Category Archives: environment

One Planet Living Festival 2024

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The One Planet Living Festival 2024 was on the Market Place today. There is also an election and the Reform UK local candidate was there. He had a discussion about The Climate Emergency with Tim, the alternative town crier.

The Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers performed. Roger Cox the current Mayor of Ock Street will be standing down this year, and the vote for the new Mayor will be next Saturday, the 22nd of June. There will be a lot more Morris Dancing then as well as the Abingdon Passion Play and the Abingdon River Litter Pick.

The day’s events were enlivened by music, poetry, and a fashion show organised by Dr Diane Regisford: Racial Equity Social Sculptress , Politician , ARTiviste , Healer , Poet , Author and Evocative Enquirer. She is seen here with Councillor Alison Rooke the new chairman of Oxfordshire County Council. Alison has been Mayor, Chair of the District Council, and now Chair of the County Council.

There was also a lot of dancing to music which had an Afro Caribbean sound.

Every now and then some mysterious women in red would smoke in, waving their arms.

Down in the museum basement (the Climate Emergency Centre), Abingdon Muslims were serving Asian Street food for a donation for charity. I think they are raising funds for a base of their own in Abingdon.

There was a presentation by Philippa Hoy from the charity Bioregional, the organisation behind One Planet Living. One Planet Living is where we can live happily within the Earth’s resources.

A lot was happening. It was lively fun and crazy at times. There were also businesses with sustainable products such as Tribe (Zero-Waste) from Faringdon, who deliver to Abingdon.

Make Music Day is on Friday June 21st in Abingdon, and two of the performers also performed at the One Planet Living Festival 2024.

Improvements to a Footpath at Radley Lakes

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The footpath at the southwest corner of Thrupp Lake was muddy and impassable due to a wet winter.

A 250-meter section of the footpath has now been upgraded by the Radley Lakes Trust. Vegetation was cleared along the route by volunteers. Path sides were installed and filled with fine gravel by a contractor. The path is now being used, and the gravel is starting to settle.

On a wet day like today, the contrast between the muddy paths around and the new path is striking.

Volunteers will install a new gate and fence at the entrance off the cycleway from Abingdon.

Grow Your Own + Open Day at Old Station House

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Grow Your Own is the Abingdon Green Forum focus for quarter 2 of 2024, from April to June. This is the best time of year to get started with growing herbs and vegetables. A stall on the Market place had free veg seedlings. There will be another stall in two weeks time where people can swap plants.

Volunteers were planting the containers and raised beds at the Edible Abingdon Garden at Old Station House today where there was an open day. Volunteers will maintain the plants over the summer.

Many of the residents from Old Station House were enjoying the sunshine and some cakes and tea, while staff showed visitors round parts of Old Station House.

The Edible Abingdon display shows how much can be grown in containers and small gardens and even balconies. They included:

Herbs: Parsley, Chives, Melissa (Lemon Balm), Bay, Lovage, Mint

Vegetables: Mangetout, Beans, Sorrel, Swiss Chard

Fruits: Rhubarb, Currant bushes

Edible Flowers: Marigolds, Pansies, Nasturtiums

How polluted is the River Ock?

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2023 was the worst year on record for stormwater pollution. Stormwater pollution occurs when rain washes pollutants into waterways. These can include litter, chemicals, and raw sewage from overflowing drains. It’s especially bad when treatment plants have insufficient capacity to handle the rainwater.

The Ock area had 747 spillages in 2023, compared to 155 in 2022. Some of those spillages came down the River Ock from places like Wantage(78) and Uffington(86), then went into the River Thames. Others went directly into the River Thames. The Abingdon treatment works had 38 spillages in 2023 and 0 in 2022.

The rivers in the north of England were the worst offenders.

Thanks to Newcomer for pointing out a Guardian article: Englands sewage crisis – How polluted is your local river?. It has a tool for analysing the number of spillages in a year by area. The picture is taken from that tool (all rights reserved).