Carole Roberts Roberts, a veteran Labour councillor of more than 20 years who served as Lord Mayor, has died aged 71.

She campaigned on issues of social justice, including, housing and equality, and was known for her outspoken style at Oxford City Council, where she held seats between 1983-2002, and 2005/2006.

Her time as Lord Mayor of Oxford – following time as Deputy Lord Mayor and Sheriff – began in 1998 with a pledge to be “the people’s mayor”, vowing to never turn down an invitation to visit any charitable group.

She would later appear at up to six functions every day, and told councillors in the chamber at Oxford Town Hall: “I’m going to be the people’s mayor. That is what they are calling me at the family centre in Rose Hill.

“These are the people I work for. I’m honoured to be Lord Mayor.”

Highlights of her year included attending the Queen’s garden party and a whistle-stop tour of Oxford’s twin towns in France, Germany and Holland.

In her time on the council she also chaired the housing and strategy committees, represented Oxford on an official visit to its twin town Perm, in Russia, and met Nelson Mandela during his 1997 visit to Oxford.

One of the campaigns she was most proud of was leading Oxford City Council’s efforts to support the wives and children of striking Welsh miners in the 1980s.

Years later she was still in touch with many friends from the mining communities in the Welsh valleys who remembered the support given to them.

Mrs Roberts joined the Labour Party in 1959 and became a city councillor for Temple Cowley in 1983, representing the area until 1995.

She was then elected councillor at Iffley and served until 2002, coming out of retirement briefly in 2005 to take the Northfield Brook seat but losing it the next year.

She was also the first paid advice worker at the Singletree Advice Centre, in Oxford, in 1989, which later expanded to become the Rose Hill and Donnington Advice Centre in the early 1990s. She worked there until very recently and helped hundreds of people with debt and benefit issues as well as advocating for disabled and elderly people.

Her son Michael, 42, said: “My mum was a great mother and a fantastic grandmother, who loved us all dearly and always thought of others before herself.

“She helped thousands of people in her time, in many ways, and was still giving people advice right up to before she sadly passed away. That’s the kind of person she was, and we are all going to miss her dearly in our own little ways.”

She was born Carole Simpson in Ruskin Hall, Oxford, on December 21, 1943, to parents George and Violet. She grew up in Woodstock, where she was a pupil at Woodstock Girls’ School, later attending Ruskin College, where she studied catering and hotel management.

Miss Simpson then married her first husband aged 19 and they had two children, Debbie and Tony.

She also had another son, Bryan, from another relationship.

After divorce, and while working at the Bullnose Morris pub on the Blackbird Leys estate, she met her second husband Jimmy Roberts.

Mr Roberts had two children, Tina and Kevin, from a previous relationship and together he and Mrs Roberts had a son, Michael.

The family lived in Clematis Place, Blackbird Leys.

Mrs Roberts’ career was in catering and she worked in restaurants and venues across the city, including the Churchill Hospital and J Lyons & Co.

She was also an active member and recruiter of the National Union of Public Employees from the late 1950s to the early 1990s.

In the days before her death, Mrs Roberts received a national merit from the Labour Party, for her dedicated service to the community.

She was also due to receive a European Union Citizen’s Prize award next month.

Carole Roberts died on Sunday, August 9, at the Churchill Hospital after a battle with cancer.

She is survived by her children, 13 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Her husband Jimmy Roberts died aged 80 in 2008 and her son Bryan died in 2005. Details of Mrs Roberts’ funeral have yet to be confirmed.