OBITUARY - JIM STEVENSON

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2020 :: RMTnews 22 W ell-known former RMT regional organiser Jim Stevenson passed away on October 29 2019 aged 76. Although Jim retired in 2008, he never ceased working for the London Widows and Orphan Fund (LWOF) and other charities around the world dedicated to looking after orphans. This was poignant given that he grew up in an orphanage himself, St Christopher’s Orphanage in Derby. His long- time union colleague in the South East Regional Office at Unity House Stewart Cameron kept a copy of a newspaper cutting of a five-year-old Jim receiving an award. “This explained a lot to me as to why Jim was so passionate about LWOF as it was very close to his heart. “He was always tapping up train operating companies for free tickets so he could take the widows and orphans to the seaside at least once a year which everyone enjoyed immensely. “At Christmas time he sent branches raffle tickets and the money was converted into vouchers and every Christmas the LWOF were sent these so they could buy presents, something Jim didn’t have the luxury of when he was a child living in the orphanage. “Jim was also involved with the British Legion and the Lions Club where he was held with high esteem. “I always remember Jim as kind jovial man always with a smile on his face,” he said. Jim first joined the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) on February 25 1961 as a Page Boy in the Rail Catering sector within the Stratford No 2 branch. He moved to the Ilford Branch in 1963 before transferring to the Kings Cross No 1 Branch in 1970, where became a Local District Council Representative and also the LDC Secretary from 1970 – 80. Jim was also a representative for the O B I T U A R Y JIM STEVENSON Dear editor, Jim Stevenson, or as he became known when he joined the NUR in February 1961 just after his 18th birthday, B304284 – his membership number. And with Jim’s passing, that number has been retired. But, of course, Jim was more than a number - a helluva lot more. I first got to know him in the late 1970s at the old Kings Cross No. 1 Branch meetings and I was immediately impressed by his sheer dynamism and passion for the cause. And the cause was always, the service of his fellow workers, and no one could resist being swept up by his enthusiasm and exuberance. I was not surprised when he became the first member of Kings Cross No. 1 Branch to be elected to the NUR’s National Executive Committee. Less than five years later he doubled that achievement to become the first member of our branch to be elected as a Regional Organiser. He has left an indelible mark on the history of this union and a large debt owed to Jim by so many, in the form of continued employment by those facing the sack, improved wages and conditions for those in employment and to the continued growth and potency of our union as whole. Neither must we forget his drive and commitment on behalf of the London Widows’ and Orphans’ Fund, which meant holidays and Xmas presents to the dependants of our unluckier comrades. That was Jim – always there to help and to give so generously of his time and himself. I was pleased and proud to count him as a friend, and for me as a union activist, Jim was a role model and an inspiration. Jim will be sorely missed by so many people. But he will live on, not least in the memory of the stories he shared with us from his railway career but for me nothing can top the tale of young Jim the pantry boy on the up Harwich Continental and the discharge of the teapot en-route out of the carriage window and the welcoming committee at Liverpool Street station of a phalanx of senior managers accompanied by a lady of some means, her fur coat having recently acquired a coating of lukewarm tea grouts. Jim Stevenson is a great part of our union’s history, a true railwayman, a Kings Cross legend, and a friend who was always there when you needed him - an absolute, irreplaceable diamond of a bloke. Regards, Ray Knight REMEMBERING JIM