Healthfest

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The annual Healthfest took place in Abingdon Market Place today, organised by the charity Healthy Abingdon.

Healthy Abingdon aims to bring local groups and individuals together to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Abingdon and the surrounding area. One of the ways it does this is through the annual Healthfest, which gives local organisations an opportunity to meet people and promote the activities and services they offer.

The event was officially announced by the Town Crier and ran from 10am to 2pm, with around 14 local groups and organisations setting up stalls around the Market Place.

The Mayor of Abingdon, Cllr Andrew Skinner, visited the Healthfest. He talked to Dave, a trustee of Healthy Abingdon, before making his way around the Market Place to meet the stallholders and find out more about the organisations taking part.

Among those taking part for the first time were Bridge House Care Home and the Riverley Club.

The Riverley Club includes a fitness suite aimed particularly at people over 55. It offers an opportunity to exercise in a different sort of environment – one that is less intimidating than a conventional gym, without the emphasis on people lifting weights and wearing lycra.

Bridge House also has a programme of community activities. It is holding a Beer Festival this Wednesday from 2pm to 4.30pm, with music from the Ock Street Band, dancing from the Abingdon Morris Men and a selection of beers from local brewers.

Flexicare was also at Healthfest for the first time. The charity provides support and sitting services to families who have a severely disabled child, helping to make life a little easier for the families.

Flexicare began in Abingdon 41 years ago and has since expanded its work to cover Oxford, Wantage and Grove as well as Abingdon. Naomi, who was on the stall, had been volunteering with them for 13 years.

The Friends of Abbey Meadow Outdoor Pool were also at the Healthfest, promoting the popular open-air pool.

There is now only one day of regular swimming left this season, tomorrow, Sunday. This will be followed on Monday by the doggy swimming session, when the pool gets taken over by four-legged swimmers.

Also there on the Market Place were:
* Abingdon Parkrun and Junior Parkrun
* Active Communities
* Abingdon Surgery
* local cycling groups
* Abingdon Good Neighbours
* Age UK Oxfordshire
* Healthwatch Oxfordshire
* Dementia Friendly Abingdon
* Home-Start Southern Oxfordshire
* Abingdon Scottish Country Dance Club

Bike up a tree

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There’s a bike up a tree near the library. Its has been up there for a couple of days now.

It could be that some young people have put it up there at the end of the school holidays.

But could it be an art installation nobody has told us about. The cycle of life perhaps

Or an example of extreme cycle parking.

You may know better.

Back to School

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Here is the view of Carswell School from Bostock Road. The children are back today.

The photograph above is from sometime in the mid 1930s. It shows Class 5 at the old Council School – now Carswell School. Among the children is Leslie Argyle, who was born in Abingdon in 1927.  He became very well known in Abingdon as Mayor of Ock Street for many years and acted as a steward at Trinity Church for over 50 years.

Nearly ninety years later, the school is still doing what it was doing then. The external building has not changed that much. Inside, they may have computers and whiteboards rather than blackboards and chalk. But I wonder what the biggest change is.

Abingdon Abbey: Its stones May Survive at St Helen’s Church

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The South Aisle is the fifth and final aisle to have been built at St Helen’s Church. It was built in 1539 by Katherine Audlett, a wealthy local widow, to provide a place to rebury her husband John Audlett, who had been originally buried in Abingdon Abbey Church in 1537. [1]

The connection with the Audlett family can still be seen in the aisle. Its roof is dated 1539 and bears the initials K.A. and I.A., representing Katherine and John Audlett.

Abingdon Abbey was dissolved in 1538. The new South Aisle was being built at that time. Archaeological research suggests that it is feasible that stone from the demolished Abbey Church was reused in the construction of the aisle. So, when looking at the stonework of the South Aisle from East St Helen Street, you may be looking at stones that once formed part of the Abingdon Abbey Church. [2]

References

[1] St Helen’s Church, Abingdon, A Short Guide and Tour of St Helen’s Church, section on
the fifth aisle. St Helen’s Church Guide

[2] Oxford Archaeology, St Helen’s Church, Abingdon, archaeological assessment, 2012. Oxford Archaeology report