Lesley Writes about her Abingdon neighbour, Tony Broad …

This is a small incite into the background of my former neighbour Tony Broad who died on 15th January aged 93. He talked a lot about his work at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge where so much innovative research was being undertaken over the years.

Tony went through Technical college and then to EMI where he honed his technical knowledge on Cathode Ray Tubes. He worked under Otto Klemperer there.

Georgina Ferry, a Scientific blogger, writes that he was the creator of a nobel prizewinning x-ray tube.

He was the inventor and creator of many clever devices, before and after. After working at Cambridge he moved to Harwell and then set up his own company where he worked on early hole in the wall cash machines. Even in retirement he would spend his time creating fixing and rebuilding things. His work was his life.

Lesley says Tony also had narcolepsy all his life. He would fall asleep when she was visiting him and even on his mobility scooter once. But still managed to execute his work brilliantly.

Pictured is – a rotating anode tube of the type originally designed by Tony Broad – his most important invention (Picture Thanks to: Daniel W. Rickey, Wikimedia Commons).

May 15th is Conscientious Objectors’ Day, when Quakers, and Peace Campaigners remember the men who refused to take up arms.

One such man was Roland Caudwell ( 1880-1982). He will be remembered by some in Abingdon as the retired builder who lived at 52 Thesiger Road. He will be remembered by others as a Deacon at Abingdon Baptist Church. There are earlier pictures of him serving as a soldier in the Boar War where he looked after the horses. But during World War I, he had become a man of conscience who refused to fight or kill, and is listed as a Conscientious Objector.

In 1916 he was Clerk of the Abingdon Quaker meeting. Like many Quakers (or Friends) he held pacifist beliefs. He was exempted Military Service at a tribunal in July 1916 not only on grounds of conscience but also because he was a farmer – a reserved occupation.

Mr Caudwell reached the grand age of 101, and there are reports of him as a centenarian in the Abingdon Herald. The reports say that he made hundreds of blankets for Oxfam.

When Mr Harry Downey retired from running Bailey Shoe Repairs, the Oxford Mail reported Shoe Repair Shop Ties up Trade.

Sorry to say that Harry is no longer with us and his funeral is at 2pm on Monday 24 February in St Helens Church – all are welcome. Thanks to Elizabeth for three pictures taken when Harry was nearing retirement in March 2010.

Bailey’s opened in 1903 and celebrated 100 years of customer satisfaction in 2003.

They were located in what was the site of the stables behind the Rising Sun Hotel – now Barclays Bank.

Harry joined Baileys at age 15, became the owner in 1984, and retired in 2010 at the age of 70.