A RESPECTED magistrate and charity worker died just after Christmas.

Beryl Braham, wife of Cllr Laurie Braham, was rushed to hospital on December 23 with breathing difficulties and passed away four days later.

She had been diagnosed with lung cancer four months ago.

Cllr Braham said: "She was a lady. She was respected, revered and a selfless person. She was very house proud and always kept our home neat and tidy.

"She was an eminent royalist and was very proud to have brought her children up in the Jewish faith."

The council's Conservative group leader, Cllr Matt Davis, added: "Beryl Braham was a lovely woman who will be very much missed by everybody who knew her.

"She gave a great deal to the community and a whole section of the community, including magistrates and councillors from all parties, attended her funeral."

Mrs Braham served at Waltham Forest magistrates court for 22 years until her retirement in 2005.

She was also Waltham Forest mayoress in 1983 and has also help of various charities.

Mrs Braham was born in Hackney in 1935, but was evacuated to Northampton during the Second World War and went to school there.

When hostilities ended, she moved to Vincent Road, Highams Park, and met her future husband at a New Road youth club in 1956.

The couple married two years later at the Lea Bridge Road Synagogue and spent a week on honeymoon in Paris.

She was a secretary for numerous employers, including Pretoria Road GP surgery, a greetings card company and Keith Prowse theatre booking agency, whose owner was entrepreneur and confectioner Peter Cadbury.

Mrs Braham was also a governor at Tom Hood school in Leytonstone.

Her funeral took place on Friday, December 28, at the Jewish Cemetery in Rainham and Waltham Forest Mayor Liaquat Ali, Deputy Mayor Sheila Smith-Pryor and deputy council leader Cllr Keith Rayner were among the 100 guests.

They were joined at the ceremony by son Paul, daughter Susan, sister Helen, and two grandchildren.