COMMUNITY worker, singer, songwriter, poet and baker, Janette Husband (nee Valentine) was literally at the heart of life in Carlisle for more than 20 years.

From her office in The Old Town Hall, which overlooked Scotch Street and English Street, she helped those in need, organised cultural events for the whole of the community and ensured visitors to the city from all over the world were met with a truly friendly welcome.

Already in her late 30s and a mother of four, Janette arrived in Carlisle from her native Glasgow to take up the role of General Secretary of the Carlisle Council for Voluntary Services. In that role she seized the opportunity to make a difference to the vulnerable and needy across the city at a time of great social change.

Janette helped with the development of a Women’s Refuge, at first taking abused women to her own home instructing her family not to answer the door if any men came calling. She fostered the creation of single parents groups and also aided Vietnamese refugees, then known as Boat People, to settle in the city.

One of Janette’s greatest aims was to make The Old Town Hall a central point for the community. In the days before Costa and Starbucks, Janette organised regular coffee mornings for people to get together over a cup of tea or coffee, which would also raise money for the CVS or other charities. It was not unusual to see Janette washing up or serving at each event and on top of that Janette would bake scones and shortbread herself to accompany the hot drinks on offer.

Staffed by volunteers, the Tourist Information Centre came under the remit of Janette’s job and as with everything she took on she did not mind getting involved fully. One story recalls the time staff were unable to find a room in a B&B for a couple on honeymoon from Italy, Janette’s answer was to invite the couple home and give them a room for the night.

As a member of the folk scene, Janette could often be heard singing traditional and modern Scottish folk songs, but her contribution to the cultural life of Carlisle did not stop there. Janette brought the renowned touring theatre company 7:84 to the city, promoting shows at Trinity School, Stanwix Arts Theatre and City Hall through the 70s and 80s. She also put on events from Burns Suppers to Medieval Banquets at The Old Town Hall and the Tithe Barn and took a role as a tubthumping Temperance campaigner in the Carlisle Community Theatre production at the Market Hall

Involved with the Carlisle Great Fair from its resurrection in the mid 70s, Janette took the reins of the week-long event as chair of the organising committee from 1984 to 1988. In the role she co-ordinated all the live performances on the Great Fair stage, events in venues across the city, the great fair market and the procession. During its duration she still ran coffee mornings, supplied as usual with fresh shortbread and scones.

She signed off from the Great Fair with a prophetic warning that the event would be liable fail in the future were it not taken back to focusing primarily on serving the local community rather than being viewed as a tourist attraction. During her time in charge of the Great Fair, she brought Bob Geldof to the Sands Centre to play his first gig after the success of Live Aid.

Perhaps the song written for her by top city band, The Daisychain Connection, best sums up Janette’s contribution to culture in Carlisle. It was this song the group decided to play live on Border TV when invited to appear on Lookaround.Given her passion for social justice, it is little surprise that politics was close to Janette’s heart. She was an avid supporter of Tony Benn and took part in the women’s camp against trident at Greenham Common.

Janette was a regular fixture on BBC Radio Cumbria and Border TV, combining an articulate and witty manner with passionate and direct expressions of her viewpoint. These attributes made Janette many loyal friends and admirers, but they could equally, when combined with an uncompromising single-mindedness, create friction and upset. As is true of many opinionated people, Janette was not everyone’s cup of tea, especially if they had had the misfortune to annoy her.

Moving the CVS took Janette out of the centre of the city. In an interview with the News & Star, she confessed that she found the move difficult to cope with and within two years she had retired.

After retirement Janette looked to concentrate on her creative work. In total she published three collections of poetry and sat on the board of 7:84, the company she had brought to perform in Carlisle almost two decades previously.

Janette returned to Scotland in 1992, and continued to write and to help her new community. She wrote and performed a number of shows on Burns and Scottish History, bringing together a group of musicians and actors under the name the Dalriada Fencibles. She was also the driving force behind the creation of a new play park in her village.

Janette worked closely with the current mayors of Carlisle and Allerdale, Jessica Riddle and John Crouch respectively and with Carol Donnelly MBE of GreatGuidedTours who worked with her at the Tourist Information Centre.

Janette died on Sunday, November 18. She is survived by her four children, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Her funeral will be held at Greenock Crematorium, at 12noon on December 17.