George Powe (1926 - 2013) in The Voice

Hundreds pay tribute to 'outstanding' Nottingham campaigner

Community remembers George Powe who worked tirelessly to improve race relations in city

14/10/2013 12:46 PM

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DIGNIFIED AND GENEROUS: George Powe (Pic: Nottingham Evening Post)

MOURNERS TURNED out in their hundreds last week to pay their respects to a man who played a key role in fighting discrimination and inequality in Nottingham.

George Powe, 87, of Mapperley, who passed away on September 9, was described as a bridge who linked the community together.

His funeral was held at Mansfield Road Baptist Church, in Sherwood Rise last week.

As pallbearers carried Powe’s coffin into the church draped in a Jamaican flag, Bob Marley’s One Love was played.

Powe was a key player in the formation of the Afro-Caribbean National Artistic (ACNA) Centre in St Ann’s, which he was inspired to create following race riots in the city in August 1958.

His widow, Jill Westby, led the tributes during the service by delivering the eulogy. She told the congregation they first met over 50 years ago while campaigning for nuclear disarmament.

“He was very aware of widespread racial discrimination in the forces and civilian world. He fought to turn the situation around,” she said.

“Some of you might remember a time when black people were treated very badly in pubs. He and I started a campaign inside a Nottingham pub where black people were not welcome in the same room as whites. It turned nasty and we went away peacefully, and the pub was closed down a few weeks later.”

She added: “I’m proud to have been married to a man who was so generous with his time and fought hard for all communities. He had a strong moral compass. He was respectful and dignified and it was a privilege to be part of his life.”

Powe was born in Kingston, Jamaica on August 11, 1926. At the age of 19, he left the island to spend four years serving with the RAF during the Second World War.

Through his years of active service, he also encountered racism.

He went on to become the UK’s first black councillor while living in Long Eaton, and also served with Notts County Council.

Another of the city’s leading race equality campaigners, Milton Crosdale, chairman of the Nottingham and District Racial Equality Council, also gave his tributes to Powe during the service.

He said: “His vision was to create an environment for change and to leave the world a better place than he found it. I worked with George for nearly 50 years but more closely during those 12 years when we were chairman and secretary at the ACNA Centre. I got to know the man and respect him and his capability to serve.”

He added: “I’ve always found him to be a gentleman, a man with compassion whose concern for others outweighed his own personal needs.”

The service also heard other tributes from friends and relatives from across the UK and Jamaica.

A representative of the Jamaican High Commissioner also spoke, describing Powe as having been “an outstanding ambassador for Jamaica.”

Former Nottingham South MP Alan Simpson, who had known Powe since the 1970s, shared his own tributes.

He said: “He was a really important bridge that stretched across the community and pulled it together.”

The funeral was followed by a burial at Wilford Hill Cemetery and a reception at the ACNA Centre.

Donations in memory of Powe were collected at the service and are to be given to the Nottingham Black Archive at a later date.

Posted on: 14/10/2013 12:46 PM