OXFORD’S Black History Month is fast approaching and this year, special tributes will be paid to Jean Pearse, a “pioneering force in the Caribbean Community in Oxford”.

Mrs Pearse, 83, who died in Trinidad in June, was responsible for setting up Blackbird Leys Saturday School, initiating a Martin Luther King Celebration Day in Oxford and campaigned for women’s rights in the city.

Mrs Pearse first came to Oxford in 1967 with her husband, Andrew Pearse, a visiting fellow at St Anthony’s College.

She completed a teacher training course at Lady Spencer Churchill College, Wheatley, now part of Oxford Brookes University, and taught at hospital schools.

She later trained as a puppeteer and would visit Oxfordshire schools with traditional Trinidadian carnival puppets to encourage local children to learn about Caribbean history and culture.

Her friend Anne Mobbs said it was after her husband’s death in the late 1970s that Mrs Pearse began to do voluntary work and served on the city council’s race relations committee.

With the late Veronica William and fellow-teacher, Kamala Hyder, she set up Blackbird Leys Saturday School, which is still running 30 years later.

Mrs Pearse also set up a nursery at the African-Caribbean Roots Centre in the old South Oxford School.

Mrs Mobbs said: “She was an inspiration to so many young women and men in the Oxford community.

“Very many people launched successful careers because Jean said ‘You can do it’.

When Martin Luther King’s birthday was declared a National Holiday in the US, Mrs Pearse also initiated a Martin Luther King Celebration Day in Oxford, one of the first in the UK.

This ran for more than 20 years and has since been superseded by the successful Oxford Black History Month.

Mrs Pearse decided to return to her home country, Trinidad and Tobago in 1988 , where she set up an adult literacy scheme, taught voluntarily and created a village library in her own home.

Her funeral in Trinidad attracted crowds of people. She was buried in Tobago.

A memorial event to celebrate Mrs Pearse’s life will be organised as part of Oxford Black History Month in October.

For more information about the event, contact Mrs Mobbs on am67@hotmail.co.uk