An interview with Susie Howard, Trustee at St Ethelwold’s

Susie originally trained as a midwife in London and then worked for an obstetrician at the Westminster Hospital before coming to Abingdon when their eldest child moved to secondary school. She lived in East Saint Helen Street and met Dorothea soon after arriving when she joined her vibrant interfaith group. They connected immediately, both believing in the oneness of religions and of mankind. Dorothea invited Susie to be a trustee of the Fellowship and for a long time Susie just attended quarterly meetings with not a lot happening. As Dorothea got older and less able, the trustee role became more significant and challenging with many ups and downs. For the last ten or so years Susie has also spent many hours in the garden at St Ethelwold’s.

She remarks that “I’ve never actually been for a job interview - just going with the flow and responding to various unexpected invitations that have cropped up”. Susie worked as a classroom assistant at St Nicholas School when children with special needs were introduced into mainstream schooling and was also the secretary for many years to a small NGO, the Baha'i Agency for Social and Economic Development. Susie has run a bed and breakfast here in Abingdon for the last 42 years, largely for visiting scientists. At one point this extended to ten rooms at St Ethelwold’s when the Fellowship was short of funds.

For the last twenty years or so she has been an enthusiastic member of the Abingdon Carbon Cutters – a local response to climate change.

In the interview, Susie explains the value of St Ethelwold’s house to the wider community, especially the value of the garden and how she has been a consistent part of the house as a trustee and as a volunteer.

Three words: “Community, Genuineness, Integrity,”

“Be lost without it.”

“Spiritual centre in the real sense of the word,”

Her message “Keep integrity, carry on, be open.”