CARO MARSH

21 March 1952 – 9 October 2023

By Jill Nicholls

I met Caro Marsh at Cambridge University through the women’s liberation group there. She was at the same college as me, Newnham – it was 1971, the last year when girls had to go to women’s colleges, of which there were just three.

Caro was a year ahead of me at university, though she was actually a year younger. To me she was glamorous – so strong, outspoken and determined. A lot of us were in awe of her, women and men alike. I think left wing men found her very attractive because she seemed aloof and unattainable – not ‘feminine’ or yielding; she didn’t seem to NEED them. And that was irresistible!

I remember her jokingly telling off a friend, Judy, for having long hair. ‘Get that off. They can grab it and drag you by it.’ Judy had a haircut. I didn’t, but the conversation stuck in my mind. We  were standing by the back wall of one of the prestigious, rich, men’s colleges, the plan being to climb over the wall and invade ‘formal hall’ where the all-male students and teachers sat in their gowns at long wooden tables eating dinner. We did get in and paraded round the tables blowing whistles and shouting slogans – and things did begin to change, a bit. (Judy herself was to die aged just 30, of  cancer – which is what Caro has died of, four decades later.)

Caro was studying history and had many run-ins with her director of studies, who was interested in the social history of women but was not a Marxist or a militant and didn’t like her students taking time out to join student protests. (I was lucky – I was doing English and my director of studies said, ‘Go along. If I were your age, I’d do the same.’)

I remember Caro sitting in the centre of a circle of women, on the floor in someone’s front room, telling us about a trip she’d made to the US that summer and all the black feminists she’d met, and lesbians, and radical feminists, and separatists. She showed us the pamphlets and leaflets she’d brought back and she was the centre of attention. But she told me later that she’d been very unhappy at Cambridge and felt lonely there. I hadn’t realised.

It was really after she left university that we two got to know each other better. She moved to Liverpool to join the revolutionary socialist, libertarian organisation Big Flame.

Her friend Seni Seneviratne says: “I remember meeting Caro when I moved to Liverpool in 1972.  I heard about Big Flame when I was at Essex University and moved up there to get involved and work on the newspaper.  It was during those late nights finishing off articles and letrasetting headlines in time for the printing deadlines that we got to know each other.  Later we shared a flat in a high-rise block that was notorious for its bad conditions.  We got involved in housing struggles with other tenants in the block and ultimately in a campaign to be rehoused where we wanted when they demolished them.  One memorable time is of us hanging an Irish Tricolour flag over the balcony as the annual Orange Parade went past.  We were both passionate about feminism and the need for a socialist-feminist analysis and an awareness of the issues for black women, working class women and lesbians.”

Back to Jill – I had started working at the feminist magazine Spare Rib, lived in London but would often visit Caro ‘Up North’. She introduced me to Maria on a huge housing estate in Liverpool called Netherley. With Caro’s help I interviewed Maria and did an article for Spare Rib about the problems for women there – no shops, no buses, miles from the city centre.

We went together to the National Women’s Liberation conference in Newcastle in 1976, the one where radical lesbians seized the mike and as I recall it, ranted at everyone who didn’t 100% agree with them. Caro preferred going to workshops on popular power and community organising. I think she hated that kind of proclaiming and posturing.

It all seems so very long ago now…

Seni Seneviratne says:  “Caro helped me get a job at North East Technical College where she was working.  For several years we jointly ran a programme  teaching maths and english to adults,   working as creatively as we could within the confines of a fairly traditional technical college. We had good times in and out of work.  She was a proper pal.  A trusted and loyal friend who I kept in touch with when I left Liverpool and over the many years since then. We shared a love of good books, good food and good times as well a commitment to a more just world. I miss her dearly.”

Caro became increasingly involved in women’s health and education. She worked on health issues with Dr Sheila Abdullah and Dr Katy Gardner, who says: ‘Caro was an enthusiastic and committed member of the Merseyside Abortion Campaign, campaigning for a woman’s right to choose and also successfully to set up a dedicated abortion unit in our local hospital. She was a champion of the right for women to have control over our own bodies.’

Her partner of 37 years, Sylvia, adds: ‘Caro’s love of playing sports, and her appreciation of the physical, mental and social benefits they returned, fuelled her resolve to do all she could to introduce every woman to these opportunities. To break down the barriers and have choices.

‘In 1986 she was invited to join the newly founded Merseyside Women in Sport Management Committee and played a significant part in its strategic development. More importantly it was her personal engagement with communities of women from all backgrounds which drew most notice and was most valued.’

It was at this time that she met Sylvia and her daughter Emma. Caro fully embraced the challenge of co-parenting – and a 30 year Scrabble competition took off!

Sylvia: ‘In 1992 four Liverpool Further Education Colleges amalgamated, to become known as The City of Liverpool Community College. Directly accountable to the Principal, Caro was college lead on Implementing Equal Opportunities, Valuing Diversity and Inclusion – a huge portfolio of work to be delivered to all governors, managers, staff and students.

‘This was perhaps the professional role that she will be most remembered for. Certainly many women who live, study, play sport and work across Merseyside will remember her personal attention and commitment.’

In August 1992 Caro’s most treasured role without doubt commenced when she gave birth to her beloved daughter, Alice. Caro always adored mountains, hiking, climbing, camping and plunging into freezing cold water – passions that Alice fully shared with her – from Wales to Patagonia.

Caro had been very critical of her own parents  – weren’t we all! – but always kept in touch with them. It was at their house that I saw a framed photo of her hurdling as a schoolgirl and learned a little more about her past. I also met her sister Susanna who sadly died of cancer long before Caro did.

Her own experience of grief and bereavement led her to seek counselling, and as a result she trained and then practised as a counsellor alongside teaching on counselling diploma programmes at Liverpool John Moores University and Wigan and Leigh College.

She would do anything for her parents, even giving up her job and relocating the family to look after them. She took on some of her parents’ passions – for opera especially, to the surprise of some friends who thought it odd, given her revolutionary past. But it made sense to us!  She inherited her mother’s membership of Glyndebourne opera festival where we went a lot, combining it with hikes in the South Downs. She was never happier than when on a hill-top, or in a real ale pub, or in her garden, growing dazzling dahlias. Or when she became Granny (she resisted that title at first!) – a Super Granny to Emma’s daughter Lola, with whom she shared many more camping and swimming adventures.

Caro carried on going to Glyndebourne along with family and friends, right up until her death in October 2023. The very last outing she made was to Glyndebourne.

The last time we talked, in the hospital a few days before she died, we said there was so much that we hadn’t talked about, but so much that we had. I just wish we had talked more – that we were talking right now. She would tell me that I’ve remembered it all wrong!