People from Totterdown paid tribute to Bristol historian and community worker Kate Pollard, who died after a 20-year battle with cancer on January 2, aged 67.

Friends said she was a caring and passionate campaigner for the area, where she lived in Hill Street.

"Kate was always very caring and was popular with people across the age range. She was just a tremendous person," said Marie Walker.

An art teacher, local historian and amateur archaeologist, Ms Pollard published a book about a dark chapter in her neighbourhood's history, Totterdown Rising: A Story of Endurance and Survival.

The book covers the story from the 1960s and early 1970s when, to make way for a highway, Bristol City Council demolished 550 houses, as well as pubs, shops and businesses, and evicted 2,000 people from their homes. The road was never built.

Ms Pollard's extensive research revealed the council never voted on the plans, and went ahead with the destruction before it had Government backing.

Her publisher, Richard Jones, said: "Local history was a real passion of hers.

"The book was part of a bigger project to document the complete history of Totterdown since the year dot.

"So much of the information was not in the public domain, she spent weeks, months and possibly even years meticulously researching the book.

"It seems remarkable now that a section of Bristol could be knocked down without any minutes or documents being kept.

"She felt it was something that needed to be done.

"Kate had a tremendous enthusiasm for projects she threw herself into, she really was a person who got things done.

"I will remember her for her warmth and her very sharp sense of humour."

Ms Pollard was a founder member of Totterdown Residents Environmental and Social Action and edited the local newsletter The Talk Of Totterdown, also helping deliver 2,000 copies of it in the area.

Her efforts won her a Post award in 2007, when she took the best volunteer title at a ceremony to celebrate the city's best newsletters.

To celebrate her life, friends hope to organise a summer event in her memory in Totterdown with performances from her favourite Bristol musicians.