Tribute to Peter Jeffery, RIP

On Thursday 8th October, close family members hosted a tribute to long-term village resident, Peter Jeffery, who sadly passed away in September.

Peter first met Christina, his wife to be, more than 54 years ago. In his spare time, Peter worked as an IVS (International Voluntary Service) volunteer and met Christina at a meeting of the local IVS group where she helped him with packaging the IVS cards at the charity’s central London office. She also went out with Peter to concerts at the Fairfield Hall in Croydon, and to folk music events, which he particularly enjoyed, along with brass band music.

They were married at Wallington Congregational Church in Surrey in 1972 and soon afterwards moved to Haddenham, initially moving into a property in Churchway. They have been in the village ever since, based for the majority of this time at the southern end of Townside.

Peter got a job with a firm of chartered accountants based in Beaconsfield, but worked for a while in their office in Temple Street, Aylesbury. After about 12 years with that firm, he decided to go solo and, with the agreement of his Beaconsfield bosses, took with him some of the small local firms and individual clients whose accounts he had been dealing with and started working from home.

By this time the family had grown, with the arrival of three daughters: Alison (affectionately known as Ali), Susanna and Charlotte. So Peter and Christina had the house extended to give Peter a designated area for his study and space for Maureen Green, his secretarial-cum-accountancy assistant who worked with him for many years.  

In addition to his paid accountancy work, Peter was able to use the same skills  in various local groups and charities. He was involved for many years as treasurer of the Buckinghamshire CPRE group (Campaign to Protect Rural England), and in Haddenham was treasurer, or examiner of the annual accounts, of several Haddenham groups, including Haddenham Museum Trust and Haddenham Village Society.

Peter had a keen eye for detail and was a very helpful (self-appointed!) proofreader for the Haddenham.net community website.

In his leisure time he also enjoyed exercise sessions in Thame, until he ruptured his Achilles tendon at a ceilidh! He was also a familiar face around the village as he sought to keep telegraph posts clear of date-expired posters and accumulated staples. Despite silly tittle-tattle suggesting that Peter was removing posters before the events had taken place, this was never the case! He was also keen to help keep the village tidy by picking up discarded bottles, cans and paper for recycling.

Peter finally retired from accountancy work at the age of 75, although he was still happy to give advice to former clients with whom he had kept in touch.

Peter’s last few years were overshadowed by the relentless progress of his Parkinson’s Disease but he was given good care for two years at Avondale Care Home in Aylesbury and, for his final (83rd) year, at the newly opened Haddenham Park Care Home. 

Rest in peace, Peter.