Friends and family help give musician a fitting send-off

A singer who died of liver cancer just a day after his diagnosis has been laid to rest.

More than 200 friends of Chris Austin, who was 38, gathered at a lively wake at his aunt Sharon Austin’s pub in Chartham, near Canterbury.

Musicians including Lupen Crook and Crybaby Special played live and acoustic sets long into the night in a celebration of his life.

The mini-festival last Wednesday at The George pub followed a packed funeral service at Barham Crematorium.

Chris’s brother Tom Moore, 35, said: “It was definitely the sort of send-off he would’ve wanted. We had a bonfire and released Chinese lanterns.

“We would like to thank everyone who came, those who couldn’t make it and the people of the village for being so understanding.”

Chris, who had just signed to a record label with his band Tape Error, discharged himself from hospital after being told he had late-stage cancer.

The gifted guitarist, who lived in Rochester, had joked to friends that he would never live past 40. No inquest will be held.

A musical tribute page at soundcloud.com/chris-austinrip has allowed more than 1,000 people to listen to his songs. Electric car charging points installed in Canterbury at a cost of £15,000 have been used just FOUR times in the past year, the Gazette can reveal. The power sockets were installed at the city’s three park and ride sites last August, costing Canterbury City Council £5,000 each.

This week, it emerged the authority has pulled the plug on one in Wincheap after it was vandalised three weeks ago.

It was removed by the council at the end of July, but it is not certain whether it will be reinstated.

When the points were installed, the authority admitted it did not know how many green car owners there were locally, nor how many vehicles were likely to use them.

Bailey’s Nissan, thought to be the only electric car dealer in the city, has sold just two Nissan Leaf models in the past year, to people from Manchester.

The authority has since faced fierce criticism from the Taxpay-

Musician Chris Austin, who died of liver cancer aged 38