Audrey Barker: died January 2017

The CLP was delighted to be able to host a memorial evening for Audrey’s family and close friends in February 2017.

Audrey Barker grew up in Otley, to the north of Leeds, and came to London as a young woman to work as a teacher.

She served as a Labour councillor in Kingston in the 1970s, first for the then Dickerage ward, and after boundary changes in the 1978, she represented Norbiton until 1982.

After serving as a councillor Audrey remained very involved in the local Labour Party. She was membership secretary for Cambridge and Coombe Branch (covering much of the area of the current Coombe Vale and Coombe Hill wards). At that time, many party members paid their subscriptions in cash to the local branch, and Audrey had that process very much in hand. She loved this opportunity to meet local members face-to-face and made many friends that way. She was one of the leading lights in the party in the 1980s and beyond. She was very jolly in general and threw herself into Christmas bazaars and socials with great energy.

She was married to Harry, who survives her. Harry was also a Kingston councillor, in the 1950s, and went on to be a salaried trade union organiser and negotiator, working when I knew them for NUPE (the National Union of Public Employees, now part of Unison). They had 3 children, Ruth, Julian and Jill who have many memories of being co-opted to work on Labour campaigns. Until they moved to Hampton in the mid-1990s, their home in Woodside Road was often used for meetings of the local Labour Party.

It was typical of Audrey that she willed her body to medicine. Barker Close in New Malden is named after Cllr Audrey Barker.

The CLP was delighted to be able to host a memorial evening for Audrey’s family and close friends in February 2017.

Laurie South, Labour Chair

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