Abingdon Town Council announced, with sadness, that Ewart Hemmings has passed away after illness. Ewart served the Caldecott Ward for many years as a Labour Councillor at Town and Borough Councils, Vale of White Horse District Council and Oxfordshire County Council. He is still a local hero to that area. Somebody was telling me recently how Ewart helped them get the Saxton Rovers club house built. He was Mayor of Abingdon in 1978/9.

Ewart was awarded the Freedom of Abingdon in 1999 and was often to be seen at events in that capacity. He was also President of the Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers and presided over the election of the Mayor of Ock Street. The picture above shows him reading from the WWI Abingdon Roll of Honour, where he read the H’s including the Hemmings.

As a mark of respect the Town Flag is now flying at half-mast from the Old County Hall.

The bell of St Helen’s Church tolled for fifteen minutes. Then a minute’s silence was observed on Abingdon Market Place at 3 P.M in remembrance of H.R.H Prince Philip.

The Town Crier, Deputy Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, Mayor of Abingdon-on-Thames, and Town Clerk led the silence in Abingdon, an event held throughout Britain.

At the same time, at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, members of the royal family surrounded Philip’s coffin. The coffin was then taken inside the building for the service, as organ music played.

There were also tributes in the window of the Sue Ryder Charity shop nearby, and Waitrose.

Very sad news of the death of Jeanette Halliday on April 17th 2020, after being ill since Christmas.

Jeanette was the Mayor of Abingdon from 1998-9, and continued to serve on Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council until she died. She has been on the Town Council for about twenty years in total, and was the Chair of the planning committee on the current council. Her husband Jim is another long serving and dedicated councillor.

Jeanette was very good at talking to people and taking up their concerns and getting things done. She was independently minded and full of humour.

Many people will remember her as a driving instructor in Abingdon back in the 1980-90s. More recently she ran a holistic therapy clinic.

We will have to wait until the Pandemic restrictions are lifted for a Thanksgiving Service for everybody who knew her. Current rules allow a small private service. Our thoughts are with Jim and her family.

There is a fuller obituary on the Town Council web site at https://abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon-news/abingdon-thames-town-council/councillor-jeanette-halliday