Author Archives: Backstreeter

Abingdon Marina Park – wind battered with lone swan


When I walked round the Abingdon Marina Park late this afternoon there was still debris from the Sunday morning winds. Willow branches with leaves were thrown around. One larger branch lay across the path and had been wound with hazard tape.

In other places it did not look so bad in the late afternoon sun.

The park is between the River Thames and the Marina and has a view across to where Swift Ditch rejoins the Thames.

A lone swan was there. Swans are usually seen in pairs or family groups or teenage gangs. Perhaps the family had gone off somewhere and this one was just waiting for their return.

November 1st on St Helen’s Wharf


Strong winds on October 31st have blown down leaves. Today, November 1st, all was calm and sunny.

The water of the River Thames looks blue from this angle.

The works at St Helen’s Wharf have all been completed and the benches are back. The ‘Happy to Chat’ bench has moved down a tree. The ‘Happy to Chat’ bench is not just an Abingdon thing. Such benches are used in many places and are intended to combat loneliness and isolation.

Happy end of Halloween


Halloween is over for another year. Apart from the shop window displays, it passed us by as we don’t have young children.

In the town centre we are not visited by Trick and Treaters and no longer buy a supply of Haribo Tangfastics. I would end up eating them in any case when nobody came to the door and would regret it.

This year we haven’t even bothered with a pumpkin and candles.

Shop widows will change from Halloween to Christmas on November 1st. Some shops, like Finishing Touch, are already there.

Centenary of Royal British Legion and Abingdon War Memorial


There are a hundred poppies outside the Royal British Legion because it is the Centenary of Royal British Legion. (Clare, the poppy collection organiser for Abingdon, helped organise this.)

The War Memorial in Abingdon is also one hundred years old. The opening ceremony was in September 1921. The remembrance day service this year will be on November 14th.

On the Markey Place in Abingdon there was a poppy stall, and army cadets were selling poppies round town.

The poppy stall was one of about twenty stalls taking part in the Local Excellence Market on the Market Place.

In St Nicolas Church the Kennington Memory Club had a large charity sale.