A cornerstone of her community, Mrs Rachel Shackleton, who lived in Baker Street, devoted years to serving the people of Piccadilly.

Several years ago the 68-year-old developed cancer of the throat, but battled the disease while continuing her work, however after an operation she developed bronchial pneumonia and died last Sunday.

Her husband Thomas spoke of a remarkable woman who "lived and breathed" the community and spent every waking hour working for the people of the area.

Rachel grew up in Trafalgar Street and would remain in the area she loved for a whole lifetime, meeting her husband Thomas (78) of 40 years.

During her career she worked at Prestige as a press operator until she had to retire when she underwent pioneering bowel surgery. But even this unprecedented procedure could not keep her down for long and after she recovered she poured her energies into helping transform her community.

She was a champion of her community for over 20 years, but one of her proudest achievements was helping create the Howard Street Community Centre. Over a decade ago Rachel, with a group of dedicated people, set out with a dream of creating a centre as the hub of community life.

She was part of the original citizen jury who established the critical issues at the heart of the community that would form the cornerstone of the centre and give them a raison d'etre.

She was instrumental in setting up the popular Over 55s Club, where local people would meet weekly and play bingo, enjoy meals and go on day trips.

She was an avid member of Piccadilly Area Residents' Association and helped push to make Jessie's Park, in Sefton Street, a reality.

Her daughter-in-law Melissa, talked of her dedication. She said: "People are not interested any more, they just let areas run down but she didn't want to let that happen. She really cared for the area and did so much for the community."

Vicki Campbell, who worked with Rachel at Howard Street Community Centre, spoke of her indomitable spirit and paid tribute to the "pocket dynamite".

"She had a wicked sense of humour and was never afraid to say what she thought – It didn't matter who it was she was dealing with, if she believed in it she would say it.

"When we first started out we had a nurse practitioner and Rachel took it upon herself to help her settle in and would commandeer people in the pub to go and get their health checked out.

"She would drag them in and keep them in line, but that was just her, she was very determined and very hands on."

Mrs Campbell said one of Rachel's strengths was knowing her community inside out, understanding what people wanted and being the driving force that saw plans turned into a reality.

She tackled problems head on and when the area was plagued by anti-social behaviour, she took it upon herself to set up a boys' football team, "scrounge" money for a kit and even took on the role as coach.

Over the years she saw Howard Street Community Centre grow from the ground up to become a thriving hub of community life. However, several years ago she developed throat cancer, but she fought it time and time again and underwent successive operations.

"Regardless of the battles she had to fight herself, she never forgot the other people around her," said Mrs Campbell.

Her funeral will take place on Monday at Burnley Cemetery at 10-30 a.m.
She is survived by her husband Thomas, sons Albert and Michael and daughter-in-law Melissa, grandchildren and great grandchildren.