Northern Ireland

Anne Moore: Force for social justice with passion for children's rights

ANNE Moore was a force for social justice in Northern Ireland.

A teacher, journalist, political animal, networker extraordinaire and good soul, she will be remembered with a smile by all who knew her.

Brought up on the north coast, Anne came from a teaching background but in her varied career she also worked for the NI Tourist Board, as a campaign advisor for the Women’s Coalition and within the voluntary sector expressing her focus and passion for human rights and children’s rights.

She was an expert in child poverty and social policy and held a master’s degree in human rights law from Queen's University.

Anne joined Save the Children more than a decade ago and supported the setting up of the Child Poverty Alliance in Northern Ireland, developing her expertise and achieving recognition within the sector for her passion and knowledge advocating for children through our End Child Poverty Campaign and through her contribution to research and publications.

As a policy and practice advisor she was well loved within our team for her quirky humour, her ability to articulate her passion for real change for children, her determined insistence on holding government to account for children and families, and her support for her colleagues.

She was also well known across policy circles, academia, government and the political spectrum.

Anne’s absolute uniqueness was her networking ability. If she did not know you, she knew someone who knew you. She was a go to and reference point for her knowledge and networks both for the team and across the sector.

She was brave, impartial and resilient. She always made a stand and expressed her view even if it was unpopular in a way that maintained her neutrality - a rare and valuable gift within the context of Northern Ireland.

But above all she was engaging.

Anne held the self-titled role of resident ‘pedant’, in part channelling her background in teaching.

She had a keen editor's eye and was the champion of correct grammar, in particular her defence of the apostrophe - to say nothing of her renowned dancing queen status and fearless year-round salt water swimming.

When Anne told the team of her cancer diagnosis, we communicated to a range of key partners with whom she had worked.

What was notable was the commonly shared view that she was a genuinely good person, and it is that goodness that people appreciated so much and shone through in how she engaged with colleagues and partners.

Over the past months Anne received a lot of love from colleagues past and present within and without Save. She has never been far from our thoughts and that in a way is the measure of the person she was.

She was a draw for those who grew to know her ways. To laugh with her was a joy - she seemed to use laughter as her punctuation in conversation.

She gave far more than there was to forgive, and she will be missed and remembered for the good, the weird and the extraordinary.

Anne Moore died on August 6. She is survived and sadly missed by her her husband Hugh, children Charlie, Livvy and Angus, and new grandson Reuben.

Peter Bryson, Save the Children NI