The annual spring rowing event, staged by the Abingdon rowing club, is one thing I don’t see advertised in Abingdon, but it brings in ‘those in the know’ from places like Marlow, Maidenhead, Henley, Reading, Wallingford, Oxford and Evesham.

Today’s first time trials began soon after 9:30 when it was still cool. During the day the sky cleared and the sun beamed on the afternoon rowers.

Boats set off at intervals from near Culham…

The finish is 2KM upstream near the blue boat house on Wilsham Road.

Then follows a more leisurely row past some of Abingdon’s most famous buildings

and back under Burford Bridge to Rye Farm meadow where the landing stages are positioned.

We were a bit spoilt for choice tonight in Abingdon (culturally). There was the Save Radley Lakes Celebration at John Mason School (with Ceilidh), a concert at Trinity( Bach to Piazzolla), Opera at the Amey Theatre (Rossini), a lecture on Painting at the Guildhall (Early Flemish ), and music at the Unicorn Theatre (Folk).

We went to see Bob Fox at the Unicorn and sat next to Pam Aird’s mum. Pam manages to bring some very good acts to Abingdon. She not only got Bob Fox, from her old days on the circuit, but also got a talented young singer songwriter support act.

There is much more to come from Pam at Music at The Unicorn.

I visited the South Abingdon Children’s centre today.

They have just unveiled a new noticeboard on Caldecott Road advertising their many activities

Inside Dionne Barber was touching up the paintings before this afternoon’s final session of the Easter arts project.

The Arts Project will continue with more workshops on-site near the Reynolds Way shops, mural painting, in the Summer half term.

There was a public meeting at the Guildhall to look at the latest plans for the County Hall.

The plans were brought to us by two guys who are taking the project to the next level and will be submitting a planning application mid May: the Project Manager and Architect from Ridge Property and Construction.

You would have thought the controversial issue would have been the new lift seen here on the left of the bottom picture of the building, and just visible through the right arch on the top picture.

Or maybe the biggest issue should have been the maintenance of the building which needs a lot of TLC to allow it continue over the next 50 years.

The County Hall was built over 300 years ago. There has generally been a large project of work done on it every 50 years or so. The last time was 1956 by the Ministry of Works. The presentation began with a list of maintenance issues that need addressing. Water is getting in to the basement and through the roof. The heating, insulation, and ventilation are inadequate.

Next all the details about improving this as a museum building were presented: improvements to basement, sessions hall, and attic, with the lift for accessibilty.

But the controversial issue TONIGHT turned out to be the pump tucked away in the basement. This pump used to pump fresh water round the town. It will be moved and displayed elsewhere in the cellar.

Somebody argued it is unique and should in no circumstances be moved elsewhere for the sake of a lift. You can see it in its proposed new position in this picture.