On Tuesdays and Saturdays, at the Peachcroft Christian Centre, Cafe Eden serves coffee, tea and cakes. The building work to allow this expanded community and church space was completed in 2007.

Meanwhile on the other side of the Oxford Road, also in North Abingdon, more community and church space has been created at Christ Church where some old barns, once part of the old dairy, have been bought, restored, and fitted out, some as a meeting space, and some as a new coffee shop. When I looked in staff training for the coffee shop was happening.

The Saxton Arms public house should be designated a listed building before anybody tries to change it for the worse. There is a great view of the pub from Reynolds Way.

Saxton Road had a great uniformity when first laid out. The Borough of Abingdon had a plan for the people moved out of the old unfit housing in Ock Street. I think they tried to keep people in the same community from where they came but with more space and better housing. The houses and pub were very uniform at first, but the creation of the Home Zone almost a decade ago has changed that.

People have also transformed their gardens – some with great individuality.

I doubt if there is a better “Borough of Abingdon” sign in the rest of Abingdon.

I’m sorry that I got no pictures of the Soldiers homecoming parade yesterday. I have my excuses, but more importantly the BBC got a picture. As did the printed Abingdon Herald.

There is more than one way of being a hero….

Nan Draper, who I know from Trinity, (in red) will be meeting Prince Charles tomorrow (Thursday) for a celebration of Diamond Champions. On retiring from nursing in 1989 she got involved in lots of community and voluntary activities. What I remember best, was her running all the catering at Trinity from 1990-2010. I read in the Trinity Triangle (our church mag) she also got involved in so much else. Hence the award. You can also see her on the WRVS website with lots of other Diamond Champions.

Margaret, a volunteer host, sent me an email and a picture of herself with Jing Jing in 2010. She has a plea “‘Are you spending Christmas at home this year? Could you share it with a Chinese (or other) student at a UK university? HOST has been linking international students with volunteer hosts for Christmas for many years, and is urgently looking for more invitations due to an unprecedented number of students hoping to spend a few days with friendly people, rather than on a deserted university campus. Please see www.hostuk.org and ask to be put in touch with the local organiser. THANK YOU!'”