Fred Knight, founder and former owner of F. Knight & Sons, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Thursday night.
Thanks to Mike, his Grandson, for letting me know as many people will remember him. Mike says that Fred was a good man, and he did a lot for and in the town, and wants to see him commemorated for all he did to make Abingdon a better place.
The advert is from the 1972 Abingdon Who’s Who.
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!
At Trinity Church this morning was a Sevice of Thanksgiving for the life of Leslie Argyle. Leslie had been a member at Trinity since the Primitive Methodist Chapel, in Ock Street, closed and joined forces with Trinity in 1945. He also worked for over 40 years at Trotman’s Bakery, and when that was taken over by Holmes, he joined Day’s Bakery in Edward Street. He used to bake communion bread for Trinity and the “sheaf of corn” bread for harvest.
He had a love of traveling, walking, music and dancing and joined the Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers in 1951 and was elected as Mayor of Ock Street in 1980. (Thanks to Andrew who teaches piano and singing at Abingdon Piano School for the first two pictures. Andrew was taught Morris Dancing by ‘Les’ .)
The coffin was brought in to the accompaniment of Harry Knight on accordion playing “The Girl I left behind Me ” – The Old Marching tune of The Berkshire Militia.
There were 21 other Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers following the coffin. Icknield Way Morris, and Bampton Morris, were also represented in the congregation.
The hymn “Lord of the Dance” followed a performance of “How D’you do Sir” by the Morris Dancers.
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.
So if you’re waiting for tomorrow,
why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes,
you’ll surely regret the day,
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