Author Archives: Backstreeter

Abingdon resident Joan celebrates 100th birthday

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Joan Watt had her 100th birthday on Monday 4th October in Abingdon. Family travelled from Plymouth, Bristol, West Bromwich, Stafford and Lincolnshire to celebrate this special occasion.

This picture, taken in September 2018, shows Joan with Ena Mitchell. Ena is now 103.

Joan was born in Deal, Kent in 1921. The family moved to Lodge Hill which was a munitions depot, near Chatham. A Naval launch would cross the river Medway to pick up the school children and take them to the dockyard and the children could then walk to school in the town.

At the start of the Second World War Joan was an aircraft spotter.

She and her husband moved to Abingdon in April 1963. She has three daughters, five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

Joan and Ena are well known at Trinity church. Joan has been knitting clothing for the homeless for 25 or 30 years. In her early 90s she walked all around Abingdon, including the mile to Trinity and back again, but cannot walk so much anymore.

These pictures were taken on the day of family and Joan receiving her telegram from the Queen.

The Complete Philosophy Collection at Abingdon Library (181 – 199)

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The path: a new way to think about everything
From Confucius to Xunzi
six of the great – but largely unknown –
Chinese philosophers
show us the way to live well.

The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet
The wisdom of the Tao
winds its way
through these children’s books
in a whimsical way.

The hemlock cup : Socrates, Athens and the search for the good life
This biography puts the physical
back into the metaphysical.
We think the way we think
because he thought the way he thought.

Lessons in Stoicism by John Sellars
The ideas of the great Stoic Philosophers –
Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius –
“Don’t explain your philosophy.
Embody it.”

A practical guide to philosophy for everyday life
Philosophy can make you aware
of what you think and why,
and help you take charge
of what you think and why.

A Short History of Modern Philosophy
Descartes by way of Spinoza, Leibniz, Hobbes,
Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer,
Kierkegaard, Marx, Nietzsche, Mill, Frege, Husserl,
Heidegger, Wittgenstein to post-modernist philosophy.

(written for Abingdon Share a Poem October 2021 where the topic was Philosophy)

Mayor of Abingdon helps out at Abingdon Community Fridge

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The Mayor of Abingdon-on-Thames, Councillor Cheryl Briggs, was at the Abingdon Community Fridge today at Hadland Road Community Centre, helping the volunteers.

The fridge is free for all to use and fights food waste by redistributing surplus food from local businesses and members of the community.

The helpers first set out everything that has been donated and then open the doors to the public.

Radley Lakes Trust launched – exciting future

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The Radley Lakes Trust will oversee projects to improve pedestrian access to the Lakes, to manage important wildlife habitats, and to provide signage and information for people who visit the area.

Trustees at the launch in the Silk Hall, Radley College, on 25th September 2021 (left to right: Andrew Ashton, Mike Wilson, David Fraser, Lynda Crowley, Richard Dudding, Roger Thomas.)

Lynda Crowley, Chair of Radley Parish Council and a trustee, said,‘I am delighted that Radley Parish Council will be supporting the work of the Radley Lakes Trust. When we did our Radley Neighbourhood Plan a few years back, taking proper care of the Lakes emerged as a major concern of local residents. Now, we have a locally based Trust which can fulfil those aspirations,  I am very excited about the future.’