Look closely at this scene from the annual Troutbeck Shrove Tuesday Pancake race and you will see a green figure back along the road (Thank you to Smooth Radio Lake District for this picture.)

Then look at this picture and you will see a uniform identical to that of an Abingdon Town Crier practising his ‘Hear Ye, Hear ye’ in The Lakes. (Thankyou to Roger Davies for this picture).

For twenty years an Abingdon Town Crier has been travelling to Troutbeck to assist in their pancake race, and this year will be his last.

Read all about it in the Westmorland Gazette at https://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/18255559.one-last-hurrah-town-crier/

Thank you to the Westmorland Gazette for the picture. I did speak to a reporter who said I could use the picture if they owned it and he would check. So all rights reserved to the original owner. He never got back to me.

Also to mention that during half term there is a ballet open day this Saturday. Apologies if this is too late. I was sent it a while back.

Richard sent me some pictures of the Repair Cafe last Saturday. They were provided by Feng,  an Ethical Fashion Designer, and Marketing Manager for Fairtrade at St Michael’s in Oxford.

Feng said ‘ It was great to pop into the Repair Cafe earlier, it was certainly busy! Here are a few photos of ‘hands at work’.

Two upcoming events that may be of interest are Talking Maps and The Big Fix

Upstairs in Abingdon Library, there is a showcase, and board, displaying old maps of Abingdon. One of the maps has all the buildings coloured a pretty pink.

Next Thursday the Oxfordshire History Centre and the Bodleian Library will be showcasing maps from their archives.

Talking Maps is a celebration of maps and what they tell us about the places they depict and the people that make and use them.

The Big Fix 2020, repair cafe, is before then, this Saturday.

You will find it in one of the Northcott barns. (This map is from a book of Berkshire by John Rocque and from 1761- the year of the Coronation of King George III and Abingdon’s first recorded bun throwing.)