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| John Watts – A community
hero to the last |
JOHN Watts, a man who devoted his life to the welfare and concerns
of residents in the Curnock Street Estate, Camden, has died. He
was 67.
Born in 1939, Mr Watts (pictured) grew up in Queen’s Crescent.
He went to Haverstock School Secondary School in Chalk Farm.
He served three years National Service where he learnt to drive
lorries.
After National Service, Mr Watts toured the country as a long distance
lorry driver for the British Road Services and British Telecom.
In 1968, Mr Watts moved in to Curnock Street Estate with his wife
Jan. They raised four children, Sharon, John, Garry and Mark.
During the 37 years on the estate, Mr Watts elevated the Estate’s
threadbare Tenants and Residents Association into a fully functioning
body ready and willing to take on the council.
Friends and neighbours remembered how Mr Watt’s used to “go
on walkabout” around the estate to find out what was going
on.
Mr Watts was a long time campaigner against the proposed segregation
of the Curnock Street Estate.
Despite being diagnosed with cancer in 2000, Mr Watts still attended
meetings and was in the council chamber in this June protesting
against proposed works to the estate.
Neighbours agreed the estate was a safer place thanks to John, without
noise, drug dealing in the underground car park. They said his legacy
was a children’s playground that Mr Watt’s persistently
lobbied for, and was built weeks before he died. Residents of the
estate are hoping to name the children’s play area after him.
Cllr Roger Robinson sent a tribute to Mr Watts calling him a “great
guy with whom it was a pleasure to work with”.
He wrote: “Even when ill from the cancer that killed him he
was his usual cheerful self – still fighting away, still angry
at refurbishments and community safety works.
“We worked together when the chimney on the estate fell over
a year or so ago onto a block of flats and people on the estate
were evacuated – we used to call each other by our former National
Service titles for a joke.
“You will be missed, Corporal, may you rest in peace –
what a great guy and friend.”
His daughter Sharon remembered camping trips in Wales and her father’s
love of DIY and Regent’s Park.
She said: “If he could help he would – he was very much
a family man.”
TOM FOOT |
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Give power to the people
POST-war, early 1950s Britain was still experiencing food rationing
and was a disillusioning place for English gourmands. The war had
destroyed the restaurant trade and, with few exceptions, post-war
eateries made the worst of a bad situation.
FULL STORY
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