Administrator of the National Schizophrenia Fellowship's Liverpool branch, Etta Block pioneered its volunteer-run charity shop in 1981, writes Lennie Isaacs.

It soon expanded into classes for cookery, shopping and life skills, as well as IT and office work. The centre also held sessions for carers.

Etta Ramm met her husband, research chemist Dr Max Block, while preparing for kibbutz life. They married at Greenbank Drive Synagogue in 1949 and moved to Israel but returned to Britain in 1961. Etta had taught art in Haifa and now studied for her BA at London University. During this period her younger son became schizophrenic.

Her husband's job brought them back to Liverpool in 1980, where she started a popular pottery class at Harold House, the Liverpool Jewish community centre. She received civic awards in 1999 and 2000.

She is survived by her husband, two sons and a granddaughter.