Chichester’s former mayor remembered as a ‘well-known and much loved figure’

Michael Woolley, a former Mayor of Chichester for two consecutive years passed away in his home aged 77 at 6pm on Sunday, October 3.

Michael Woolley was a well-known and much-loved figure in Chichester. He served on both the District and City Councils, and as Mayor for two consecutive years from 2009 to 2011.

He also worked unstintingly for the organisation Haslar Visitor Trustees which later became Friends Without Borders; dedicating more than 20 years of his life working tirelessly to improve the conditions of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.

Though quiet and always one for consensus, he was nevertheless a powerful force when focused on helping people in need. In this, he was sustained by his Quaker faith.

After a happy childhood in Leeds, Michael came to Chichester in 1965 to train as a teacher at Bishop Otter College after which he spent a few years teaching at what was then St James’s School ( now Portfield Primary Academy).

Around this time, an acquaintance of Michael’s had an immigration problem and Michael wrote to his MP, Anthony Nelson. In due course a letter came back from no less than the Home Secretary himself, Reginald Maudling. The 1971 Immigration Act had only just been passed and there were fewer immigration cases to concern Home Secretaries in those days. A number of paragraphs began “Mr Woolley is mistaken …”. It was his first encounter with the Home Office!

In 1971 Michael was invited to work for a shipyard in Seville teaching the managers English. Franco was still alive, the last of the right-wing dictators of the thirties. While there, he witnessed first-hand some of the brutalities of the regime. It was an eye-opening and painful experience, leaving him with an enduring sympathy for the downtrodden.

Returning to England in the Eighties, he branched out into a new career, buying big old houses in the East End of London and converting them, partly by his own hand, into flats. The Thatcher years were kind and he made a comfortable living. At least he did for a while, but come end of the decade the climate changed and Michael found himself having to look elsewhere.

He tried his chances in Mexico where he got a job as the English adviser to the Vice-President of Banca Serfin, a sinecure but well paid: a bit of teaching, a bit of translation.

Just as life was getting better again, in 1995 Mexico had a financial crisis with 116% inflation, and the Mexican job and the Mexican adventure came to an end. Michael returned to Chichester where he had had a flat since 1968.

It was then that Michael heard about the problems of immigration detainees. He was outraged to learn that they could be held indefinitely in UK prisons without a court hearing, without habeas corpus. His early encounter with the Home Office, his experiences living in foreign countries, his commitment to Quaker values and respect for human rights came together at this point. He volunteered to visit a detainee held in Haslar Prison.

There followed 22 years of working with asylum seekers and refugees. When the Home Office closed Haslar Prison in 2015, the Haslar Visitors Group he had originally joined evolved into Friends Without Borders, with Michael chairing the group.

His work was often in the face of an unsympathetic officialdom and disengaged public. So it speaks not only of his energy but also his optimistic outlook and light and affable personality that he managed to attract the sympathy of many across all sectors of society: the general public, academics, politicians and religious figures through a practically non-stop tour of talks and conferences around the country which raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the charity. Above all, he worked to make sure that the bureaucracy did not forget the humanity of the people seeking asylum. Even so, sometimes it was only the charity’s support which stopped an asylum seeker ending up destitute.

As mentioned, Michael also served as a councillor for several years in his adopted city of Chichester and he eventually served as Mayor for two consecutive years.

As Mayor, he immersed himself enthusiastically in the city’s life, from visiting local schools and the university to meeting local businesses, getting involved in anything he could to support the locality.

Michael Woolley was a very committed Quaker. Their egalitarianism and commitment to human rights particularly appealed, as did their lightly defined spirituality and emphasis on practical action. He researched and wrote the booklet “The Quakers in Chichester” and for twenty years led the “Quaker Walks”.

Towards the end of his life, Michael himself commented that his life was in some ways a rickety one but the elements which came together to qualify him for his most important work, supporting asylum seekers, can be clearly seen. And he said he was deeply grateful to God for having had such a blessed, interesting and happy life.

There will be a meeting for Worship in the Quaker Meeting House, with hopefully a Memorial Service when circumstances allow.