Sunday, October 17, 2010

Avenue Of Tree's

Went for a nice Autumn walk around Christ Church Meadow this morning, nice to get into this lovely area of Oxford at this time of year. The air was crisp however when you stood in the sun it was a nice day. I like this Avenue of Tree's leading down to the River Thames, today I had a little chat with Zoe Peterssen, the old lady in this photo on the right. She is an Artist who is often seen sitting in Christ Church Meadow and other parks of Oxford sketching trees on large sheets of paper. She is one of Oxford infamous characters who I am sure has come in contact with many visitors and residents alike. She is often very hard to engage, however today I was lucky to be shown her work, and has a chat for about 30min after taking this photo.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Percy, thank you!

I have passed by this lady many times, as I used to run in Christ Church meadows. Until today, I had no idea of her significance. She sounds to be a fascinating person.

Also, on another note, while I'm here - thank you, for all the daily photos. They turn up in my feed reader and often make me smile, or teach me something about my city.

I know I should comment more often, because if I (and your other readers) don't then you don't have our encouragement. All too often, good bloggers lose their momentum, due to a totally silent readership.

But, we are out here! And we really appreciate your work! Thank you, again.

PJ McNally.

Petrea Burchard said...

PJ's right, we're here!

This is a particularly nice one, too. Lovely Oxford, lovely day. I have such fond memories of my time there.

Howie said...

I am writing with sad news of Zoe Peterssen. On the evening of Monday 29th August Zoe passed away peacefully.

On 15th August, low on energy, she fell over in the street and spent a week in bed at home, after which she spent a week in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where she was diagnosed with advanced cancer. It was a swift and decisive illness which she endured with great dignity. She received last rites from her priest friends from Pusey House, where she had been Artist in Residence in recent years.

I am sorry to write to you with this news. I feel greatly blessed to have known Zoe for the past ten years, and to have witnessed her special work. Personally, I count myself as merely one of Zoe’s many friends – it was by chance that I had an appointment with Zoe on the day when she took ill, and consequently I saw her often in the last fortnight of her life.

Zoe had very many good friends both near and far – there must be very many more who we have not been able to contact, so please pass on the news. Also, we do not yet have contact details for Zoe’s relatives and any information you might be able to share about this would be most helpful in sorting out her affairs.

We have set up a special email address for correspondence about Zoe:

zoepeterssenmemorial@gmail.com

The funeral is to be organised by her friends at Pusey House and is planned for Friday 30th September at 12 noon. Further details of the funeral will be sent out automatically in reply to emails, and will be posted on the Pusey House website:

http://www.puseyhouse.org.uk/

Zoe was such a wonderful individual and I am hoping that the funeral will reflect the wide affection in which she was held. I recognise that many friends will be unable to attend, but I would like to invite you to contribute any stories or pictures (via email) which we could perhaps put together in memory of Zoe.