John E passed away last week. He often sent me pieces to put on the blog, and left comments, and encouragement.

Rob emailed me suggesting a tribute to John on the blog. Other people knew John much better but Rob said when prompted “The things I associate with John are his devotion to his family – his wife, children & grand-children; his religious faith and his work for St Michael’s Church; his pride in his Welsh Heritage; his love of music and his singing with the Wantage Male Voice Choir & a music-group for people living in his neighbourhood; his beloved allotment; his enthusiasm for travel; and his determination to have a go at everything that life has to offer, even over the last dozen years when he has had to dodge cancer’s bullets.”

The last piece John E did for the blog was on New Years day 2014. The Boundary Walk had been cancelled because of the floods. Here is what he sent …

The Christian Aid Walk happened this morning despite the Weather. Here they are at Drayton Church Hall for a soggy break. If this doesn’t deserve a sponsorship I don’t know what does!

A fuller tribute is printed in this week’s Herald.

Yesterday was the funeral at St Helen’s Church of Penny McDougall – an Abingdon-on-Thames town councillor, who died unexpectedly just over a week ago. These pictures were at last year’s bun throwing.

Penny was described as a dedicated mum, and grandmother, who for two years became a councillor and dedicated some of her great energies to improving Abingdon – in which role she was described as a breath of fresh air.

At the funeral her youngest son read a poem which his mum had chosen …

…Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,
young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance
you get to hold your loved one tight.

That you didn’t take that extra time
for a smile, a hug, or a kiss
and you were too busy to grant someone,
what turned out to be their one last wish…

Author Unknown

Jean Jones once told me that she always read the Abingdon Herald obituaries because so often she would read about a friend’s passing there. In 2010 we said goodbye to Jean Jones.

In 2011 there were a few names I also knew in the Herald obituaries. Jean would have known more …

Pauline Selleck taught me and my wife to do the waltz and foxtrot two years ago at Abingdon Dance Studios. She was an excellent teacher. Pauline was born in Abingdon, attended Our Ladies Convent, and taught ballroom dancing from 1953. She ran the full-time dance school in Swinburne Road which her daughter Liz continues to run. Pat Lonergan, when he was Mayor, gave her a Mayor’s award for service to the community.

I first met Lilian Barry at a creative writing class at the Oxpens college in Oxford, about 30 years ago, just before I moved to Abingdon. In the class she specialised in humorous poems. I saw more of those poems when I moved to the Tithe Farm estate in Abingdon where she edited the residents newsletter for 15 years on a portable typewriter, and often ended with a humorous poem. She, and her successor Steve Annells, were the inspiration for this blog. She was the warden at the Jephson flats for 17 years and after retirement at aged 72 worked in a number of our charity shops until the doctors forced her to retire a decade later.

I often used to sit near Betty Flew at Trinity Church. She was a very kind but frail lady and I was very suprised to learn at her memorial service that she had been a nuclear physicist before retirement. Retired people often amaze me with things they have done earlier in life.

Angela Moreton-Smith was very active at St Edmunds Church and was friendly with my mum, and a reader of this blog. (Not sure I should be writing memorials in this blog. People can tell me if it seems wrong. But at the end of the year is a time to remember.)