Funeral date and remembrance service announced for Halifax's much-loved former MP Alice Mahon

Vicar of Halifax The Rev Canon Hilary Barber has offered the town’s historic church for the service dedicated to celebrating the life of the Labour MP who served Halifax tirelessly as its MP for 18 years.

The service will take place on Monday, March 6 between 2pm and 3pm and will be open to all.

Her family said: “Since Alice lived just about her entire life in Halifax and was the town’s representative on the national stage, this seems like an appropriate location to remember and celebrate her life.”

A humanist cremation at the Park Wood Crematorium, in Elland, will take place on the same day.

The family has asked that, in place of flowers, donations be sent to the Yorkshire and Humberside Asbestos Support Group (SARAG), whose details can be found at https://saragasbestossupport.org/

As announced by the Courier, Mrs Mahon died on Christmas Day. She is survived by an elder sister, a daughter, two sons and multiple grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Tributes have flooded in for the well-respected former nurse, including from Labour leader Keir Starmer, former leader Jeremy Corbyn and current Halifax MP Holly Lynch.

"Alice Mahon always had a track record of fighting tirelessly for Halifax, and was much loved for it,” said Ms Lynch.

“She was a proud trade unionist and achieved a great deal both inside and outside of Parliament.

"My thoughts are very much with her family as I know she will be dearly missed as a mother and grandmother.”

As a member of the Labour Party, Mrs Mahon was elected MP for Halifax four times and represented the area from 1987 to 2005.

She was well known at Westminster for her determined anti-war views and rebelled against New Labour, voting against the Iraq war.

But people in Halifax knew her for the campaigning she did for them. Even after her time as MP, she was still fighting for people’s rights, campaigning for sight-saving drugs for patients suffering from wet eye age-related macular degeneration.

Keir Starmer said: “Alice Mahon was a tireless champion for the people of Halifax.”