As part of Yeah Baby 10 on 7th July, author Tom Moorhouse will be talking about his books at 2.30pm at Mostly Books. Tom’s books ‘The River Singers’, ‘The Rising’ and ‘Trickster’ are for 10+ readers whilst his books about The Adventures of Mr Toad are for younger readers. A selection of Tom’s books will be available to purchase on the day. Suggested donation for the talk – £3 in support of ‘Yeah Baby’

Yeah Baby runs from 11am – 6pm on the Market Place then from 7pm til late at the Brewery Tap. This is the 10th Yeah Baby Free Pop Festival on the Market Place in Abingdon. All the money goes to Helen & Douglas House, Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), and the Amber Phillpott Trust – a trust set up to research a cure for leukemia with the help of Birmingham University. Amber Phillpott was the daughter of musician James who organises the event with friend Leon.

It should be a sunny day if the last three weeks are anything to go. At 3.00pm the world cup quarter final game between England and Sweden kicks off. I don’t know whether anybody will arranging a big screen on the Market Place. But there are plenty of pubs roundabout with large screens. Sweden needed a big deflection to beat Switzerland, and England needed a penalty shoot out to beat Columbia. What will separate them on the day?

Thankyou to David for this report

Who knew it was International Go Skateboarding Day last week?

The Mayor of Abingdon-on-Thames did. Mayor Margaret Crick is pictured here at the ‘SKATE THE SOLSTICE’ event – organised as a skateboarding fundraiser in aid of ‘SKATEISTAN.’

The event was well attended by staff at the Culham Science Centre and raised a total of £450 for this Berlin based charity.

There’s still time to donate online: https://www.gofundme.com/skatethesolstice. Click here for the SKATEISTAN story.

Carswell pupils Eloise, Eva, Jack and Sam, along with Mums Bex and Leah, raised £330 by running in the Blenheim Fun Run in April this year. Today they presented Trinity Learning with a giant cheque towards its work in Abingdon schools.

Trinity Learning began in October 2009, when Trinity Church, Abingdon, appointed Rosemary Perrow as their Education & Development Officer. Her remit was to explore ways in which the church could use its time, talents and space to enhance the quality of life for all those working in local schools – both students and staff.

The Sue Ryder charity have been providing nursing care for people with  life-limiting and long-term conditions in hospices since 1953, and more recently in people’s own homes. They announced a few months ago that they are selling the hospice building in Nettlebed to concentrate more on care-at-home in the Henley area, and then in the Abingdon / Didcot area.

The thing I notice most about the Abingdon shop is the changing display of furniture for sale, and the seasonally themed, ever changing window displays. There was a birthday theme last week, and on Saturday inside the shop were cakes and tea and coffee, and somebody playing the accordion as part of a celebration of twenty five years of the Abingdon Sue Ryder shop.