Members of the Austin Family presented £5,465 to the Keech Cottage Children’s Hospice in Luton which was the Annual Charity of the Austin’s Charitable Fund for 2008. The Austin Family, who own Austin’s Funeral Service and Harwood Park Crematorium, set up the charitable fund eight years ago. The fund is administered by the Hertfordshire Community Foundation and its aim is to benefit local charities and community organisations. The fund is partly raised from company profits, but also through donations made by bereaved families in memory of their loved ones. The beneficiary of the Austin’s Charitable Fund for 2009 will be the Garden House Hospice in Letchworth.

Photograph: L to R  Jackie Shepherd, Jean Austin, Claire Austin, John Austin, Janice O’Neill, and Jonathon Aves.