My friend Maureen Donnelly, who has died aged 71 of cancer, was a successful and creative businesswoman with socialist ideals and a belief in public service. She was also a rambler, adventurer and lover of Irish literature, and managed to be active in all these fields while also being a devoted single parent.
Born in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Maureen was the daughter of Mary (nee Barker) and Frank Donnelly, and one of five siblings brought up on a modest farm nearby. After leaving St Joseph’s convent school, Donaghmore, and studying maths at Queen’s University Belfast, she moved to London. Asked why, she replied that as a Catholic she couldn’t get work she wanted in Northern Ireland, and as a woman, she wouldn’t get such employment in Dublin.
She joined the fast graduate stream of British Telecommunications in 1971, eventually becoming head of UK marketing planning. After leaving BT she was deeply engaged in developing the emerging broadband sector, and later established her own business, Manet Telecom.
Maureen was a Labour activist in London in the 1970s and 80s and on the Westminster trades council, a trade union network. She attended the national executive of the TUC as vice-chair of the south-east region. In this period she made many lifelong friends and was a founder member of the socialist walking group Red Ramblers. She loved their annual visit to the Scottish Highlands, and in instalments walked from the North Sea across eight countries to the Mediterranean.
Moving to Cambridge in the 1990s, Maureen became an effective chair of several significant local and regional organisations, including the boards of governors of Newnham Croft primary school and Hills Road sixth form college, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough clinical commissioning group of the NHS (gaining an MSc in health economics, policy and management at the LSE while in that role); and latterly the Cambridge constituency Labour party, in which she was active for many years.
She was a good and loyal friend to many, particularly enjoying introducing people from different threads of her life. A passionate theatre-goer, she loved plays by modern Irish writers, and her bookshelves overflowed with Irish literature. At the age of 60 she took up rowing on the Cam, joining the Cantabs, training in the early mornings. Even during her final illness she rowed regularly.
Maureen fell ill in 2019 and had a major operation for pancreatic cancer. Although she initially recovered well, her cancer was quietly spreading.
She is survived by her son, Brendan, her granddaughters, Ada and Emmeline, her siblings, Francis, Evelyn, Philomena and Sinead, and her partner, Robert Anderson.
