ST EDBURG'S Church would not be the beautiful building it is if not for the generosity of many local residents.

One such example is the reredos over the high altar.

Fundraising had been started for a new altar and reredos by the Rev Gibbs Payne Crawfurd but the project was completed several years later by his successor, Rev Walter O’Reilly.

All kinds of events had been held to raise the money necessary but even when the work was completed in 1910 there were still debts outstanding.

The central carving is particularly poignant as we approach Good Friday – the crucifixion of Jesus with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the apostle St John standing either side.

The figures of four saints connected with the church are also there: St Edburg (patron saint of the church and town), St Birinus (Bishop of Dorchester), St Hugh (Bishop of Lincoln) and St Frideswide (patron saint of Oxford city, university and diocese).

They are all beautifully carved in solid Austrian wainscot oak, the design of Mr. James Rogers of High Street, Oxford.

The figures were paid for by donations made in memory of loved ones who had died.

Their names are listed on a tablet on the south wall of the chancel, which was erected in 1920.

They include the Rev Cyril John Noble Page (a former curate), Mary Elizabeth Durrant and her two children (one of whom, Cyril George, died in service during the First World War), and John William Hunt (a magistrate, town councillor, Sunday School superintendent and church warden).

Several of them died in the years following the completion of the work, which reflects just how long it took for the debt to be cleared.

It really had been a major undertaking and huge expense but well worth it.

Yet it could still be improved upon.

The figures had been made of the same dark wood as the rest of the structure, so did not really stand out.

In 1986, however, a very generous bequest to the church by the late Mrs. Doris Goble, enabled work to be undertaken to gild the niches and thus make them more prominent.

Mrs. Goble was a much-loved Bicester character and a very active one, both within the church and the town.

Fr John Baggley, then the Team Rector, wrote of her in the church magazine of February 1986:

Bicester and Bicester Church lost a faithful and wise character in December with the death of ‘Auntie’ Doris Goble at the age of 90. Doris was one of those remarkable people with a profound love for the place where she lived. She loved Bicester, its people and its church, and she worked hard for what she loved.

Her activity for the church included needlework, being the church bursar, working hard on fund-raising; it also included worship and prayer.

In what she was able to give to others in the way of love and support she drew not only on the depths of her religious knowledge, but also on the depths of pain and suffering that she had known through the loss of her husband, daughter and brother very early in life.

She will be remembered by many as a woman of great Christian faith and integrity.

She is indeed remembered, with gratitude, as are all those people who contributed to our lovely reredos.