Barbara Mary Mackay Miller (7 Jul 1945 - 1 Jan 2021)

In loving memory of Barbara Mary Mackay Miller who sadly passed away on 1st January 2021, aged 75 years

Barbara was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma during the first lockdown initially she responded well to treatment unfortunately once the first round of Chemotherapy had finished it came back very aggressively.

The family have requested no flowers please but donations in memory of Barbara for St. Margaret's Church, Rainham may be made online via this site

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Barbara, editor of Action Forum for 50 years and co-founder of The Net Magazine in 2004 with her husband Hamish. Barbara’s role in The Net was to compile the contact details for the hundreds of voluntary groups in the area and publicise their events. Thanks to her efforts many a summer fete and school pantomime attracted the audiences they deserved.

Barbara’s life in voluntary public services began when she joined the Brownies and continued throughout her life as a Guide leader. Many generations of Girl Guides have fond memories of weekly meetings and annual camps led by her.

In October 1971 Barbara and Hamish, having not seen each other since leaving Rainham for college, spent the whole evening at the Church Bazaar talking behind her mother’s second-hand book stall. By the end of the evening Barbara had joined the editorial committee of Action Forum and also the organising group for the First Rainham Spectacular in May 1972, raising money to convert Station Oasts into the Community Centre. With their partnership working well the next step was their wedding on 16th December 1972 in St Margaret’s Church, Rainham. Barbara continued to teach full time, organise two more Rainham Spectaculars and edit Action Forum until the arrival of Katy in April 1975, Rachel in March 1976 and Andrew in September, 1979. After this she never went back to teaching but as the children grew up gradually took a larger role in the running of the family bookshop. At first this was looking after the library supply side of the business working from home which she combined with bringing up three children.

Her most significant contribution to life in Rainham was her editorship of Action Forum until March 2020 which she did almost single handed, including organising the distribution which grew from 10,000 to 20,000 as more houses were built. It is difficult to assess the impact that this one publication has had on the community in the area. I believe no other free distribution paper exists with a similar circulation, run entirely by unpaid volunteers that has lasted for more than 50 years.

With encouragement from her mother and readers of Action Forum Barbara began to collate and caption many old photographs of Rainham. These she published in three separate Picture Books of Old Rainham.

As grandchildren came along Barbara began to spend a day a week with Katy and her two sons in Woking and then a week once a month with Rachel in Cheshire with her two children. As Rachel gradually took over her mother’s role compiling the voluntary group entries for The Net this monthly week with daughter and granddaughter became a highlight of her monthly routine.