Renee Willgress

I was privileged to become a friend of Renee in 2016. We met when she was helping out at a play session at Frampton Park Baptist Church in Hackney. I was a regular visitor there for exercise sessions and the community lunch. When I showed the film These Dangerous Women for those at the community lunch, Renee decided she wanted to be a member of WILPF UK. Muriel Purkiss, a member of the church community, had also become a WILPF UK member, and we had many interesting discussions.

Renee became very involved very quickly, attending seminars, meetings and events whenever she could. Renee helped with a fundraising stall with LUSH in Stratford City. An annual event we both attended was the Alternative Remembrance ceremony in Tavistock Square and we would have tea and cake after. Renee and I used to attend the annual Holocaust Memorial Day events at Hackney Town Hall as we both had family who were lost in the Holocaust. Sadly, Covid prevented events in 2020 and 2021. Renee and I often shared our books on Jewish history.

In 2017 the WILPF UK Autumn Seminar was Voices of Refugee Women and many women told their stories. Renee preferred to tell her story in the post-seminar booklet. She was an amazing woman, always kind to everyone and with an enduring passion for peace.