Education
She attended Street Paul"s Girls" School in London, and was involved, with Elsie J. Oxenham, in the British Camp Fire Girls" Association.
She attended Street Paul"s Girls" School in London, and was involved, with Elsie J. Oxenham, in the British Camp Fire Girls" Association.
They had one son. Oxenham wrote the sixteen-year-old Simey into her novel Abbey Girls in Town and dedicated it to her. As a teenager, Simey had chosen "Thistle" as her Camp Fire name and later became known to herself and others as a "prickly customer". She became well known as a campaigner for the rights of the poor in Liverpool, served as a Liverpool City Councillor from 1963, was then a councillor on the now defunct Merseyside County Council from 1974, and was chair of the Merseyside County Police Committee at the time of the Toxteth riots in 1981, frequently coming into conflict with the then Chief Constable, Kenneth Oxford and gaining a reputation for being outspoken about topics in which she believed, usually championing the cause of the underdog against the establishment.
Representing the inner-city Granby Ward, she was well aware of the local tensions which led to the Toxteth Riots.
Over the preceding decade, use of police powers to stop and search had increased, and the police had recently begun to close nightclubs frequented by black youths. Simey had foreseen that this would cause tension, and had predicted that the closure of one club in particular would lead to a riot.
She was correct. She also served as a magistrate in Liverpool, was awarded an honorary doctorate of the University of Liverpool for her services to the community, and in 2002 was offered the honour of Freeman of the City of Liverpool, but declined.