JERICHO ECHO ARTICLE
December 1987
Edwin Ardener will be remembered by the University for his work in Social Anthropology, as those o£ you who read the obituary in the Oxford Times last July will know. To Jericho he was the chairman of the Jericho Residents' Association and will be remembered with respect and affection by numerous people whom he helped during his time. Older residents will recall the many, often stormy, meetings he chaired, defending the interests of the residents and building up a co-operative relationship with the City officers engaged in the task of rehabilitating Jericho. It was no easy job, for Jericho was the first of the General Improvement Areas and this was a new social experiment which had to be worked out from the grassroots upward and Edwin Ardener played a significant part in its success. When the dust settled Edwin Ardener served Jericho in a new way. It was vital for the future to establish permanent two-way channels between the residents, the officials and between different interests within the community. He never lost sight of the people behind the problem. St. Barnabas Institute was not a matter of whose building it was or who ran it. It was a question of how could the needs of the youngsters for a youth club be met, the bingo club and other community interests. He worked to draft the present agreement between the Church and the Council. More recently he helped the 'boat-people' in their search for residential moorings. Here in Jericho, we saw the scholarship which made his name in the University put to the direct benefit of the people he lived among. Edwin Ardener*s death does not mean the end of the Jericho Residents' Association. Already Ray Inskeep has stepped in as temporary chairman of the committee until the AGM in January when you vote on it. The new station plans, the re-siting of the Lucy scrap dump nearer Jericho, new building plans on the part of the OUP, resident parking are all being watched and commented upon. The JRA is continuing Edwin Ardener's fight to keep Jericho as a residential area where peoples' rights are more important than property owners' profits. For those readers who are new to the area you are a member of the Jericho Residents' Association by virtue of living in Jericho. That is within the area between Worcester Place in the south and Juxon Street in the north; the west side of Walton Street excluding Ruskin and Worcester Colleges and the towpath to Upper Fisher Row. There is no subscription but we hope you will attend the AGM in January and be prepared to serve on the committee. You can attend committee meetings if you wish and you can find out about them from the Jericho and St. Barnabas Institute on Oxford 57902 or Hon. Sec. Oxford 515901.