Recently, Syed Shahriar published a beautiful obituary about Myra Garrett in The Guardian, highlighting how her early experiences of hardship shaped her lifelong commitment to social justice
Myra Garrett obituary | Health | The Guardian
Sister Circle announced Myra's passing last December www.instagram.com/p/DDtyzwVRk0U
Bow resident Dee Sada interviewed Myra in 2013
wombmagazine.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/wombs-unsung-heroine-myra-garrett
Myra was born on 22 September 1932 in Ponca City, Oklahoma, US - a city named after the Ponca Tribe - and took her last breath in East London, on December 11th 2024, at the grand old age of 92.
She had arranged to have her body donated to science for research, and for her send off to be a quiet one.
A group of Myra's closest friends, mostly linked to Tower Hamlets CND and her other community involvements, orgabised a gathering to celebrate her life and achievements.
The event is taking place on Saturday 26th April 2025, 2–6 pm at Kingsley Hall, Powis Rd, London E3 3HJ.
Please bring some refreshments to share if you can attend, and pass the message along. Photos and videos will be collected to mark the day, a memory also for those who cannot be there in person.
Personally I only met Myra during her golden, retirement age, in the past 20 years or so. She was far from being the average retired granny.
She had
a long career working in public health and social care, being involved
with various communities and organisations, if not kick-starting them, in
and around Tower Hamlets, since she had reached East London from the
States in the 1970s.
Wise. Untamed. Influential. Myra was an amazing role model and mentor to many.
Company House keeps a record of 11 appointments filed under her name
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/1fvVQE1MC-tIidVTcmX1xXH6N_Q/appointments
Many more involvements weren't even recorded as such, but equally valuable and beneficial. The most relevant - or better saying, the ones that I am aware of are:
- WHFS (Women's Health & Family Services)
- The Limehouse Project
- Social Action for Health
- Bangladeshi Mental Health Forum
- BowHaven
- Friends of St Clements
- CND - Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
- The Trident/Ploughshares Movement
- Tenants' group Tower Hamlets Against Transfer of Council Housing (Thatch) for which Myra had already been on the papers www.theguardian.com/society/2004/oct/08/politics.publicservices
- Working Together Group
- Local Involvement Networks (LINks), replaced by Healthwatch in 2011
- Kingsley Hall Community Centre, Bow
- The SOS - Save Our Surgeries Campaign
- F.E.E.L. - Friends of East End Loonies
- ... surely more
It was Autumn 2004, while I was hospitalised in Lansbury Ward at St Clements Hospital in Mile End, that I remember meeting Myra for the first time. Noticing her hunched back I felt some connection right away - since I have similar issues. Her ash-blonde hair, tied up in a bun on top of her head, transmitted a sense of safety and wisdom.
She had reached the ward carrying art materials, ready to lead a creative activity; the rest is a bit hazy...
Some time later I met David Kessel, while visiting a mutual friend in hospital; he invited me to the Friends of St Clements (FoSC) meetings, which were chaired by Myra, while Alison Norman took notes for. Intrigued, I attended a couple of them, but between my deafness and my limited English, the discussions were too demanding for me to follow at the time.
In October 2007, David and I met again during a Bipolar Explores gathering in Stepney, where Jazzman John Clarke was launching his latest book of poems. I had just been discharged from my last section, which had left me severely disabled. After hearing my story David invited me to join a meeting he was having with Myra at the Whitechapel Idea Store the following month. FoSC were temporarily 'homeless' with the move of the Hospital to the new grounds, hence he had suggested Myra to start a new group, with a new name; the inception of the Friends of East End Loonies...
Myra had just turned 75 years old at the time. She would still ride her bicycle to get to some of her multiple, daily commitments, mostly concentrated within the A11-A12-A13 triangle of Tower Hamlets.
Bold and brave, Myra led with confidence and humbleness, thanks to the accumulated wisdom and experiences gained over her lifetime. She seemed to be involved in more projects and communities than one could believe.
There hardly were any clashing appointments, as she was always present, often suggesting or deciding the dates.
I often wondered
where all her strength and energy came from. But probably all these
involvements were the real fuel that kept her going strong for many
years.
We enjoyed planning and working on many F.E.E.L. events. One of the most spectacular one was The Pageant of Survivors History, staged by Andrew Roberts, with the Survivors History Group & Tower Hamlets African and Caribbean Mental Health Organisation (THACMHO) in 2010.
Myra played Mary Barnes studymore.org.uk/pageant.pdf
But mostly it was all about business and constructive involvement with results; organising engaging events with speakers resonating our quest for more humane treatments for patients chained by psychiatry, while we created a special and safe space where we met once per month.
Another interesting project we worked on together was Investing in Wellness. Here a few organisations, including Pathways Trust, Inside Out, Mind in Tower Hamlets & Newham, BowHaven and Urban Inclusion got involved and discussed possible ways to build an holistic route for psychiatry inpatients' recovery, prior to their hospital discharge, using natural wellbeing approaches. The East London Foundation Trust offered their support and expressed an interest to be part of the research project. A Big Lottery application was submitted via BowHaven in April 2013, but the bid was unsuccessful - possibly not aligning with the type of profit the investors are after and the risk of empowering patients.
Friends of St Clements (FoSC) meetings did eventually resume after the Mental Health Unit was relocated to Mile End Hospital, until July 2014, when accounts were closed.
Myra was a Kingsley Hall trustee for many years, contributing in filling successful fundraising bids and supporting the managing of the Charity in many ways, included guiding the ever popular tours of the historical building, during the London Open House events and the like.
In 2014 I was invited to join the board of trustee and discovering the extraordinary stories of the Lester's sisters, I started seeing so many similarities among Myra and the two sisters. Had Muriel Lester been a muse for Myra? Even their names have some sort of special resonance: Muriel & Myra...
Myra would hardly miss attending her regular Pilates classes as well. Dancing
for Parkinson resulted of great help to her health and wellbeing, during her last years, while
dealing with the onset of the disease she got diagnosed with in 2016.
During the covid lockdowns she often talked about the wonderful group of local friends that would bring her freshly cooked food and The I Paper, that she loved reading everyday.
In the picture below, Myra is holding a portrait drawn by her friend, the artist May Ayres. May drew her in 2019 reading 'The Resister' - the CND newsletter, its logo in prominent view ☮
Unfortunately the lockdowns also meant that the fitness classes she religiously attended were interrupted. From September 2021, after a hospital stay for spinal issues, Myra began needing dedicate assistance, resulting to a necessary move to sheltered accommodation at Coopers Court in Mile End, in 2022, until her passing in December 2024.
The great help from her local friends and some of the services she had worked and campaigned for others for many years, returned to serve her at the end.
We have surely lost a giant, but what a legacy we are left with! She is sorely missed and our heartfelt thoughts and sympathy go out to her family, friends and colleagues.
We mourn your passing Dear Myra, but we'll keep on celebrating your life and achievements, thanking you for the love and compassion that you enriched this world with. Wishing you the best on your new journey, great woman!
Here a message from her niece Maria in the States
https://youtu.be/EHD0b_SimHY
To honor and remember Myra during occasions spent together, a collection of photos and memories can be viewed here https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjC8aUX
You may like to listen to Myra receiving Community Champion Award in 2014 https://youtu.be/bhHrFlzIEr8
Do you have a memory or tribute for Myra that you wish to share from your time at FEEL or other groups and activities shared with her?
We are collecting them for a tribute website to be publicised soon: these can be written memories, photos, songs, poems or short audio/video shares.
