Carole Ann Rafferty MBE 1946-2008
By Grant Williams (TRA Company Secretary)
Community leader Carole Rafferty MBE, has died at the age of sixty one, following a short illness.
Working class, resolute and kind, Carole Rafferty was born in the Birmingham suburb of Nechells in the aftermath of the second world war. She worked for many years at Hardy Spicer’s transmission plant in Birmingham. It was here that she worked with the likes of Sir Bill Morris, later to lead the Transport & General Workers Union. As well as working for Hardy Spicer, at various times Carole was a special constable, and later a magistrate.
Brought up in an era when authority figures were to be respected, whether one’s parents or the establishment in its many guises, Carole was in later life to work hard to ensure that respect was a two-way street. As with most working class women brought up in the austerity of the 1950s, going to university was never an option for Carole, but there was never any doubting her sharpness of mind, her inherent wisdom, or her ability to understand a complex situation and then be able to describe it in straightforward terms to others.
Carole married George Rafferty in 1966 and they had a daughter Tracey, followed by granddaughters, Zoe and Laura, all of whom survive her.
For much of her life, Carole lived in Castle Vale. Built on the site of the former RAF Castle Bromwich, where thousands of new Spitfires had been test-flown during the Second World War, Castle Vale was Birmingham’s largest post-war housing development.
As the years drew on, Castle Vale declined, to the point in the 1980s where crime was rife, unemployment rose inexorably and the estate’s thirty two tower blocks were in need of serious attention. The lowest ebb had been reached.
John Major’s Conservative government introduced a scheme to regenerate some of the nation’s most run-down estates, the Housing Action Trusts. For an area to be granted HAT status, there had to be a ballot of its residents, with the majority voting in favour. Carole was in the vanguard of the campaign for the creation of a Housing Action Trust for Castle Vale.
Typically, however, this was to be not quite on the government’s terms. The original plans envisaged two residents serving on the board. Carole and the other campaigners said that this was not enough. The government offered a third place, which was again rejected. Eventually the government backed down, and four Resident Board Members were to be directly elected by the area’s residents.
For each of the twelve years of the Housing Action Trust, Carole Rafferty was a Resident Board Member. This was not the easiest of tasks, particularly in the early days, where there was much discussion, consultation but not much visible progress. As progress began to be made, residents increasingly came to the fore in the decision making process. Tender evaluation panels had residents on them. Residents views were listened to and taken seriously. In 2000 Carole became Carole Rafferty MBE, with her honour bestowed for services to Castle Vale Housing Action Trust.
As if the commitments of being an active Board Member of the Housing Action Trust was not enough, Carole also had an input into the Housing Corporation’s resident involvement policy, and was heavily involved in the establishment of Castle Vale Community Housing Association (CVCHA), a Registered Social Landlord that was eventually to take over all but a handful of the former Birmingham City Council housing stock during and at the end of the Housing Action Trust’s life. Unusually amongst housing associations, CVCHA has a resident majority on its Board.
In the early days of the Housing Action Trust, there had been different strands to resident involvement and representation, with a Community Council and a Tenants and Residents Board. Over time it became clear that this was a source of confusion and duplication, and the two organisations merged into the Tenants & Residents’ Alliance, known to all simply as “The TRA”.
The TRA was the body which the Housing Action Trust was obliged to consult on a range of matters, and Carole was a founder member of its board. A heart attack required her to reduce her commitments for a time, but Carole returned as her health recovered, and was elected as Chair, a position she held until a few weeks before her untimely passing. As she entered her final illness, the TRA appointed her as its first Honorary President, presenting her with a specially framed certificate, in recognition of the contribution that she had made to Castle Vale over many years.
For an area surrounded by roads, railways and industrial factories, the environment was a big concern for residents of Castle Vale. Here too Carole Rafferty was a force to be reckoned with, becoming Chair of Castle Vale Environmental Trust, an organisation that became the estate’s environmental champion, working with people of all ages.
In the 1980s, some Castle Vale children had ponies, but there was nowhere locally to house them. Tom’s Farm in Park Lane was used, but it was not the ideal situation. Stables were what was needed, and Carole was amongst a group of parents that organised gymkhanas, horse shows, and carnivals to raise the funds required, and in 1987 the new stables opened in Castle Vale.
As a parent, the interest of young people were a priority for Carole. She was active as a leader in the Girl Guides, and also CREW, an organisation that came from an idea Carole had to involve young people in the arts, as well as building their self-confidence, with training for youngsters, making of costumes, and regular performances. Finding yet another talent, Carole found herself writing pantomimes for CREW to perform.
Carole’s final illness began with a major heart attack about a month before she died. Even in her final days, Carole couldn’t help being Carole, making jokes and encouraging her visitors to keep their spirits up, making a difficult situation for everyone as easy as she could.
As a real community champion, someone who made things happened and who cared about the area she lived in and the people around her, there was no finer embodiment of the spirit of Castle Vale over the past twenty years. Through honest endeavour, self-sacrifice and determination, Carole Rafferty made achieving what many thought to be impossible almost routine.
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