Tributes paid to crusader and founder member of Brondesbury Residents’ and Tenants’ Association

A tireless campaigner from Kilburn and founding member of Brondesbury Residents’ and Tenants’ Association has died.

Monika Annaliese Huber will be best remembered for dedicating her life to helping the young and disadvantaged.

Born in University College London, on July 11 1942, she died on July 4 – just a few days short of her 70th birthday.

Miss Huber was no stranger to hospitals during her life, suffering from a rare internal bleeding condition.

However, her spirit in which she tackled endless new projects to help others never dampened.

Miss Huber’s mother, a kosher cook living in Belsize Road, sent her daughter to Barrow Hill School, in St John’s Wood, and Harben School, in Kilburn. This was followed by Northwest Polytechnic for Girls.

One of her first jobs included working for Iliffe Publishers, in Waterloo, where her love affair for theatre and music began.

But it was when she joined Camden’s Task Force, in charge of young volunteers carrying out repairs for the elderly, that her work within the community truly began.

Throughout the 60s, Miss Huber worked as a youth organiser at Oxfam and also opened her own fashion business.

She then formed the Kingsgate Play Centre, in Kilburn, before helping underprivileged children and their families for more than 20 years at Cubitt Street Playgroup, in Camden.

She continued her love of performance with visits to Hampstead Theatre and in 1974, bought her home of 37 years, in Plympton Road, Kilburn.

In 1979, Miss Huber wrote to the Kilburn Times slamming Brent Council’s decision to remove trees lining streets.

To embrace both tenants and owners, Brondesbury Residents’ and Tenants’ Association (BRAT) was formed and continues to serve the community, 32 years on.

Miss Huber died surrounded by her chamber music recordings with her daughter Annaliese, son-in-law Alden and granddaughter Asha.

Paying tribute, members of the association said: “Her brave rugged optimism for both her own health and well-being and that of the young and disadvantaged was unbeatable. She leaves a sad void in our community.”

The association will plant a tree in her memory this autumn in Streatley Gardens.

Her funeral will take place at Golders Green Crematorium at 3pm on Monday, July 18, followed by a gathering at Tricycle Theatre, in High Road, Kilburn.