On the Market Place last Saturday Vale House had a stall for fund raising, and raising awareness.

Vale House was founded in 1990 to care for people with dementia however severe or complicated, and to support their families. The original house was in Botley, and now, after a lot of fund raising, they are in a larger, better designed building, at Sandford-on-Thames. Alison Rooke, a former Mayor of Abingdon, is one of their trustees. Their website is http://www.valehouse.org.uk.

Related but quite separate are Dementia Friends in Abingdon. They have courses to help us learn more about what it is like to live with dementia and be able to help when needed. There is a course on 21st May in Abingdon. If you are interested, see if you can find the Information Session and Book. Start by going to ‘Become a Dementia Friend’ then ‘Find an Information Session’ and find locations near your post code.

St Georges Day 2019 was remembered by Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers with a pub tour. These pictures were taken in the courtyard of the Kings Head and Bell.

The dancers serenaded the Mayor of Abingdon in one dance.

Their own Squire, The Mayor of Ock Street, can be seen here with the sword and cup and Horns of Ock Street.

The Church of England have delayed their celebration of St George as we are so close to Easter, but that did not apply to Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers who made sure it was remembered on April 23rd.

There was a Farmer’s Market on Abingdon Market Place today.

The Church in Abingdon had their traditional Good Friday Procession from the library . The procession stopped on the Market Place to sing “There is a Green Hill Far Away.”

They then processed to St Nicolas Church where there was a United Service led by Reverend Paul Smith.

It was a lovely sunny day, and so not only St Nicolas Church , and the Market Place were busy. Nags Head Island was busy, as was the Abbey Meadow Play Park. It was also the busiest day of the year so far in terms of passing boats for Abingdon Lock. There is currently quite a narrow navigation channel, with red buoys, below the lock, and I saw a boat getting stuck on a shoal (accumulation of sediment) for a few minutes.

At 7pm this Thursday evening the bells of St Helen’s Church and St Nicolas Church, in Abingdon-on-Thames town centre, rang in solidarity with the people of Paris because of the fire that destroyed the spire and roof of Notre Dame on Monday night.