This is Nicholas Mynheer, the artist who created the Trinity Window behind the alter at Abingdon School Chapel.

He was there at the school to talk about his art, to describe how the Trinity Window was created, and to tell people about his new project at the school.

In his art, Nicholas reduces each image to its bare essentials. The arms of Jesus on the cross are formed using the window tracery. Jesus only needs one eye to look out from the cross. Each image has the simplicity and directness of an icon.

For each window, Nicholas does initial sketches and then produces a full size painting. Glass technicians then get involved. Each colour is fused into the pane with a separate firing.

Nicholas is currently working on a new set of windows for the chapel. The school website has more on the Chapel Window Project and will have more as the project progresses.

Anyone near the river from 9 until 5 could not have helped noticing a lot of activity. It was the big day in the Abingdon rowing calendar: the Spring Head of the River – a popular 2000m time trial to start off the rowing season.

All classes and styles of rowers came down the course…

the young

and the not so young.

Having finished the course there was not much time to catch their breath, as the stewards kept urging competitors to keep the river free by continuing up to Abingdon Bridge. Visit the Abingdon Rowing Club pages to find out more.

Six months ago, on a cold October morning, Councillor Audrey Tamplin was out on the Market Place manning a stall for the Citizens Advice Bureau – a cause close to her heart.

Audrey’s memorial service was held yesterday. Gathered together at St Helens Church to celebrate her life were: family, a civic party, and friends – lots of them.

Audrey became a Town Councillor in the 1990s. She had her finger on the pulse of what was happening in Abingdon and was described by a friend and fellow councillor, Jeanette Halliday, as a true champion for the town. Audrey was one of those who pushed the hospital bed from the Market Place to Abingdon Community Hospital in the campaign to stop the proposed closure of the hospital. The campaign was successful, but she continued to be concerned for the hospital’s future.

She was Mayor in 2002 / 2003, and after an attempted retirement to the Lake District, she returned to Abingdon and was re-elected as a local councillor again in 2007 and continued to work for the community until only a couple of weeks before her sudden passing.