The Parks
Evidence
Plaques on Benches | Thoughts Regarding the Memorials
Plaques on Benches
David Whitbread Angela Hoxey
The Parks Gave Us Great Joy
Bill and Sorrel Thomas
Many Happy Memories
Marcus Dutton - He Ran Here
Marguerite and Cyril Offord Loved This Park
In Memory of J.R.R. Tolkien 1892-1973
This bench and two trees nearby representing Telperion and Laurelin were donated by the Tolkien Centenary Conference 1992
In Loving Memory of Jane Turner 1925-1992
A.F.B.
George and Clare
George and Patricia Ramsey
Mary C M O'Brien 1931-1997
Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall
And so thy thoughts when thou art gone
Love itself shall linger on
Daphne Astrid Rosa Rosborough
In Loving Memory 1927-1976
Catherine Maulde Griffin 1939-1993
In Memory of John St. Leger Philpot (1908-1990) and Flora Jane Philpot (nee Ogstrom) (1913-2003) who walked the Parks and fed the ducks for many years
In Loving Memory of Bill and Madge Homes
CHOLMONDELEY
For Madge and Derek who loved the trees in this park
1914-1989 1911-1988
To Maurice Sirkin who loved Oxford
Vivien Stchedroff 1942-2001
In Memory of Pat in the Park she loved
In memory of Digby Henry Christ 1902-1975
In memory of Margaret Hall and Sandy
Our walks were wonderful
Jack Howlett
30 August 1912 - 5 May 1999
In Memory of Ruth Parkes (nee Deansely) 1901-1997
Thoughts Regarding the Memorials
Having copied down the Parks' memorials, I realised how they were all so different, not only in what they had to say about those who'd passed away (if indeed they had passed away), but also in what they said about those who were 'remembering' and their motives for doing so.
In memory of Margaret Hall and Sandy
Our walks were wonderful
When I read these words, I not only think of Margaret Hall and (what I presume to be) her dog, but rather, and perhaps more fundamentally, whosoever made the memorial. It's impossible to know whether it's a man or woman (although in my mind's eye I see a man), yet what we can discern is their emptiness, their dreadful sense of loss. The plaque is not so much a memorial to happier 'wonderful' times, but rather, an acknowledgement of painful times existing now and in the future.
Some of those remembering, are, so it seems, remembering themselves, or at least a period in their lives which had passed.
David Whitbread Angela Hoxey
The Parks Gave Us Great Joy
Of course it might be that David and Angela have indeed passed away and that writing their memorial in such a way is a means of deferring death. Whereas in the example above (Margaret Hall and Sandy) we sense the loss of the bereaved, in this memorial we have a sense of two people having merely 'moved on'.
The ambiguity of these memorials interests me a great deal. I like the idea that one can commemorate a part of one's life this way, as well as a life in its entirety, once that life has ended. An example would be:
George and Clare
Are these people dead? Were they friends/lovers who have since gone their separate ways? Is the lack of a surname or surnames indicative of an affair? Have they both made this plaque as a dedication to their time together? Or perhaps just one of them? If so which one? George or Clare? Who was left behind by the other?
Of course it could be that they have passed away and that this is a dedication made by a very good friend - the lack of a surname does reveal a closeness, the bond of a close friendship.
Some memorials are much more formal:
Vivien Stchedroff 1942-2001
Here we know that there was a woman called Vivien Stchedroff and that she lived to the age of 58 or 59, that she was born in 1942 and died in 2001. Now, compare this to '...Pat in the Park she loved.' We don't know her surname. We know nothing of her age, her year of birth or that of when she died, but somehow we have a much clearer picture of her than we do of Vivien. It's not entirely clear whether Vivien ever came into the Parks, although one assumes she did (it is possible of course that the Parks is a place frequented by whosoever is remembering, rather than the deceased.) In a sense our image of Pat is not an image of a woman, but rather an image comprised of all the different parts of the Parks itself; the paths, trees, the grass and the river, and, in a many respects, her bench.
Those memorials which place the deceased in the location of the memorials themselves are therefore made all the more poignant:
Marcus Dutton - He Ran Here
Marguerite and Cyril Offord Loved This Park
In Memory of John St. Leger Philpot (1908-1990) and Flora Jane Philpot (nee Ogstrom) (1913-2003) who walked the Parks and fed the ducks for many years
For Madge and Derek who loved the trees in this park
1914-1989 1911-1988
To Maurice Sirkin who loved Oxford