Joan Allibone
Profile
Joan Allibone’s slight Yorkshire accent hints at her upbringing in Leeds, where she attended the Girls’ High School and often walked past Mill Hill Chapel and the statue of Joseph Priestley without ever suspecting their Unitarian connections, or envisaging that one day she would herself join the Unitarian movement. Joan was brought up as an Anglican, and was singing in the choir of Benson parish church as recently as 12 months ago, when her search for an inclusive religious community without dogma led her to the Manchester College Chapel Society. Now she is a much-valued member of our congregation and recently succeeded Mary Waley in the post of Secretary.
The daughter of two doctors, Joan read Physiology at the University of Glasgow and then obtained a second degree, in Animal Nutrition at Aberdeen. At first she toyed with the idea of a career in teaching, but took a sales job with a cattle-food company; then, via secretarial training and a post in personnel management with a hotel chain based in Leeds, she got a job in the library of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, which led her 12 years ago to her present post as a Scientific Information Officer with CABI – the Centre for Agricultural and Biological Sciences, near Wallingford. She enjoys her job, which involves editing abstracts of books and journal articles about animal nutrition for an on-line database. Working for a non-commercial organisation which serves Third World agriculturalists gives her great satisfaction.
Not surprisingly for someone in such a sedentary job, Joan’s chief leisure-time activity is walking. She belongs to the Didcot and Wallingford Ramblers’ Club, and also goes walking with an Anglo-German club. She is learning German at an evening class, and in what remains of her spare time enjoys dressmaking and reading and music: she sings and plays the piano, and enjoys listening to a wide range of styles, from baroque to jazz and ethnic music.
On top of all that, Joan is our wonderfully efficient Secretary, working quietly in the background to keep the Chapel Society on the rails, offering her shrewd opinions at committee meetings, and putting shy newcomers at their ease. It was a lucky day for us when she decided to give Unitarianism a try. Catherine Robinson (Spring 2001)