The usual choice of two guided walks did not happen this new year’s day. Neither the Boundary Walk or Christian Aid Walk went ahead as a large group walk.

I did see two Christian Aid walk leaders checking the churches had put up their poster – with a Letter. The Church-In-Abingdon (CiA) Christian Aid Walk 2021 is ‘self-directed’ this year and can be done anytime during January. The aim is to visit 9 CiA churches and find a single letter at each church to make an anagram of a word connected with the Christian Aid’s Christmas Appeal. Participants will be asked for the ‘word’ they have found. Sponsors are invited to make a donation via the Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/abingdon-christianaid-walk2021or838.

At the church where I found the letter ‘H’, I also saw a bush called ‘Euonymus hamiltonianus’ or ‘Winged Spindle Tree’. It still has a few leaves and many capsules which have split open to reveal orange berries.

The doors of Oxfam in Abingdon were open for the first time since everything closed for the March lockdown.

A lot of work had happened to make it Covid-19 safe. Shelves and stock have been moved into new positions to make social distancing easier. The door is left open to keep fresh air flowing.

Some of the older volunteers are performing other duties while they are at higher risk.

I was told by one of the helpers that Oxfam in Abingdon won’t be taking new donations until at least the new year.

Most of us have lost track of developing countries given that even developed countries have been suffering a pandemic. Money raised goes to support people in developing countries and emergencies.

In a normal year I would see the Abingdon Lions at a number of community events. But not this year.

The money they raise from such events goes towards community projects. A lot of the defibrillators in town are funded by them and installed with their expertise.

Abingdon Lions have got more requests for help this year than usual but have had less chance to raise funds. People who would like to support the Abingdon Lions can do so through a justgiving page.