Boxing Club Fete

The fete on the Market Place was a rare chance to throw wet sponges at volunteers in the stocks

and to throw the odd punch or two.

There was also the usual fete activities like Face Painting

Tombolas and Raffle.

All done, in best possible taste, to raise funds, and awareness for a Boxing Club gym in Abingdon.

Swan Upping / One year On

The Swan Upping was scheduled to arrive at approximately 17:30 but really arrived at about 15:45. So apologies to anybody who went down and missed it having seen this blog. I was just too late as well. There were quite a few disappointed people about.

There were not enough young swans on the Thames to keep the crews busy. They did catch the large brood by the Marina, but a lot of nests got washed away by the high water earlier in the year.

At Wilsham Road there was a camera crew and local reporter doing a piece on Abingdon one year on. It is a year to the day since the July floods.

A town of two Co-ops

The building of the new Co-op was put back many months when two Co-operative Societies merged to form the Mid Counties Co-operative. They are now based in Oxford and Walsall.

Yesterday the UK's largest co-operative, the Co-operative Group based in Manchester, made a successful bid to take over Somerfield for a reported £1.57 Bn.

Horse Chestnuts not looking pretty

From this in May

to this two months later.

The Horse Chestnut trees along the Ock Valley walk were in a worse state than those alongside Caldecott Rec. The one above is from Ock Valley, and the one below from Caldecott Rec.

So what is doing it?

It is definitely not drought this year. It could be a very serious condition called Bleeding Canker which kills the tree off under the bark. More likely, for most trees (and I say this after having done a few minutes research on the internet), a moth called the horse chestnut leaf miner has laid its larvae within the leaves. The leaves eventually shrivel and drop off prematurely, but grow again the following year.

Optician Alley

Scrivens, the new optician on the precinct, is really Russel Caulton under new national management. They moved from the Market Place to the precinct. Their new shop is between Adams Kids and Bakers Oven.

At the other side of Adams Kids is the Abingdon Eye Centre.

At the other side of Bakers Oven is Specsavers.

Abingdon town centre has five opticians in all, three of them now close neighbours on the precinct. The precinct used to be Shoe Parade, then Greeting Card Row, and now it has become Optician Alley.

A Big Cheque

The South Wales MGF Car Club came to Abingdon with a big cheque - a £500 donation for the MG Room Appeal.

Abingdon's most well known MG expert, and former MG employee, Brian Moylan, was there to welcome them and show them round.

Bank Closes

This Abingdon bank has closed.

Back in February came the news that the company would stop lending. "Losses from loans made to lower-income consumers made its business model unsustainable." Then came the news that they were trying to raise money by selling more shares to keep the business going. Since then bits of the business have been sold to raise capital, and now the really big news - The Abingdon branch has closed.