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Floral tributes to Lisa Pontecorvo |
Pavement tribute to campaigner
Friends stand in silence to observe ‘a big minute for somebody who had a big heart’
A SINGLE bicycle bell rang out to signal the end of a minute’s silence on Monday in memory of Lisa Pontecorvo, the community campaigner killed in a road accident in Holloway.
Friends came on foot and bike to lay flowers at the spot – where Fieldway Crescent and Madras Place meet Holloway Road – where Ms Pontecorvo died in an accident involving a cement truck a week earlier.
Happy memories of the much-respected campaigner were tinged with anger as cyclists described years of campaigning to make the junction safer.
Among the crowd who filled the pavement, there was talk of renaming Edward Square in King’s Cross after their lost friend. Ms Pontecorvo played a leading part in the transformation of the square into a park.
Frances McRae, a friend of Ms Pontecorvo since she was 11, said: “I was at school with her in Glasgow and we both ended up living here. I remember her as a bright and loving but rather lonely child. She was an only child and I’m moved to see so many people here to pay tribute.
“She found her niche as an environmental campaigner and, although it’s terrible she died so early, if her death causes a change in the traffic light system at this junction it will be her last, greatest campaign triumph.”
Chris Ashby, of Islington Cyclists Action Group (ICAG), who organised the pavement tribute, told mourners: “Lisa was many things to lots of different people. She was passionate about art, culture, development, planning and specially about green spaces. She was one of us and we pay tribute to her.”
He described the silent tribute as “a big minute for somebody who had a big heart”.
ICAG member Norman Beddington, who knew Ms Pontecorvo for more than 20 years, said: “She was tireless, she never took no for an answer.
“The junction is poorly designed because the two sets of traffic lights are quite far apart. This is a real warning. Hopefully, they will take some action.”
Natalie Teich, a virologist, got to know Ms Pontecorvo through the campaigner’s father, an eminent geneticist. “I’ve known Lisa for 30 years,” she said. “I used to house-sit for her father at their chalet in Switzerland so I really got to know Lisa and her mother. I taught her father and then Lisa to use a computer. She was about 45.
“We used to joke that whenever you got Lisa on the phone it would last two or three hours. She had very little sense of anything materialistic. She wasn’t clothes or house conscious. Lisa’s filing system was just to put the pile of papers on the floor. She was a fun person to know.”
Professor Robin Weiss, a virologist at University College London, who also knew Ms Pontecorvo’s father, said: “We used to visit her in Thornhill Square and in her chalet in Switzerland. We had similar causes – peace, the environment, arts and science.”
Town Hall Labour group leader Councillor Catherine West said: “There’s a possibility Edward Square may be renamed after her – the park she loved. She had an amazing amount of respect from all corners of the borough.” Edward Square is to play host to architects and designers from all over the world at an October 18 event organised by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. Lisa Tang, a friend of Ms Pontecorvo, believes this will be a fitting tribute. |
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