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Regional secretary with the National Education Union
Beatty Orwell, fighting the good fight for over a century
LOUISE RAW meets a remarkable Eastender whose activism began by opposing Oswald Mosley's blackshirts as a teenager in the ’30s
Beatty Orwell began by opposing fascism as a teenager in London in the 1930s

Before visiting Beatty Orwell in East London, I asked writer Kate Thompson’s advice on what to bring. Thompson had interviewed Orwell and her peers for her book The Stepney Doorstep Society, and got to know her well.

She suggested I stopped at Rinkhoff’s on Vallance Road, just round the corner from Orwell’s flat.

This turned out to be a good steer. Talking to the celebrated Jewish bakery’s owner, I mentioned I was visiting a woman who had been around slightly longer than his shop — 101 years to Rinkhoff’s mere 100. He knew exactly who I meant, pointing me in the direction of Orwell’s favourite pastries.

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