2014 Abingdon Head of the River Rowing

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Abingdon Head of the River
Members of Abingdon Rowing Club were working in the early hours making preparations, then welcoming and helping crews, for the 2014 Abingdon Head of the River rowing time trials.
Abingdon Head of the River
Rye Farm Meadow, where boats were brought, is still soft in patches having been under water a lot of the winter.
Abingdon Head of the River
The first of 4 divisions left the meadow before 9am to row downstream to the start near Culham weir. There were up to 90 boats in each division.
Abingdon Head of the River
Then at 9:30, 11:45, 14:00, and 16:15 boats raced upstream the 2000 metres to the finishing post, opposite Ferry Boat House on Wilsham Road.
Abingdon Head of the River
On the same day as the University Boat Race, which Oxford were to win, rowers gave their all.
Abingdon Head of the River
At Rye Farm Meadow where crews embarked and disembarked there was beer, homemade cakes, a BBQ, and entertainment by the Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers.

More pictures on Abingdon Blog Facebook.

Italian Market this weekend. Local Excellence Market last.

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French Italian Market
The French Market that usually visits about this time of year appears to have stopped coming to Abingdon.
French Italian Market
Instead there was a visit from a new Italian Market on Friday and Saturday. But the attraction of Parmigiano Reggiano, prosciutto, salame, olives, extra virgin olive oils and much more failed to bring in the crowds to Abingdon Market Place – on a grey couple of days.
French Italian Market
Last weekend The Local Excellence Market had a better time of it with Abingdon’s Own Patisserie Pascal being one of the stall holders.

This year’s Grand National and the Abingdon Betting Shops

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This year’s Crabbie’s Grand National race will take place today (5th of April) at 4:15 p.m. at Aintree Racecourse, and is one of the high points of the year for Abingdon’s Betting shops.
Grand National
The two Ladbrokes in Abingdon (Bath Street and Stert Street) have notices reminding people to “Gamble Responsibly: Set you own limits and stay in control.“.
Grand National
Stan James say “Get Lucky. Best Odds Guaranteed.”
Grand National
In the empty premises next door a notice says that William Hill have applied for a License under the Gambling Act 2005 to trade there, so they could well be competing for the Abingdon trade in next year’s Grand National.

I read The Guardian tips for the race which were all quite amusing to read. The last was for Swing Bill which is not strongly fancied … “Has had a couple of stabs at this race and not been good enough. Now he’s 13 and likely to be slower than ever. Would be a most surprising winner.“

River Ock Catchment Partnership and SAFAG

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The EA catchment map for the River Ock shows how it is enlarged through the influence of a dozen or so brooks including: Sandford Brook, Frilford and Marcham Brook, and Childrey Brook. Those brooks have winded their meandering way through villages and agricultural fields, under bridges and over weirs until flowing between the houses at Abingdon and into the River Thames .

The Introductory Steering Group  Meeting of the River Ock Catchment Partnership was held recently comprising members of local nature, wildlife, flood societies and the Environment Agency and chaired by the Freshwater Habitats Trust.

SAFAG (South Abingdon Flood Action Group), with Malcolm Moor, as chair were invited to share their ideas for introducing flood control measures through selective planting and creating retention ponds to hold back floodwater throughout the catchment.

Grants are available to landowners from the Forestry Commission for creating woodland which meets certain criteria, including the recently added objective of reducing downstream flood risk.