EMILY Morrell-Cross first came to the notice of Bournemouth council when she walked into a committee meeting and slapped a fish onto the table.

She was demonstrating the problems that fellow Winton residents had been suffering after a spate of flooding.

“They didn’t know what hit them,” her husband Les recalls.

She made such an impression that Liberal councillor Jean Moore persuaded her to stand for election. The two served on the council together from 1987 to 2007 and became close friends.

Emily, who died aged 71 after a long struggle with emphysema, was born Emily Brooks in Ashton, Lancashire, but was known by all as Emmy. She moved to Bournemouth in 1974.

With second husband Les, she ran a small home for people with mental health problems, first at Bemister Road and then at Delta Lodge, a former hotel near Cemetery Junction.

On Bournemouth Council, she chaired the housing committee and became known for her no-nonsense approach.

She would complain when the council was “as much use as a chocolate teapot” and would frequently tell people “don’t be so daft”.

She was a hands-on chairman and when residents complained about antisocial behaviour on one estate, she banged on the miscreants’ doors herself and ordered them to stop.

“She wasn’t afraid of anything. She would take on anybody,” said Les.

Former council leader Douglas Eyre said: “If ever the council was getting me down a bit, Emmy was the one who would wake me up and get me into a can-do mood.”

She was mayor from 2004 to 2005, when her duties included welcoming the Queen to the town.

She was seated next to the Duke of Edinburgh for lunch at Poole’s Lighthouse when the Duke mentioned that he fancied a beer – and Cllr Morrell-Cross had a waiter sent out to buy some bottles of a local ale.

Her Auntie Edie, now 88, was appointed her mayoress, and was known wherever she went simply as ‘Auntie’.

After losing her seat on the council, Emmy remained a dogged campaigner for tenants and ex-tenants of Delta Lodge, and for anyone else who needed her help.

She was a huge fan of John Wayne, with a giant cut-out of the Duke standing among a collection of memorabilia in her home.

Les said: “He had lung cancer and he showed the world that there’s life after cancer. She had always admired his life and his strength.”

Emily leaves behind Les, her son Darren and three grandchildren.

Her funeral takes place at 2pm on Friday, September 26, at Bournemouth Crematorium, with family flowers only and donations invited to Help the Heroes and the Gurkha Association.