This year’s Crabbie’s Grand National race will take place today (5th of April) at 4:15 p.m. at Aintree Racecourse, and is one of the high points of the year for Abingdon’s Betting shops.

The two Ladbrokes in Abingdon (Bath Street and Stert Street) have notices reminding people to “Gamble Responsibly: Set you own limits and stay in control.“.

Stan James say “Get Lucky. Best Odds Guaranteed.”

In the empty premises next door a notice says that William Hill have applied for a License under the Gambling Act 2005 to trade there, so they could well be competing for the Abingdon trade in next year’s Grand National.

I read The Guardian tips for the race which were all quite amusing to read. The last was for Swing Bill which is not strongly fancied … “Has had a couple of stabs at this race and not been good enough. Now he’s 13 and likely to be slower than ever. Would be a most surprising winner.“

The OX14 Deli has been closed for a couple of weeks now. The addition of a “To Let” sign confirms that our dedicated Bulgarian, Romanian, and Greek food outlet in Abingdon is now closed.

A notice in the windows says that the Bread, cooked presumably upstairs in the Greek restaurant, is now available at the Spar Supermarket two doors down.

Earlier today from 10am until about 2pm there was at auction at Radley Village Hall, just outside Abingdon.

There were lots of bargains to be had. The auctioneer said about one vase that “One like it went for about £1000 on ‘Flog It!’ Just £5 for you!”

There were 570 lots in all. It was a good fun auction with cups of tea and bacon butties throughout. I got a box of ephemera for £5. Includes:

• signed cassette by Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen
• signed 45rpm record by Bob Anthony, three times holder of the world non-stop singing record
• etc …

Their next auction is March 8th.

Not very far away at Mallams, the professional Auctioneers on the Wootton Road in Abingdon, there is an auction on Monday. The Friday and Saturday before you can visit the showroom to see the lots.

They have 663 lots for this coming Monday. The next auction after that is March 10th.

Belinda’s Jewellery Box has moved from East St Helen Street to West St Helen Street – into a larger shop where there is more space to display the jewellery and art.