Rev Preb Austen Williams CVO

Covent Garden London

The heart of London's West End

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Rev Preb Austen Williams CVO - An Appreciation

Memorial Service - Austen Williams

The Covent Garden Community Association's first Chairman, the Rev Austen Williams, died on 9th December 2001.

From 1956 to his retirement in 1984 he was the Vicar of St Martins-in-the-Fields. Everyone currently living or working in Covent Garden has much to thank Austen for his loyalty to the area and his dedication to help the poorest and oppressed.

He became the first Chairman of the Covent Garden Community Association, not as 'The Vicar', but as Austen, cutting across all religious, class and age divides.

Austen was our champion and leader in the struggles to protect the 100 acres that make up the Covent Garden neighbourhood. He always lead from the front in the battles to preserve some humanity in the mad rush by property developers to exploit the area as consequence of the madcap redevelopment plans.

His contribution to the Covent Garden struggles made huge demands on Austen's time, to the cost of his family. The neighbourhood owes a huge debt of thanks to Daphne, and his children, Greg and Kate, who found that they had to share Austen with countless other demands. Those placed on him by the Covent Garden campaigns must, at times, have been the last straw!

The full version of this appreciation can be found here.

A memorial service will be held at 6.30pm on Wednesday 30th January 2002 at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Trafalgar Square, London WC2.

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