Ken Williams [a tribute from Deptford]

In memory of a friend, ex-workmate and co-conspirator who died at the turn of the new year and decade.

To those who had never met him before, his physical presence could be quite daunting, to say the least! But this only belied his true personality and nature: he was in fact kind, caring and gentle. Essentially self-educated, he was a working class intellectual, particularly when it came to politics, history and his love of poetry.

Of course, like all of us, he wasn’t without his faults and eccentricities: he could be infuriatingly unreliable and his long pauses between sentences, either amusing or freaky depending on how well you knew him, were part of his personality. That was just part of being Ken.

He was a partner of Helen (RIP) and a loving father of Molly and Jacob.

It was a few years ago since I saw him last, so it came as a bit of a shock to hear of his passing, but yesterday at his memorial it was inspiring to find out what a legacy he left to both his now grown up children, to people he influenced in Hastings where he spent the last 20+ years, with his generosity and kindness. I hope they, and his siblings present, have everlasting good memories.

It would be dishonest of me not to mention that Ken was an anarchist and anti-fascist to the very end.