Joan Chesterman obituary

My mother, Joan Chesterman, who has died aged 86, devoted much of her life to the Labour party in the Spen Valley constituency of West Yorkshire and her great contributions were later rewarded with life membership of the party.

She first joined the Labour League of Youth in 1942 and from then onwards Labour was her all-consuming interest. She met Donald Chesterman, an administrator, in 1948 after he was demobbed from the Royal Air Force, and they were married two years later. He was also swept up into Labour politics, becoming a long-serving councillor on Spenborough and Kirklees councils.