In loving memory of Jackie Briggs

Jackie Briggs sadly passed away on 5th October 2024 after a period of illness. Everyone at FTL is so grateful for all of Jackie’s energy, time and contributions over the many years she was involved in the organisation. Many members of FTL, past and present, came to remember and celebrate her life at her funeral on 1st November. At the funeral Mary Thomas gave the following tribute.

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The family have asked me to talk about Families Together London and Jackie’s involvement in it.

For those of you haven’t heard of FTL - and I can’t imagine you haven’t, knowing Jackie - we are a self support group of parents of LGBT+ children.

FTL was set up by two mothers, Hatta and Banu, over 30 years ago in the days when all things LGBT were kept under the carpet so this was quite a daring move by these two women. We do actually have Hatta’s son with us today. They met in the vicarage of the Battersea church where we still meet today on the fourth Saturday of every month. In those days, I believe there were only four or five attendees. Jackie joined the group a year or two before I did, about 20 years ago, and by this time the group met in the church itself but still, there were only about 6 to 12 people and by then it had financial support via a government funding scheme for such groups - but that only lasted a couple of years. It was around the time when the funding ceased that Jackie really came into her own.

We formed a small Steering Committee and had flyers printed to promote our group.

Jackie single-handedly delivered, or arranged delivery of, a bunch of these flyers to be placed in every library in all of the London Boroughs. THAT was no mean feat. THAT was Jackie. Between us we also attempted to place said flyers in as many GP surgeries as possible and even in those days we still faced some rejection. However, that was never going to stop Jackie.

With Rob’s help we are now in the 21st century and have a lovely website - and I have to say how much we really do appreciate Rob’s ongoing support with this. Thank you Rob. When we’ve bothered to look at the data, we’ve seen that our website is viewed as much from the previous Eastern Bloc countries as it is from our own so our work is far reaching beyond what many of us would have imagined.

As a result of Jackie’s efforts we now have well over 120 members on our database - though I haven’t met them all.

We also felt there was a need to offer a midweek meeting place, which we did with the help of a much larger LGBT+ charity, London Friend.

Again Jackie made sure she was always there doing what she did best, supporting others in the cheerful way that was ALWAYS Jackie. When Covid struck, and post Covid, Jackie hosted these meetings via Zoom and we soon realised we were able to support people way beyond the London area which pleased Jackie no end. Indeed, I’ve received messages from France, America and Jordan.

This is what I wrote about Jackie when I informed our members that she had sadly departed this life….

Jackie was devoted to FTL and supporting others. She always filled the room with such warmth and energy. She rounded up as many people as she could to march at Pride. She would meet incredible people, often on a beach, in a cafe or simply walking her beloved dog and with her indomitable spirit they would soon become our guest speaker. In fact, I think we have one or two of those speakers with us today. That was the power of Jackie.

Jackie had a very special way of engaging with people and brought everyone on board with her in support of all things LBGT+.

Jackie and I made a perfect team when it came to FTL. We knew exactly how and what each other did and often bounced off each other. She would often call herself The Bossy One and I think she often considered me to be just her sidekick. We must be extremely grateful that Jackie came into our lives, for the laughter she brought us and love that she gave us.

The messages I received about Jackie have been collated into this booklet and I’d like to give it to the family now as a token of how much she meant to all of us.

Rest in peace Jackie. Your work here is over but your legacy will continue.

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Photograph of Jackie at Downing Street for a reception in connection with her work for FTL, May 2016