Former mayor and people’s champion dies at age of 85
EILEEN Kershaw, a stalwart of Rossendale local politics and mother of radio DJs and broadcasters Liz and Andy Kershaw, has died, aged 85.
Passionate and forthright, the former teacher was a former Mayor of Whitworth, serving for 33 years on Whitworth town council, Rossendale council and Lancashire county council.
She was first elected as a Labour councillor in 1964 to represent Balderstone on the old Rochdale county borough council.
BBC Six Music host Liz announced her mum’s death on Twitter, writing: “I posted this photo of me and my Mum in October and got so many lovely messages from you.
“Just got a call out of the blue to say she has gone. She was very frail but still a shock. But maybe it’s for the best as she couldn’t understand why we couldn’t visit her now. Cruel times.”
Mayor of Whitworth, Coun Lynda Barnes said: “Eileen made a big contribution to local politics in Whitworth, Rossendale and Lancashire over many decades and represented her constituents with passion.
“As Mayor of the town I would like to offer my condolences to all her family and friends after her recent passing.”
In a 2014 interview to mark her 50th year in politics Mrs Kershaw told how her socialist upbringing on an estate in Falinge shaped her political beliefs.
She said: “I was born on The Mount, which is where all the Irish people settled at the start of the last century.
“My grandmother Mary Frost came over from Ireland in 1900 and she was the first socialist I ever came in contact with.
“She didn’t know she was a socialist, she never had a label. But she fed everyone and she housed everyone that she could.
“She opened a cook shop on Whitworth Road and made meat and potato pie, broth and rice pudding.
“People used to bring a dish and it was filled for sixpence no matter how big the plate was.
“That was the socialism I grew up with, helping everybody.
“She saw poverty and set about doing something about it, which is what I’ve been trying to do all my life as well.”
Mrs Kershaw entered local politics after attending a meeting staged by the Bishop of Salford, setting out the Catholic church’s opposition to axe the 11-plus exams and create the comprehensive school system.
Mrs Kershaw said: “We sat there for an hour listening to the Bishop ramble on about protecting interests of more able children and preserving grammar schools.
“I was seething and suddenly, even though I’d never spoke in public before, I leapt to my feet and told the Bishop that Catholic children were being short-changed and they needed a better deal. People started clapping and stamping their feet in support.
“When I got outside there was a crowd waiting for me and a couple came up to me and said ‘Eileen will you stand for the council, we need someone to speak up for us’.”
Mrs Kershaw would go on to serve three stints as Mayor of Whitworth.
At the same time, she also represented Shawforth and Facit for 20 years on Rossendale council and Whitworth and part of Bacup at
Lancashire county council, before standing down in 2004. But she remained involved in local politics and was a regular and outspoken contributor to the Free Press letters page.
In later life Mrs Kershaw campaigned for more awareness of the deadly brain virus encephalitis, after she was diagnosed with the condition in 2011.
She married her second husband, and fellow Whitworth councillor, Ron Pickup in 2000. Mr Pickup died aged 83 in 2015.
Flags are flying at half mast over Whitworth town council offices to mark Mrs Kershaw’s death.