Remember me
The funeral of former SDLP mayor of Derry Mary Bradley, will take place on Saturday.
Her Requiem Mass will be held at St. Columba's Church in the Long Tower at 11.30am on January 3, after which her remains will be interred in the City Cemetery.
The SDLP Leader Claire Hanna MP led tributes describing her as a ‘true champion of the underdog’.
Mrs. Bradley passed away on Tuesday. She was 83.
The late Mary BradleyAn MLA for Foyle between 2003 and 2011 she was a long-serving councillor in the city and served as Mayor of Derry in 1991-92.
Ms. Hanna said: “Mary Bradley was a strong voice for Derry and her local community in Carnhill. She worked hard to improve the lives of those who put their trust and faith in her. She was a passionate and tenacious public representative and a true champion for the underdog. She recognised that the most important thing in politics is always people.
“Mary had a long career in the health service and was particularly passionate about supporting people struggling with their mental health."
The late representative was centrally involved in community development throughout her life and blazed a trail for women in politics: she was one of just 17 women out of 108 MLAs elected to the second Stormont Assembly in 2003.
The late Mayor Bradley with John Hume and, from left, William O’Connell, Shaun Gallagher, Berna McIvor and Noel McKennaMrs. Hanna said: "She will be warmly remembered for her contributions to grassroots and youth football, for working to advance the role of women in public life and her efforts on behalf of older people.”
Mrs. Bradley served the people of Greater Shantallow as an elected SDLP councillor for 26 years, prior to stepping down from front-line politics in 2011.
During this period she served as Deputy Mayor of Derry in 1990-91 and the following year became only the third women in history to assume the office of Mayor.
She stood unsuccessfully in elections to the Forum in 1996, however, she was returned as an SDLP MLA for Foyle in 2003 and held a dual mandate until 2011 when stood down.
Mary Bradley was SDLP Mayor back in 1991/92. She is pictured here wearing her Mayoral chain in June 1991 during the walk to the Foyle Hospice with Dean Orr, Rev Best, Dr Keith Munro, Bishop Mehaffey, and Dr Tom McGinley.Colum Eastwood, her Shantallow constituency colleague on the old Derry City Council, carried on the torch when he was elected as an MLA for the first time that year.
"I was so sorry to hear about Mary Bradley’s passing yesterday afternoon,” Mr. Eastwood said on Wednesday. “She was a force to be reckoned with, a great friend to everyone who knew her and a real champion for Derry. Mary will be sadly missed by her friends and her loving family. We’re thinking of them today.”
Mrs. Bradley was educated at St. Columbas' Girls Primary School in the Long Tower, the North West Institute of Further & Higher Education and the Catering College Portrush/Ballymena.
Prior to her career in politics Mrs. Bradley worked with the Western Health Board for 18 years as a care assistant with patients with mental health problems.
The late Mary Bradley with Colum Eastwood.Elected to Derry City Council in 1985 she chaired all the main Committees on the local authority.
She volunteered for years at the Carnhill Resource Centre.
Speaking to the ‘Journal’ upon her retirement in 2011, she spoke of her own political formation.
"My father and mother both worked for John Hume’s first election. My mother Margaret Hamilton always had a great interest in politics and worked for the old Nationalist party in Derry. I was brought up in a house where you knew what your politics were.
"I got my politics more from my mother than my father. She would have been listening to the election results coming in on the radio and she would have sat up and listened to results coming in from England and everywhere.
"My father worked for John Hume for his first election campaign. He’d never done it for anyone before and he never did it for anyone since. John Hume was special,” she said.
Mrs. Bradley died peacefully in Altnagelvin Hospital surrounded by her family on Tuesday.
She is mourned by her husband Liam, daughter Paula, grandchildren Fiona and Aaron and great-grand-daughter Olivia.
The former politician was raised by the late Margaret and Joseph Hamilton at Alexander Place on the Foyle Road in the 1940s and 1950s.
She and her husband Liam were among the many people from the Foyle Road, Bishop Street, old Bogside and Brandywell who ended up moving to the new Carnhill Estate when it was built in the 1960s and 1970s.
"When we first came here to Carnhill we had nothing and we started a Carnhill festival with floats. But there was nothing for the children so I decided to get a sports day going and that grew into a sports weekend every year. So I suppose they thought that if I could do all that, I could get things done on the council.
"It took a few visits and it was Liam who persuaded me to give it a go. I went into the election and I though I had no chance of winning it. And I told them that I would do it, but only until they got someone else so I would do it for six months because they said we would be able to put in a replacement for me,” she told the ‘Journal’.
Following her sad passing this week, Mrs. Hanna said: “After her retirement from politics, she remained active in Derry, using her experience to assist others and continued to serve her community. She leaves a lasting legacy in Derry and in politics here and will be sadly missed.
“On behalf of the SDLP I’d like to extend my deepest sympathies to her husband Liam, daughter Paula and the entire family circle.
“Ar dheis Dé go mbeidh a hanam.”
Funeral arrangements have yet to be confirmed.
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