The Abingdon Blog: 01/06/08

Abingdon Recycling Showcase

The lady on the left won the second prize for the Spring into Abingdon local shopping promotion. The winner came from Wimbledon in London.

On the Market Place were stalls on the theme of recycling. At Added Ingredients you can take your own container to fill up with oils and balsamic vinegars.

At Frugal Food you can take your own container to fill up with Ecover washing products - as shown on the Carbon Cutters stall.

At Local Roots (here doing a demo of whirlygigs) you can buy local produce and possibly whirlygigs...

The water is still getting higher

There's usually a way through

Either on foot

or by bike. But what may be a bit of an adventure to me

is a disaster for the gardeners at Abingdon's

Marcham Road allotments. Crops are underwater, sheds and outhouses flooded.

The fields around Tesco are also under water. Thats the River Ock on the left and the footpath on the right.

It is another summer flood, and another sign that we can expect more, and that Abingdon needs better flood protection. Either a flood relief area west of the A34, or an emergency drainage channel using the planned new canal.

Drama Festival - Tkts £5

A drama festival of one act plays has been running this week at the Unicorn Theatre. Three plays return for the final gala night in front of the Mayor of Abingdon, the Chair of the Vale, and Colin Dextor.

But on the penultimate evening a full theatre watched the Launton Village Players performing a real fun play within a play, centred on a bed, written by one of their number - "Well done Launton near Bicester"

and Stagelights did part of an Alan Ayckbourn Play - with some good strong characters - and return for the Gala night.

Well worth the £5 Tkts, but I would not guarantee there being any left for the final night.

Caldecott Road Tree Planting

Young trees have been planted to replace

the trees that got broken off in 2006. This time they look better guarded.

There is another new tree to fill the gap where a diseased lime tree was chopped in 2006.

The path has also been remade - so Caldecott Road has 'new tarmac and new trees'.

Integrated Cycle Ways?

Round the outskirts of Abingdon are various cycle ways, but in the town centre they just don't join up...

At the top of East St Helens Street, for example, some cyclists seem to ignore what is a one way street and ride from Lombard Street up against the flow towards St Nic's Church. They are supposed to dismount.

Oxfordshire County Council did draw up a scheme that would have made this cycle route legal and safer.

It meant reducing the flower bed by the County Hall, loosing taxi parking spaces, and cutting a cycle way through the island in front of St Nic's Church.

Not sure this got any further than the drawing board.

Abingdon School Sports Hall

Progress on the new Abindgon School £9m sports hall continues...

Another downpour

We had another of those downpours that often become 'flash floods'.

This duck and ducklings almost got into difficulties. But by turning themselves into torpedoes and following mum they got out of any immediate danger.

Who turned the lights on?

In the evenings somebody has been working in this shop - decorating.

He looks not dissimilar to the owner of Abingdon Outdoor Traders . Time will tell.

When disaster strikes...

The Rotary Club of Abingdon Vesper were out raising money for one of their projects: Shelter Box. Such boxes have been deployed recently in Burma after the Cyclone. Each box contains a tent (as seen behind),

a stove, water purication and emergency supplies. Once empty the box itself becomes a store for clean water. Shelter Box is an all in one package that costs just over £400 a go.