I received a text from Grace Onions' husband in late September that Grace had died. I had heard that she was battling with cancer. It's very sad news.
I didn't make it in person to the funeral but I was able to watch the live stream. The funeral was properly a celebration of a wonderful person who has been taken from us at the age of just 56.
Grace will be always remembered for her environmental campaigning. She was the embodiment of a committed campaigner.
The celebrant at the funeral talked about Grace being long time supporter of Dignity In Dying. I didn't know about here involvement in this campaign. Then as fate would have it, she ended up fighting for the campaign from a lived experience. There is an article in the Metro newspaper about this.
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| Green Party activists in 2014. Grace in yellow. |
If you were involved in any of the environmental groups in Croydon in the early noughties, it wouldn't be long before you came across the name Grace Onions. Probably via an email group. I have to admit when I saw her email address I wondered whether Onions was her actual surname! Maybe she was a horticulturist who had penchant for onions!
When I first met her, I think at a Friends of the Earth Christmas do, I just felt I was talking to someone who was absolutely focussed on the cause. I asked her if she was interested in standing as a Green Party candidate in her home ward of Waddon. She didn't take much persuading.
The other thing I picked up on when I first met Grace was her accent. Fellow Green member, Chris Sciberras, later told me Grace described it as a Caledonian accent.
Her close friend Ann said a few words at the funeral. She recalled that when she had her children, Grace was pretty much the first person to go to see her and the new-borns. I had similar experience too. When our first child was born, Grace got in touch to come and see us all. I think apart from family, she was was first to congratulate us in person!
Whenever there was a demonstration, Grace was always there, usually with a newly made placard. At the funeral the celebrant reminded us all there was even one about bras! On that day she was highlighting a shortage of bras in a far off country devastated by war.
Unsurprisingly, Grace was also active with XR. In April 2021 I got a message from her saying that she was going to do a sit-down protest in the street - on her own. I've still got the message:
So tomorrow, I'm actually going to do this, although am extremely nervous. If you would like to support (photos on social media) or avoid, I will be sitting down in the road, on my own, to raise awareness of the climate and ecological emergency at the entrance to Selsdon Road (B275) by the post office at 11am.
There was coverage in Inside Croydon about her protest.
Take It To The Limit by The Eagles was played at the funeral. Grace certainly took it to the limit with her campaigning. Rest in power Grace.
My thoughts are with the her two daughters and husband.
