tributes have been paid to a lifelong campaigner from Stoke Newington who has died at the age of 98.

Doreen Rowe was a Windrush Generation nurse who rented out rooms to people denied accommodation through racism.

After retirement she trained as a journalist and became a reporter for Hackney Pensioners Press, the campaigning free paper.

Following her death last month, Doreen's family said: "She was a beautiful lady, very classy and intelligent.

"She lived a good life to 98 years. She took nothing for granted and loved her God, her church and family, who were very important to her.

"She will be missed greatly by all her family and friends."

Doreen was born in the island of St Vincent in the West Indies in 1920, and spent most of her childhood in Trinidad.

But she made her home in England after emigrating in 1955, first working at Hythe District Hospital in Southampton and then moving to Hackney in 1959.

There she fell in love and married Claude Rowe. The couple owned several houses in the borough, and she would rent out rooms to people who needed them.

After retiring from nursing in 1982, Doreen's love for people drove her to volunteering for the benefit of other pensioners.

She trained as a journalist and worked for the Pensioners Press, which flourished from 1985 to 2000 as a 14,000-circulation quarterly free paper, distributed to day centres and libraries.

She worked as both a reporter and a photographer, and interviewed the likes of Prince Charles, Diane Abbott and the former mayor of Hackney Shuja Shaikh.

She lived in her own home until May, when she became ill.

We'd like to run a fuller tribute to Doreen and include more about her work. If you knew her, or have stories to share about the Hackney Pensioners Press, please email Sam at sam.gelder@archant.co.uk or call 020 7433 0104.