Brian McGarr

Sad news from Durham Welfare Rights:

Brian McGarr one of our former colleagues has passed away. A lot of people who are new to Welfare Rights won’t know of Brian. It’s probably only the ‘oldies’ who will remember Brian because he wasn’t active in Welfare Rights for many years due to ill health, but he was one of the pioneers of early Welfare Rights.

He started as  a community activist in Glasgow, then as a WRO with Strathclyde Regional Council, ending his working life with Durham Welfare Rights in the late 90’s.

He was a tremendous influence on the many WRO’s who had the pleasure of working directly with him, and those who knew him from attending his always packed workshops at NAWRA. He was a funny, kind, generous man and a brilliant and innovative WRO.

For those of us who worked with Brian at Durham he was the heartbeat of the service, and he set the standards and the level of commitment that we try to live up to today.

NAWRA members pay their respects to one of our early activists. Brian is survived by his son Christopher.

For details of funeral arrangements please contact Scott McInally.

Readers are welcome to post their thoughts and memories of Brian below.