Christmas is over for another year and people who got real Christmas Trees took them to the Market Place in Abingdon today.
Staff from Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council were recycling Christmas Trees for free. That is much better than nearby Henley Town Council where the Parks Team charge £2 a tree.
At Preston Road Community Centre decorations were taken off the Christmas Trees before they were put back in their boxes.
It was Twelfth Night today (5th January) and the lights did not come on in the town centre (apart from the ones in Bury Street).
Backstreeter; you are always a mine of information, It is good to be reminded that Christmas ends at Twelfth Night – except that in the older tradition it went on for forty days (really!) and only ended on 2 February (Candlemas).
I have often wondered what that carol would have been like: ‘On the fortieth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me,,,” Whatever it might have been, there would have been a huge recycling opportunity!
Happy New Year one and all.
The £2 a tree in Henley goes to ‘Henley in Bloom.’
“For many years Henley-on-Thames has been renowned for its impressive floral displays, making an already attractive town a beautiful place to visit.
Thanks to a dedicated group of local volunteers and community groups Henley has won Gold in the regional RHS Britain in Bloom competition each year from 2012-16, and in 2013 and 2014 won a prestigious Silver Gilt medal in the National Finals.
In 2014 local brewer Brakspear launched a seasonal, floral ale to coincide with the judging of the contest. Expect to see Bloomin’ Marvellous on sale again in Henley pubs during summer 2015.
Look out for hanging baskets, flower beds and overflowing planters throughout the town when you visit.
In 2014 Henley’s parks, including the riverside Mill & Marsh Meadows, were awarded Green Flag status recognising them as amongst the best green spaces in the country.”
Henley is a riverside town that Abingdon can only dream of dreaming to emulate. Is it worth £2 a tree?
I do hear the flowers are lovely….
Interesting thought Daniel – of course Abingdon also has the flowers and the Green Flag parks and the riverside walks, but we certainly don’t give the same impression as Henley, everyone recognises that but what can be done about it – and by whom? Things like “… in Bloom” need a lot of volunteer input, the Council can’t do all of it, but do need to provide co-ordination and funding. I notice that Henley TC has a high proportion of independents, including a “Henley Residents Group”, I wonder if that makes a difference?
Henley as an International Regatta. Since this started 180 years ago, I think that the town will have grown on the back of that; it’s a fantastic head start for Henley.
However, Henley also has some horrendous traffic problems, so the grass is not necessarily greener…
The 6th January is where everything comes down in my diary. So much more effort to take it down than to put it up! Happy Epiphany!
Henley may not be the bench mark we think it is?
Our flower planting has to be applauded, year after year we say that’s the best so far, until the next year when they’re even better and whereas a bloom award may add some Kudos to the town, not having one is no bad thing nor does it reflect on the TC’s effort.
The park along the riverside there may look good but as a Boat owner who USED to moor up there I can assure you first hand it’s not a patch on our riverside. On board around 7am cooking breakfast fast I was astounded at the amount of dogs being exercised there each morning, 50 or so at least all off the leads peeing and poohing wherever they fancied without a care from their owners and by 10 am young families arrive thinking it safe for their children to run bare foot over the grass. I was so shocked st this I even wrote to the town council about it who wrote back acknowledging the problem but blaming lack of resources to police it.
Then at night the place is almost a no go area with drunks and druggies running amok all night! Needless to say we don’t moor there anymore!
‘‘Tis true they have a spectacular Regatta, followed by the Classic Boat show followed by the Festival followed by the Rewind festival and whereas lots of “outsiders” make lots of money from these events I can assure that a good deal of the residents of Henley are sick to death of the gridlock it brings. Moan over !