Author Archives: Backstreeter

Mothers Day

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Mothering Sunday
At Trinity Church this morning, the children put together bunches of flowers to give to their mothers, and to other ladies in the church. I’m sure a lot of other churches do something similar on Mothers Day.

Mothering Sunday began as a religious event in the 16th century. The word “motherhood” referred to “Mother Church”, the main church or cathedral in an area. On the fourth Sunday of Lent, people would have returned to the special services at their Mother Church.

Some people may still return to what they consider their Mother Church for Mothering Sunday. But most of us would struggle to now what is our Mother Church.

Mothers Day has become a day for showing thankfulness to Mothers. One day can never be enough for that.

Cleaning the Stream for The Queen

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Local Clean Up
Local people from Overmead, and Metcalfe Close were clearing up the rubbish around their area (in South Abingdon) this morning. They helped clear the stream running alongside the field at the bottom of Overmead. And when I passed by, they had already retrieved a child’s buggy, Christmas tree, four footballs, and a few bags of lesser rubbish.
Local Clean Up
There were also volunteers clearing the path that leads to the the sports fields on Lambrick Way.
Local Clean Up
It was part of a national initiative by Keep Britain Tidy called ‘Clean for the Queen’.

A34 emergency carriageway repairs

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A34 emergency
On BBC Radio Oxford there were reports that part of the A34 northbound between Milton and Marcham interchanges had been closed for emergency carriageway repairs, and that was causing delays of over an hour with traffic queued back to Chilton. It also brought a lot of A34 traffic through Abingdon on the Drayton Road.

Some of the traffic tried to come via St Helens Wharf.

Marina Basin Fills Up

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Marina Basin Fills Up
30 years ago, in 1986, the £8m Abingdon marina was beginning to take shape. According to the Herald, water was gushing into the marina basin off Wilsham Road, in preparation for the first phase of up-market homes on the seven-acre site.
Marina Basin Fills Up
If I remember rightly the marina did not all get built in one go. A second phase was delayed after the boom of house prices in the 1980s was followed by a slump in the 1990s as interest rates went up dramatically to curb inflation. Base rate went from 7.5% in May 1988 to 15% in Oct 1989.

Rates have been at 0.5% since 2009, something we could never have imagined back in those days of inflation.