I hope the boats and the long distance swimmers and the water help make the title ‘Abingdon On Sea’ plausible as a title for the September 2011 Blog Slideshow.
The tune – Lord Franklin – is about a heroic man who was lost at sea trying to navigate polar waters a long time ago and people – who loved him – did not give up hope of finding him … Youtube allows you to search 1000s of audios for a slideshow and this is the one that stuck…
I see skies of blue and clouds of white, a bright sunny day, boats moored for the night, and I think to myself what a wonderful world.
Barges going upstream
smaller boats come down.
People sat together
very near to town …
I see trees of green, red houses too …
The Dragon Boat Racing is run annually by the Rotary Club of Abingdon Vesper
to raise money for some of their projects like Barge Trips along the Kennet and Avon Canal, Kids Out Day, working with the Stroke Association, providing equipment and services to schools and hospitals in Africa, Shelterbox and more…
Each crew normally also raises additional sponsorship for their own good cause. It is exhilerating good fun.
Its even gives some people the chance to accompany the Hawaii-five-O theme tune on the drum,
or dress a bit funny.
One event I usually cover is the annual Abingdon Head of the River Regatta. This crew were not involved.
They are just catching their breath after a training run .
On Sunday, I walked Harry round South Abingdon in the morning before church, then in the afternoon we both took him beside a shallow stream and through some woods in Steventon.
We saw our first ducklings of the year there. Returning about 5 PM I noticed from St Helens Wharf crowds of cars further along the river and realised it was Regatta Day. Lots of pictures of that though at Big Blade. But no pictures of Abingdon Rowing Club crews who are too busy organising the event.