Rita Jacob - an appreciation

At the Milford Street Bridge Project we are very sad to hear of the death of Rita Jacob in April 2021.

Rita joined the Bridge Project from the beginning as both a volunteer and participant. Her wonderful memories are an integral part of the project archive. She really brought to life what it was like growing up on Rampart Road before her family was forced to move out for the construction of the Ring Road. As a volunteer Rita gave a huge amount of time as a researcher, transcriber and as one of the creators of the Bridge Project website.

Her family home may be long gone, but its presence lives on as part of the mural under the Milford Street bridge.

She created many pages here on the website, including one describing her early life on Rampart Road:

16 Rampart Road

where there are some brilliant photos and also a lovely recording of Rita’s poem “Ode to Rampart Road”.

Rita said at one of our launch events that she was devastated at losing her family home when it was demolished to make way for the ring road. For a long time she had been unwilling to talk about it or visit the area. Working on the project helped her a lot to make peace with her memories. We are extremely grateful to Rita for her huge contributions, and pleased that the work helped to reconcile her with what must have been a very traumatic event.

Rest in Peace, Rita