Arnold was also a keen


sportsman. He played cricket, hockey, badminton and tennis competitively but is probably most remembered for table tennis. Together with Roland Herbert


he made Sibford Table Tennis Club’s first table and they joined the Banbury and District league, soon after it started. He and Ina had much success and continued to play into their 80s. Indeed, many of the best players in the Banbury League came from Sibford, all introduced to the game by Arnold and Ina.


After his retirement, Arnold became a regular attender of the Society of Friends’ Sibford meeting. He has supplied flower arrangements for the meeting, from flowers picked in his garden for several years.


Janet Sewell née Eavis 12 April 1931 ~ 20 February 2017 At Sibford 1943 ~ 1948


Festival! At the outbreak of war the


growing family moved to Pamber Heath in North Hampshire where our parents ran a small holding. They attended Reading and Basingstoke meetings often with us all cycling the eight miles or so. At that time, school leaving age was 14 years so with no local opportunities for further education our parents made the difficult decision to send Janet to Sibford aged 12 years. In due course, each of us


followed … Brian in 1945, Helen in 1946, Bridget in 1948 and Rachel in 1950. Quite a commitment and helped by Friends Education Committee and some local authority tuition grants. In 1948, our parents were able to buy land and a house near Newbury and set up a market garden and later pig farm. For 16 years they trailed up and down to Sibford and prided themselves on never missing a Parents’ weekend. They often stayed at the Cannings’ farmhouse in the Ferris with other parents including the Flynns and Quintons. Janet had a shaky


involved all her life, writes Janet’s sister Bridget. She was Head Girl from 1947/48 and later became President of SOSA. For many years, she was a member of the School Committee and General Meeting. Janet was the eldest of Alan


S


and Irene Eavis’s five children and was born at Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset … now more famous as the home of the Glastonbury


30 / The Sibford Rocket


ibford was very important to Janet and she was very


start as her school reports show (she never threw anything away and we found the full set of Sibford reports amongst her possessions!)


At the end of her first term the


report shows she was struggling. The English teacher wrote ‘she must bestir herself to improve this standard.’ We imagine she was finding it difficult being the youngest rather than the eldest and was very homesick. By the


end of the next term however the Head wrote: ‘We are very pleased with Janet. She works hard and is reliable, sensible and helpful. Lessons are not easy for her but she is a cheerful trier!’ We think that’s how she was for the rest of her life … a cheerful trier! Music was one of Janet’s best subjects and she was praised for her advanced piano playing. We were all to benefit from our Mother’s pianistic skills and Father’s love of singing. Our family singing around the piano was reinforced at Sibford particularly with A.J. and Sunday morning Choral. Janet belonged to choirs all her life, ending with the Penn singers and Jordans choir. By the end of five years at


Sibford Janet had blossomed and A.J. described her as ‘a loyal, conscientious and trustworthy head girl’. Those of us who knew Janet all her life can recognize those qualities.


After Sibford and


a year working at a Nursery school, Janet went to Doncaster to teacher training college. Then a successful teaching career via Leicester and London. She loved London and enjoyed showing visitors around. She was very involved in the Friends International Centre, Tavistock Square,


and made many long-lasting friends around the world. We always teased her as everywhere she travelled she had a contact and usually a bed!


She had her first headship at the


University Primary School in Accra, Ghana and was there for five years just after their independence, so


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