Thanks to Nick for the flier …
The Abingdon Women’s Rugby team is new this year.
Beginners are very welcome.
The Emphasis is on fun and friendship as well as rugby.
The training is at Abingdon Rugby Club, Lambrick Way, on Wednesdays at 19.00.
Elizabeth told me that the flowerbed outside the library was once a fish pond. That was before digital cameras when we did not waste camera film on street furniture. Has anybody got a picture of the pond, or somebody posing by the pond?
This area of the charter, and outside of Poundland, is very popular with school children after school. There is a security guard outside the library in the early evening to help maintain order in the library. But this afternoon it was not children causing problems but two adults.
BBC News reports ‘England had its driest July since 1935, with parts having the least rainfall on record, the Met Office has said.’
The amount of water flowing over Abingdon Weir is the lowest I have seen. Sedges are taking over upstream from the weir.
Your bathroom taps create more white water than Abingdon Weir. More water is going through Abingdon Lock, as the gates open for boats, than over the weir.
The River Ock flows slowly, and sedges impede more of the stream.
Low river levels are bad for wildlife and agriculture.
Yesterday the rainbow flag was flying over the County Hall in Abingdon, and today the Abingdon town flag is flying.
This afternoon there was a thanksgiving service for Jeanette Halliday at St Nicolas Church. Jeanette died on 17th April 2020, at the start of the first Covid lockdown. Back then, only 8 people were allowed at the South Oxfordshire Crematorium to accompany Jim Halliday, her husband. So this more public memorial was long overdue.
The rainbow flag could almost be a tribute to Jeanette, as could the town flag for one of Abingdon’s most colourful ex-Mayors.
The music at Jeanette’s thanksgiving service was sublime. It began with the Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams, followed by a solo sung by Jeanette’s granddaughter, then some Elgar on piano, and ended with Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison. The Town Clerk, Nigel Warner, gave a eulogy of Jeanette as a public servant who took up and fought cases for local people. Jim Halliday spoke about a person who loved life and travelling.
The town clerk before Nigel Warner was Brian Tonkin. His funeral will be this Tuesday. Brian Tonkin’s name is still to be found on many officially named notices. Brian was the town clerk when Jeanette was Mayor (1998-9). He was also the chairman of the Abingdon Town Football Club.
(Thank you to the Abingdon Herald/ Oxford Mail for the picture. This ex-press picture is available from eBay.)