One unwelcome invader to our rivers is the North American Signal Crayfish, a ferocious cannibal that will eat anything that comes its way, fish eggs, ducklings, young Moorhens and has all but finished off our indigenous species. Apart from doing harm to our wildlife they can collapse a river bank by their constant burrowing. The River Ock has its share of this monster and Steve has been doing his best to control them (over 100 in 3 days from a 10 meter stretch) You have to be licensed by the E.A to catch them and putting them back is forbidden, (failure to comply carries a hefty fine) but they do make for good eating!
Monthly Archives: July 2014
Abingdon Town Council does us proud with flowers
Spike sent some pictures of the floral displays in Abingdon this summer.
He says “The Town Council has been receiving lots of bad press recently but you have to agree they have done Abingdon proud with the array of flowers displayed all around the town.”
St Ethelwold of Winchester (and Abingdon)
On a recent visit to Winchester we saw a stain glass window in a chapel showing St Ethelwold. Ethelwold was Abbot at Abingdon Abbey before becoming Bishop at Winchester in 963.
There was also an image of Ethelwold on the large Cathedral Screen.
He would have been Bishop before the current Cathedral was built and so we could not find his tomb. Even if St Ethelwold was buried at Winchester his bones would not be easy to find. During the time of King Henry VIII all the bones and relics from saints and others had been dug up and dumped in a pit.
The large stain glass windows at Winchester Cathedral were deliberately smashed by Cromwell’s forces, some time later, during the Civil War. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the broken glass was gathered up and assembled randomly, and now looks like a modern art window. A guide told us that historians are still trying to identify some of the old bones using DNA.
Jobs Fair Update
An update on the Jobs Fair this Wednesday (30/07/14) at the Guildhall.
Here’s the final list of exhibitors …
Abingdon and Witney College (training Apprenticeships and Traineeships)
ACE Training (Construction skills)
Army and Reserves
Brook Street (Agency)
Carillion (Catering, cleaning etc. jobs)
Currys PC World (IT and appliance retail)
Dimensions Care
EURES (European Vacancies service)
Marks and Spencer
Meridian Business Support (Agency)
National Careers Service
Oxfordshire County Council Children’s Service
Premier Inn
Recruitment Solutions (Agency)
SOFEA (Work Experience and Traineeships in Logistics / warehousing skills)
The event will be open to the public from 10:00am – 2:00pm, entry is free.
So good luck for all those looking for a job.