National Teddy Bear Day is celebrated on September 9th.

On this special day, we can thank our teddy bears for their companionship, for being with us when we were upset during childhood, and getting us through some long dark nights.

Teddy Brown has been a member of our family for a very long time. On National Teddy Bear Day, I took him out to see Hugless Douglas at The Bookstore. Hugless Douglas is there to promote the Exhibition: ‘Drawing Stories; Fairy Tales & Wildlife’ by David Melling.

Last week, volunteers were stacking hay in the Barton Fields Nature Reserve. At the weekend, members of the Abingdon Green Gym helped.

In a field near Drayton, a Combine harvester was in action on Monday. Most of the fields around Abingdon have already been harvested.

Oxfordshire Schools go back from 2nd September – with relaxed Covid-19 regulations. Schools will maintain increased hygiene and ventilation and use frequent flow tests. Schools will decide themselves what other measures they need for their setting.

The Abingdon Healthfest will be on Saturday 4th September from 10am to 2pm on Abingdon Market Place.

The Loose Cannon Brewery will be opening its doors on Saturday 28th August 2021 from 11 am.

There will be the usual taproom beer and shop wines. In addition, you will be able to walk around the brewery, and there will be tours.

There will be inside and outside bars, live music, food, and a bouncy castle. There will also be market stalls with local produce, jewelry, candles, ceramics, and Abingdon Gin from the Abingdon Distillery.

Just beyond the end of the Causeway, between Abingdon and Culham, is a large field of pick-your-own Sunflowers at High Lodge Farm. Entry is free and donations can be made to Helen and Douglas House. The field is open from the August 8th for two weeks.

There is a looping track round the field, with smaller by-ways through the sunflowers for those who enjoy getting off the beaten track. Many of the sunflowers are taller than adults and dwarf children.

We followed a group of adults and children to the exit kiosk where each sunflower stem costs £1. They held armfuls of the large sunflowers. We bought £4 worth and they look ginormous on the fire grate indoors.

There were smaller wildflowers, mostly blue, which could be picked and bought by the bag-load.

The Sunflowers that don’t get picked will have a few more weeks of life in the sun before turning to seed.