TressGOLONShe was born Teresa Jane Golon in 1962 in Hillingdon Hospital, London, the daughter of Stefan Golon and Doreen Ena May Sellman. Her father had escaped from a prison camp in Poland during the second world war after his father and older brothers were killed by the Germans. He made his way to Britain and joined the British Army. She had an older sister, Anna. Her friends always knew her as Tress. This was because her Polish father pronounced her name Ter-essa which got shortened to Tress.
She passed the eleven plus and went to a grammar school but wasn't happy there, partly because they wouldn't let her study art.
She left school at sixteen and got a job as a clerk and typist at a printers and stationers. She was promoted but quit some time later when they refused to increase her wage despite her having a lot more work and responsibility.
Tress then left home as she didn't get on with her parents. She initially stayed with a friend then lived in squats. She worked in a petrol station for some time but in 1981 she was repeatedly and unjustly accused of stealing money. Furious, she and her then boyfriend, Steve Wallace, stole a hundred pounds and loads of cigarettes from the petrol station and left London on the back of his motor bike. They travelled around the country going to biker rallies and staying at the homes of people they met at them, signing on wherever they ended up. One of the bikers they befriended lived in Castleton, where they stayed for a while before getting a flat on Ashfield Valley, Rochdale, where she became involved with the Tenants' Association.
At a party she met Glennis Brierley, a teacher at Rochdale Art College. Tress had always enjoyed art and Glennis encouraged her to apply. Tress did so and completed a two year foundation course in art at the college.
In 1985 she met me, Roger Beasley, as I was involved in a community play with Steve Wallace.
She later split up with Steve and got her own flat on Ashfield Valley.
In May 1986 we started going out and shortly afterwards Tress got April, the first of many cats.
Tress had had mental health problems since her teens but still managed to complete a continuing art studies course at Rochdale Art College, got a GCSE in psychology and a City and Guilds in teaching.
In 1990 we moved in together in a house in Cronkeyshaw.
She taught art to adults for a few weeks a year until in 1994 our daughter, Holly, was born.
When Holly was at primary school, Tress found that a couple of other pupils who lived near us were latch-key kids and she took it upon herself to look after them.
Tress volunteered at the MIND and Forget Me Not charity shops and went to the Growth Project community allotment.
Though she was never keen on technology, she signed many online petitions against cruelty to animals, environmental destruction and social injustice.
She was diagnosed with lung cancer in late 2024 which was successfully treated.
Tress had been a Greenpeace supporter for many years and in 2025 she joined the Green Party.
In late March 2026 she began having trouble talking and using her right arm. A scan revealed a large brain tumour which was untreatable. Mercifully she didn't really suffer and died peacefully in her sleep at home on the 12th of June 2026.
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