A charity cycle ride around the former RAF Abingdon airfield, now Dalton Barracks, raised £1,400 (and counting) for the Newman Trust on Saturday 17th October.

Organised by Robin Day, the ride took participants along the airfield’s perimeter track and down the main runway ten times. Robin rode a specially adapted bike on loan from Charlotte’s Tandems with Andrew and Helena.

Although the weather was cold, with a northerly headwind making progress harder along the perimeter track, the cyclists enjoyed a much faster ride southbound down the runway.

The Newman Holiday Trust provide respite holidays for children with disabilities and has provided holidays for Robin’s daughter, Helena.

https://justgiving.com/page/robinday2026

The British Heart Foundation shop in Bury Street, Abingdon, is holding a closing sale ahead of its final day on Saturday 21 November 2026, according to a poster in the window. The shop has been there for at least 23 years, according to a 2003 town centre map.

It is one of around 150 BHF shops and stores scheduled to close as part of a national restructuring programme. The closures are intended to make the charity’s retail operation financially sustainable. The money raised through its shops helps fund cardiovascular research.

The poster identifies the nearest remaining shop as the one in The Broadway, Didcot.

Ride and Stride took place today across Oxfordshire. The event sees people riding, walking or using mobility aids to visit churches and raise money through sponsorship.

These two ladies have visited all the open churches in Abingdon. Philippa, driving the chair, said it is great fun and that they meet so many nice people going round. She suggested more people should have a go next year. Ride and Stride usually takes place on the second Saturday in September.

I also saw Robin with his special tandem, going round with his children. They have already raised over £1,300. Half the money will go to their own church, St Helen’s, and the other half to the Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust, who organise Ride and Stride.

In early October Robin and children and others will be taking part in another cycle challenge, this time on behalf of the Newman Trust, which gave Robin’s daughter such a good time when she stayed with them for six days recently. Robin said the care was ‘out of this world.’

There’s another imaginative window display at Oxfam in Stert Street, Abingdon. A lady appears to be taking a pack of dogs for a walk, but at the end of the colourful leads are an assortment of high-heeled shoes. When the display is dismantled, the second-hand shoes will go on sale in the shop alongside the many other items donated to Oxfam. The window also features some sole-searching quotes, such as ‘I have enough shoes. Said no one ever’ and ‘Life is short. Buy the shoes.’