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.

Abingdon Carousel have been at the Abingdon Free Space in Bury Street this week. They are the new charity that will be putting on services at the Carousel Family Centre in South Abingdon, taking over part of the former Children’s Centre. So this week they had play things for children in the Free Space and information for adults.

Gemma has been appointed Service Co-Ordinator and will be leading the establishment of family services in the former Abingdon Children’s Centre building. Lesley Legge is one of the trustees of the new charity. They need volunteers to help with all kinds of tasks, from fundraising to painting, from administration to reception duties. You can express an interest at www.abingdoncarousel.org.uk. They have financial support from Oxfordshire County Council, Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council, and Christ’s Hospital of Abingdon.

The Abingdon Army Cadets have been on the Market Place all day with four rowing machines. The event was organised by the cadets rather than their adult instructors.

They were rowing a distance of 200KM for three charities.

One of their adult instructors, a veteran paratrooper, who lost a leg in Afghanistan in 2012, recently broke the world record for rowing across the Atlantic Ocean in a pair. That challenge raised money for three charities: for Blesma (who assist limbless veterans to live normal lives), Dreamflight (who give a holiday in a lifetime to deserving children), and The Gurkha Welfare Trust.

Inspired by their instructor the cadets hoped to raise a few hundred pounds for those same three charities. Their Just Giving Page is Abingdon ACF Rowing

The Town Crier not only did some cries to encourage people to donate, he also joined in with a bit of rowing.