TRIBUTES have been paid to a tireless campaigner who fought to save Barnet Museum from being closed down.

Dr Gillian Gear, who was devoted to making sure people in the community appreciate the area’s local history, died at the age of 72 after an illness.

Her friends say that when Barnet Council withdrew funding to the museum, in Wood Street, it was her “astute leadership and dogged determination” that helped it survive.

In the final months of her life, despite undergoing hospital treatment, she was still fighting to persuade the council to agree a long-term lease for the museum and install disabled access.

Mike Noronha, deputy archivist, told the Barnet Society: “She was our friend, our inspiration, a talisman. We thought she was indestructible.

The mother-of-three, who is survived by her sons and her husband, Michael, was the director of Barnet Museum and also volunteered as an archivist.

She also wrote a number of books on local history, including works on Barnet Union Workhouse and East Barnet village.

Dr Gear was also leading the a project which will see a team of arachnologist work to determine the exact site of the Battle of Barnet in 1471.

Nick Jones, the Barnet Society’s representative on the project team, said: “I know from personal experience how infectious her enthusiasm could be.

“Whenever we went to meetings, she usually had one of the latest possible finds in her handbag, perhaps an early cannon ball or piece of lead shot that had been brought into the museum.”

Dr Gear had an MA in social and industrial history at Middlesex University and completed her PhD in the history of education at London University.

Carla Herrmann, a museum volunteer, told the Barnet Society: “Wednesday afternoons at the museum were like the inside of a beehive, all centred and buzzing around the queen bee who tirelessly, cheerfully and effortlessly dealt with everyone, volunteers and public alike.

“She was the museum personified.”