On Monday a dozen members of Abingdon Peace Group gathered at the War Memorial in Abingdon to mark the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in Japan on August 6th 1945.
This vigil has been held in Abingdon every August for the last thirty years, and reminds us of the tens of thousands of people who died immediately, and the many more who died subsequently of the after-effects of radiation, both in Hiroshima and in Nagasaki which was bombed 3 days later on August 9th 1945.
As well as the Fire Station Book Sale there were plenty more books on the Market Place on the St Nics Church stall, alongside plants, cakes, and a White Elephant’s Stall. On a day like this they had no need of Gazebos.
There was also a cake stall run by the Vineyard Church Youth Club, and the Abingdon Concert Band were entertaining all comers.
2012 is turning out to be a memorable year not just in Abingdon …
Bradley Wiggins has just won the Tour de France. I could find no real Abingdon connection with this momentous event apart from an article about Abingdon’s Tour de France in May 2010. (Abingdon is the house name of the pre-school at St Edmund’s School in Canterbury, and as part of their French week they did a Tour de France round the classroom on trikes. “Going through the mountains was very tricky” said Ethan “As you had to slow down!”)
There is Bingo every Tuesday at Preston Road Commuity Centre, and has been for many years. Doors open at 7pm. Eyes Down at 8pm.
The bingo was started by Abingdon Boys Football Club (now called Abingdon Youth Football Club) at Tatham Hall ( now called the Northcourt Centre) in the 1970s, and moved to Preston Road when the football club moved from Box Hill Recreation Ground to Southern Town Park. Bingo was a useful fund raiser for the football club and when they decided to stop running bingo, Preston Road Community Centre Association took up running the bingo to help raise funds for improvements to the centre.
This evening was the AGM of Preston Road Community Centre Association.
We have all looked at the water going over the weir and wondered why it is not being harnessed.
The Environment Agency have just granted a licence to generate hydroelectric power from the River Thames at Abingdon to a not for profit enterprise run by local Abingdon people.
It will affect this not very beautiful view near Abingdon Weir
and will be a new feature along this short section of footpath …
The fish pass and change from two screws, not three, look like changes from previous pictures I have seen.
Planning permission will be needed next and if that goes well there could be a share offer in the autumn to finance the project and construction next year.
The Archimedes screws are over 3 metres in diameter, and they turn quite slowly. The architect will do their best harmonise the design with the area before putting in the planning application. It will after all be an interesting attraction for visitors.
It is anticipated that they will produce 100 kilowatts. This is equivalent to about 200 average houses.
The project will cost about a million pounds, to be funded by shares. The local people leading the project hope that a good proportion of the shareholders will be local. They say the interest rate will be competitive. Any remaining profit will go into a community fund, to be used locally. For more details visit Abingdon Hydro.