Ken and Brenda came to live in Watton 29 years ago and after getting their Pink House to their liking began to get involved in a number of activities in the town. Ken joined the Rotary club and soon became a very enthusiastic member, running the Breckland Family Show for three years and becoming club President in 2001.
They both joined the Twinning organisation in town and enjoyed participating in visits to Weeze and welcoming German visitors to their home.
Next Ken was to pursue a lifetime’s interest in entertaining and music by joining the Festival committee to help with ideas and soon to be running the hugely popular Saturday Music Halls. This also led to the birth of the Westend Waiters who always did a couple of numbers in the shows.
There was also help by Ken to encourage reading with the young children at Westfield Infant school while Brenda did some of the very first steps in the use of computers, an activity done for about 10 years.
It was in the November issue of the Wayland News in 2020 that Julian very kindly printed a piece about u Brenda and Ken Davis as they celebrated theirr 65th wedding anniversary. It is with great sadness that Brenda now reports the death of her much loved husband just two days after their 67th.
Ken persuaded a local nursery which was in Watton at the time, to provide trays of seedling geraniums with a supply of compost and pots for the children to pot up in school, to look after, and to be brought back at the end of term to be planted out in a garden created at the end of the High Street. The garden continues to this day but without the geraniums!
They were both very keen to see the HighStreet alive with flowers and trees and were delighted when the Council agreed to take over the original planters and provide the beautiful displays seen today.
Then there was the Millennium Carnival and who can forget Ken, as one of the organisers, turning up as a clown!
Meanwhile the Waiters had become a major part of Ken’s life. At the time John Garratt, and his wife June had become members of the group and when John died of MND the group made a unanimous decision to go “ on the road” to do some concerts and raise funds to support people and research into this dread disease.
Ten years later the group had become firm friends and had raised over £25,000 doing some 300 plus concerts all round the county. Getting to a village hall seemingly miles from anywhere and finding a warm welcome from a group of people eagerly waiting for an hour of music and laughter was always a great thrill and was loved by us all. The show was often followed by a cup of tea and a slice of cake and that was good too!
All of this came to an end with Covid.
Lockdowns caused Ken to lose a lot of his mobility and over the next few years he became increasingly poorly although for a time he could be seen about the town on his mobility scooter doing a little family shopping.
He spent a couple of weeks in hospital and then was able to come home to be lovingly looked after until his death by Brenda and his family, Rachel, Jason and Barley, helped with wonderful care from a team of care workers and District nurses.
His family and all his many friends in Watton will miss him hugely.