Barbara Wiseman - 'What a woman'

About 50 people attended the cremation of Barbara Wiseman earlier today in Brighton.

Family and friends came from afar to pay their last respects and swap stories about a singular stalwart of the British Communist Party. For those who don't know, for most of her life Barbara was a leading light in this country's Communist party.

The 45-minute tribute at the Downs Crematorium was almost a social history of UK communism as several speakers remembered Barbara, who died on August 16 at the age of 96. They gave a snapshot of a different era and also provided ample evidence of Barbara's burning passion, unswerving commitment and energy, which despite the encumbrances of age were evident whenever she came along to NUJ meetings.

Always a clear, precise and eloquent speaker, Barbara's NUJ contributions were built upon a career of activism. Speakers recalled events from 60 years - one comrade remembered cycling
to Croydon with Barbara in the 1950s armed with a podium and a loudhailer. She sold the Daily Worker while Barbara used the loudhailer to spread the message. This, in the days when a communist meeting in Kingston could attract an attendance of 1,000. Another friend told the gathering - "I used to tell a friend the stories about her and though she'd never met Barbara, she commented 'What a woman'.

Others paid tribute to Barbara's ability to motivate, advise and listen. Age hardly seemed to wither her. Ten years ago, she travelled to an international communist convention in Cuba - she was one of the branch's first speakers back in 1998 when she recounted her experiences from this trip to the Caribbean.

Even at the age of 95 her strength was undimmed. Eighteen months ago, Barbara travelled to Kenya and then to Australia and New Zealand. Only two years ago, we were told, her failing eyesight meant she could not write, so she dictated the first 50,000 words of a novel to a friend!

To end, many of her former colleagues trooped out of the Crematorium with their right fists raised as the communists' anthem - The Internationale - was played on the PA.

Barbara would have enjoyed that!