The Drayton Road Bridge divides Abingdon in two. To the south of the River Ock about a third of the population live. They suffer more traffic problems than the rest of Abingdon.

The bridge acts as a bottleneck to traffic coming from the south, and has been widened on a couple of ocassions, most recently in about 1970. Looking up inside the bridge it is layered like the growth of a tree. On one side the bridge is arched, in the middle the circular arch is made of bricks, finally the most recent bridge widening uses prefabricated concrete.

It not only acts as a bottleneck to traffic, last July the water could not get under the arches and backed up and backed up and flooded all over. This crack willow has split and fallen into the stream. Just another impediment!

Last school term this road (near Abingdon School) would have been full or cars for most of the day, but after the introduction of clamping signs there is not a car to be seen.

What School in Abingdon has been invaded Daleks?

Two clues:

1. Children from this school used to be featured on the intro to BBC South Today – Oxford
2. Anagram of ‘Sedate Him’

At Saint Helens Church this evening we heard personal testimonies of Asylum Seekers in the UK as performed by actors in a very simple and powerful show. It has already been performed in many towns in the UK, and it just needs someebody local to ask and they’ll do it where you are. See Actors For Refugees for more information.

These were the actors tonight. They come from a rolling band of willing volunteers, and were presented with a Saint Helens Church mug for their efforts.

‘This is the thing that the British people don’t understand. They think we came here just because we want to live here. We came here because there are problems – that why we came here.’

The local MP, Dr Evan Harris is seen here talking afterwards with Christine Bacon who runs the show.