What’s On in Abingdon: 12th–19th February 2026

Leave a reply


Thursday 12th February – Conversations with Markus Reyhani
7:00pm, St Ethelwold’s House
Musician and songwriter Markus Reyhani joins Duncan Bhaskaran Brown for an evening of conversation. Free entry, donations welcome.

Tuesday 17th February – ATOM Society: Space Sweepers
7:30pm, Abingdon United Football Club
A talk on the growing problem of space debris and how companies like Astroscale are developing technology to clean up Earth’s orbit.

Wednesday 18th February – An Eco-Adventure in the Andes
7:30pm, Abingdon Baptist Church
Author and adventurer Kate Rawles shares her experiences cycling 8,000 miles in the Andes and reflects on environmental threats facing the region.

Thursday 19th February – Original Music Showcase
7:30pm, The Loose Cannon Tap Room
Make Music Abingdon presents live performances from Cutwater, Scott Gordon Band and Ben Heaney.

Thursday 19th February – Malting and Brewing in Abingdon
7:45pm, The Northcourt Centre
Martin Buckland explores Abingdon’s brewing heritage in this talk for the Abingdon Area Archaeology and History Society.

St Helen’s Wharf – Almost Open – But Not Quite Yet

3 Replies


It had seemed likely — at least to casual observers — that St Helen’s Wharf would reopen to traffic by now. The holes around the church were filled in a couple of days ago, fresh tarmac was laid, and even the protective barriers around the new surface were removed, suggesting that the work there was complete.

Meanwhile, although the River Thames remains fairly high, it is not at a level that would require St Helen’s Wharf to close.

However, at the far end of St Helen’s Wharf, by the Iron Bridge, the picture is different. Holes are still open on both sides of the bridge with work crews. According to one.network, these works could continue until 6 March. That said, the new yellow gas mains pipes have already been installed on one side and the work could be finished sooner.

Something that has reopened on St Helen’s Wharf is the Old Anchor Inn. After being closed throughout January, with work being carried out, it opened its doors again last Friday and has relaunched with a lively programme of events, including bingo, quiz nights, live music, and food.

Local government reorganisation affecting Abingdon

6 Replies


At the moment, Abingdon is within Vale of White Horse District Council and Oxfordshire County Council. That means different services are currently provided by two levels of local government.

The national government is asking people for their views on three different options to reorganise local government in Oxfordshire. All three would replace the current system of county and district councils with new unitary councils – single authorities responsible for all the principle services.

Town and parish councils, including Abingdon Town Council, would continue as they are with minor changes.

The diagram above shows how responsibilities would move from the current two-level system to unitary councils. The consultation on the three options runs until 26 March 2026.

Two of the three proposals include West Berkshire, even though it is not in Oxfordshire. This is because the government expects new unitary councils to serve around 500,000 people or more, and South Oxfordshire and the Vale together do not add up to that much.

Option 1 — One unitary council for all Oxfordshire – based on the current Oxfordshire County Council boundaries – proposed by Oxfordshire County Council.

This would replace all the district councils with a single council covering the whole of Oxfordshire. The single council would serve around 780,000 people.

Option 2 — Two unitary councils – Proposed by the four district councils and West Berkshire unitary council – combines existing district and city councils

This would create two new authorities:

  • Oxford and Shires Council (Cherwell, Oxford City, West Oxfordshire)
  • Ridgeway Council (South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse, and West Berkshire)

Each would have just under the 500,000 population the government is looking for.

This would be smaller and presumably more local than Option 1. It would also renew Abingdon’s ancient Berkshire link. The northern part of Berkshire was moved into Oxfordshire in 1974, with Faringdon, Wantage and Abingdon and their villages becoming the Vale of White Horse district. Didcot and Wallingford were added to South Oxfordshire (1).
Option 3 — Three unitary councils – is about creating a Greater Oxford as proposed by Oxford City Council

It would create:

  • Greater Oxford Council (Oxford City plus surrounding land)
  • Northern Oxfordshire Council (Most of Cherwell and West Oxfordshire)
  • Ridgeway Council (South Oxfordshire, most of the Vale of White Horse, and West Berkshire)

These councils would be smaller than the government’s 500,000 population guideline, which could make this option less viable.

There are a lot of documents to read and you can respond to the consultation at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-government-reorganisation-in-oxfordshire/proposals-for-local-government-reorganisation-in-oxfordshire

Unfortunately there will be no referendum. The final decision will be taken by central government.

Ref 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkshire

Water everywhere and the reservoirs are not full yet

3 Replies


The level of the River Thames has continued to rise across the floodplain near Abingdon.

Today the weather was brighter with some sun and clear reflections. I was among the ‘flood tourists’ out with phone cameras.

The Thames Valley Croquet Club were able to play on the raised part of their green above the flooded area of Hales Meadow.

The end of Nags Head Island was awash.

Rye Farm Meadow was mostly underwater. At Abingdon Weir, the lock keeper has been busy – not only with his usual duties of flood control but also putting out warning signs to show that the weir path has had to close again.

These snowdrops are just above water.

The Thames Water performance web site says that Farmoor Reservoir was 80% full at the end of January – below the average for that time of year. It looks like the rain is needed.