On 19th December 2021 Eileen Oades celebrated her 100th birthday in the Church Hall. Rosemary has written this resumé of those 100 eventful years ….
Eileen was born in north London and attended schools in Harrow. She went to work in the Civil Service at the Ministry of Health and consequently was evacuated to Blackpool in 1940. Peter’s family were also evacuated there with his father who was in the Civil Service too. So it is thanks to Mr Hitler that they met! Peter went on to join the Navy and Eileen joined the Nursing Reserve, eventually working on the Casualty Evacuation trains taking sick and wounded from hospital ships to hospitals all over the country. Thinking that a doctor was taking rather too much notice of Eileen, Peter decided it was time to propose! They were married in 1946 and settled in Cambridge while Peter studied at Fitzwilliam College. Teaching took them to Spalding in Lincolnshire and then (with baby Rosemary) to the Alliance High School outside Nairobi. During their 4 years there Barbara was born and Eileen supported activities at the school which taught African boys. Among other things, she inspected their dormitories each week. It was an “interesting” time as it was during the height of the Mau Mau uprising.
Returning to England they settled in Crawley New Town and Eileen immersed herself in Young Wives, Mothers’ Union, PTA and parish activities as well as accompanying Peter on school trips to Germany. As the woman behind the “great man” she supported Peter and the girls through moves to Bognor and Emsworth as he rose to become a headmaster. Holidays were spent camping and caravanning. Peter was ordained and moved to Salisbury to work at the Cathedral and teach at the Cathedral School. Eileen’s parents joined them at the house in The Close that became their home. They met lots of interesting people and made good friends with American visitors that led to returned hospitality in the US. When the Queen visited the Cathedral for Maundy Thursday they received Maundy Money. Peter held the fort as Head of the school for a while and Eileen took the boarders under her wing.
Eventually Peter became a full time parish priest in Sturminster Newton and Eileen became a Vicar’s Wife. As always she took on the role wholeheartedly and supported parishioners and parish activities, serving hot soup to market stallholders in the winter months. From Dorset they moved to the Woodford Valley parishes before retiring to Fordingbridge. They involved themselves with the Arthritis Research charity, the Twinning Association and the library Historical Group – among other things. Lent Lunches and May Day breakfasts were introduced. Having had a variety of dogs and cats over the years Eileen became the “silly Granny lady” when boarding family cats and, when no longer having a permanent canine in their lives she took up dog sitting for friends, enjoying walks in the New Forest. By now Eileen was also a Granny and the grandchildren have happy memories of holidays at the various Vicarages – the cellar at Woodford holding several memories of hide and seek.
Always intrepid travellers (Their African adventure meant going out via the Suez Canal and returning around South Africa) they visited the Holy Land and various European countries as well as the US. On retiring they made a Round the World trip, (sometimes visiting friends and relatives) taking in Canada, Fiji, New Zealand, Hong Kong and India.
Eventually it was decided that it was time to “downsize” and move to be nearer the family. So Green Haven in Cowplain became home and they threw themselves into being part of the community there. Peter died in 2012 but Eileen continued to be an active member of the organising committee and was even Chairperson until a couple of years ago!
St George’s had always been a home from home on their visits so they were pleased to become permanent members of the congregation when they moved to the area in 2009. A long time member of the Mothers’ Union, Eileen joined the St George’s branch and received a long service certificate. She is an active member of St George’s Ladies and enjoys the Music Festival weeks.
Rosemary Monk
