A TRIBUTE to Potter Street resident, Jane Chivrall, who died on Wednesday September 29th after a typically brave and defiant battle with cancer.

As a local journalist of some years, there is a certain type of person who is the glue that keeps the community together.

Jane Chivrall was one of those persons.

I first met Jan in March 2014, when she was the school crossing patrol lady in Potter Street. There was a campaign to save her job, a job Jane had done for 25 years.

Even then, you could sense that Jane was the heartbeat of the community. She was so much more than a lollipop lady. Those children were her flock, her community. She saw them all off to school and she saw them all back again.

That is why she recieved a Civic Award in June 2014.

And so a friendship began over seven years. When Jane rang the YH offices, it was never a two minute conversation.

Traffic measures, Prentice Place, the Baptist Church, Harlow Common Residents Association you name it, Jane was at the heart of it.

Jane’s next campaign was the Save Osler House Surgery. One minute Jane and a few local residents are campaigning to save the surgery, the next minute she is live on Sky News!

That was our Jane. As the old Irish saying goes” the squeakiest wheel gets the most oil”

The surgery did close but Jane continued to campaign for a community and health hub to replace it. That campaign goes on and Jane’s spirit is very much alive.

In November 2018, we ran a series of film to mark the 126 men of Harlow who died in World War One. Jane marshalled her troops at the Baptist Church and organised a series of readings for us.

That was Jane. It was not what her community could do for Jane, it was what Jane could do for her community.

In April 2019, the Danish equivalent of BBC News contacted YH with an aim to do a joint news item on Brexit. Jan was one of the five residents they interviewed. The reporter Anna Gaarslev found Jane fascinating.

How Denmark’s equivalent of the BBC reported the ” Brexit experience” in Harlow

Even when Jane was in Princess Alexandra Hospital, she was ringing YH, concerned about the conditions in the hospital. She was the ultimate good Samaritan.

I will miss Jane but I feel blessed and honoured to have known her. She was the type of person that made Harlow great and leaves a tremendous legacy.

Our thoughts are with her family.

Jane’s funeral is at Harlow Crematorium on Tuesday October 12th followed by a celebration of her life at Potter Street Baptist Church.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/JaneChivrall?utm_campaign=lc_frp_share_transaction_fundraiser_page_launched&utm_content=84816d1f-2cb5-4386-b074-8118fbb0570f&utm_medium=email&utm_source=postoffice&utm_term=1633100860465&fbclid=IwAR0HnXjVRMwWzo33V2ta4mLKKYMDP4-IC_wtU_g-mNLUcRBASIjj-BBe9mo

Michael Casey

October 1st, 2021