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Tributes paid to former mayor Mary Rainey
Mary Rainey, a former Peterborough mayor and veteran of Peterborough politics, who played a pivotal role in setting up a women's centre in the city, has died.
Mary Rainey, a former Peterborough mayor and veteran of Peterborough politics, who played a pivotal role in setting up a women's centre in the city, has died.Tributes have poured in for Mrs Rainey, a former Labour councillor for Bretton and Ravensthorpe and chosen as mayor in 1998.
The 69-year-old passed away at Thorpe Hall hospice in Longthorpe, Peterborough, on Monday after a battle with lung cancer, her second brush with the disease.
Mrs Rainey was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma shortly before she was elected to serve as mayor and underwent chemotherapy between attending meetings and civic functions, a mark of her strength. Her treatment was a success and she enjoyed a decade of good health.
Anthea Cox, her fellow Ravensthorpe councillor, said she refused to let it beat her. She said: "Mary had cancer when she was mayor and it was a sign of her tenacity that she used the opportunity to really champion causes important to her.
"Mary was passionately committed to social justice and the rights of women and those things expressed themselves in her involvement in Peterborough Women's Centre and the Phoenix Youth Project in Ravensthorpe. Where she saw injustice, she kept on trying to make things better."
Mrs Rainey was one of the key players involved in setting up Peterborough Women's Centre in Broadway and was chairwoman of its management committee from 1988 to November 2009.
Centre manager Stella Lanning said staff were indebted to her. She said: "Mary was one of the founder members of the centre and fought tirelessly for this place. We are what we are because of Mary. She will be sorely missed and our thoughts are with her family."
Mary Scott was born in Dunfermline in 1940. She worked as a teacher in Sussex, Leicestershire and Peterborough before embarking on her political career. She married Brian Rainey on August 13, 1965 and they lived in Oundle Road.
Her daughter Nicola Kellie said: "Mum was proud of her contribution as chairwoman of the women's centre over a number of years and achieving her degree as a mature student. She was also a member of the Friends of Peterborough Prison and a regular prison visitor providing support.
"Mum enjoyed very much her time as mayor while battling successfully with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
She added: "She was also very proud of her success as a Peterborough agent for the Labour Party for the landslide victory in 1997."
Peterborough's longest-serving councillor Charles Swift described Mrs Rainey as a strong woman who "always put Peterborough first".
She leaves her husband Brian (70), children Andrew, Nicola and Richard and six grandchildren.
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