Crowthorne Village Action Group
CVAG protecting our village against urbanisation
Local champion Len will be sadly missed as CVAG chairman loses battle with illness
“FABULOUS dad" dedicated to the community in Crowthorne has died at the age of 92 after a long battle with various illnesses.
Len Watkins, the chairman of Crowthorne Village Action Group (CVAG), died on Monday, April 9, at the Haldane House nursing home in Sandhurst.
Mr Watkins had been ill for many years after suffering bowel cancer, prostate cancer heart failure and kidney failure and had fallen and broken his hip earlier this year. He had also been diagnosed with dementia.
Mr Watkins worked at the Transport Research Laboratory from 1937 and returned when it moved to Crowthorne in the early 1960s after serving as a royal engineer in the Second World War.
He worked there as a divisional head until the age of 60 in 1979. In his work, he wrote several technical books and became a consultant for accident cases after he retired. He also crewed a canal barge and enjoyed ballroom dancing lessons with his late wife Sue.
Mr Watkins was heavily involved in the community in Crowthorne and did voluntary work for Crowthorne Good Neighbours and Broadmoor Hospital.
He also worked with the Crowthorne Action to Protect the Environment (CAPE) and played snooker and bridge locally. In his later years, he was chairman of CVAG.
His daughter Carole Doran, who is secretary of the group, said: "Dad was rather greedy about collecting various illnesses and in the last few years we spent a lot of time going to doctors and hospitals.
"However, he often told me you just had to get on with life and that is what he did until the end. He was a fabulous dad and words cannot describe how much I miss him.
"When mum died in 1999 he was devastated, but he still had the wanderlust and travelled to far off places like Cuba and Thailand."
His funeral will be held on Tuesday, April 24, at Easthampstead Park Crematorium in Nine Mile Ride, Bracknell, at 3.45pm.
His family are asking for donations to be made to the Hounds for Heroes charity. Cheques can be donated to David Greedy Funeral Directors in Dukes Ride, Crowthorne
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