Windrush heroine Zoe Jaddoo who battled to save sixth form centre to be laid to rest

Great-grandmother and tireless community worker Zoe Jaddoo to be laid to rest on Friday

Well-wishers are preparing to say a goodbye to a much-loved community campaigner who battled to save a sixth form. Great-grandmother Zoe Jaddoo died aged 88 after a lifetime of service in local politics, the church and education.

During the 1980s, the widowed mother-of-five, took on Birmingham City Council’s education department over its plans to close the sixth form at Broadway School in Aston. As chairman of the school’s parent teacher association she battled hard and eventually ensured the survival of sixth form education at the inner-city comprehensive.

For her efforts, she was awarded an “Oscar” at the same school. Zoe Jaddoo, whose maiden name was Hunt, was born in St. Catherine, Jamaica on 7th May 1936 and was the 7th of nine children. In 1960 she moved to the UK and settled in Birmingham after working in Nottingham, Manchester and Bradford.

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When she left Jamaica she left a son and daughter in the care of her parents Alexander and Leontie Hunt, and she had three further children in the UK. Later, she returned to Jamaica to collect her children and bring them to their new home.

Birmingham: A Child Poverty Emergency

Child poverty is soaring in Birmingham and without urgent change, will only get worse. Having worked with charities and community groups, BirminghamLive is campaigning for the following changes to start to turn the tide:

1. End the two-child benefit cap
2. Provide free school meals to every child in poverty
3. Create a city “aid bank” for baby and child essentials
4. Protect children’s and youth services
5. Create permanent, multi year Household Support Fund and give more Discretionary Housing grants
6. Set up child health and wellbeing hubs in our most deprived neighbourhoods
7. Appoint a Birmingham child poverty tsar
8. Provide free public travel for young people

You can see why in more detail here.

Read our full report Birmingham: A Child Poverty Emergency here.

What you can do to help.

Despite being tragically widowed in 1977, Mrs Jaddoo remained active politically and in church life. She played a major part in the election of Birmingham's first non-white elected Councillor the Late Alderman Bert Carless in 1979.

She served on police consultative committees, a parent-teachers' association and chaired the North Aston Community Association which developed a community centre for young people. Mrs Jaddoo was also one of the founding members of the Assemblies of the first born on Lozells Road.

Her son, Bishop Desmond Jaddoo MBE paid tribute to his dear mother. He said: "We have lost of rock, however, her legacy of service, faith and dedication will continue in our hearts and personally she has played a major part in moulding who I am today.

"She always made sacrifices for us and I recall she mentioned to us that she and an opportunity to be the Gleaners European Correspondent in the late 1960’s, bit she turned it down because she has a young people and also another opportunity of becoming Birmingham first black elected female councillor in 1981, but she turned down the nomination for the same reason”.

Mrs Jaddoo died on 16th August of age-related illness. A funeral service will be held from 10am on Friday (September 27) at the Assemblies of the First Born Church in Lozells followed by an internment at Witton Cemetery.

There will also be a short parade along Lozells Road starting at 9.40am.