Museum Exhibition showcases Abingdon Women

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Abingdon Museum has started 2024 with an exhibition called “Celebrating Abingdon Women in the Arts and Sciences.” It showcases some of the incredible women who lived in Abingdon

Art and crafts: Pat Russell and Janet Boulton opened their own paper-making studio, while Charlotte Hardcastle created accurate drawings of plants.
History: Agnes Baker brought history to life through books, plays, and historical processions. Gabrielle Lambrick explored the secrets of Abingdon Abbey. Mieneke Cox helped tell the town’s story through museum exhibits and books. Marion Wenzel took care of the Abbey buildings and produced artwork.
Science: Mary Buckland made detailed drawings of fossils.
Writing: Dorothy Richardson wrote some of the first stream-of-consciousness novels.

There are information boards, artwork, and a video slideshow showing these and other women, and groups of women, some you may know.

The museum is run by Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council and you can see more at https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/event/exhibition-celebrating-abingdon-women-in-the-arts-and-sciences

Some of the women also appear on the Abingdon People website:
Agnes Baker: https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon_people/agnes-baker
Mary Buckland: https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon_people/mary-buckland-nee-morland
Mieneke Cox: https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon_people/mieneke-cox
Gabrielle Lambrick: https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon_people/gabrielle-lambrick

Flooding in Abingdon and the EA’s withdrawn plans to protect you

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Good news for walkers in Abingdon! The Ock Valley Walk is dry enough to explore today (except maybe around Tesco).

The water looks calmer at St Helen’s Wharf. This morning, you could see a clear space between the water and the bridge’s iron arch.

At high tide on Saturday, part of the word ‘Bristol’, and houses in Abingdon were underwater.

The Abingdon Herald had a front-page article, on Wednesday, about the call for action by the environment agency (EA) on improving the town’s flood defences. Regarding this, I have two pieces on information in my inbox. Two schemes were being explored: a flood storage area west of the A34, and temporary flood barriers. An email from the EA from December 2018 said, ‘Since our last newsletter we have been continuing to develop the design for a flood storage area. Based on our more detailed design information we now know the cost of the flood storage area to be much greater than our earlier estimate. To justify continuing work to develop plans for a flood storage area our partnership would need to secure a large amount of additional funding from other partners and businesses. The partnership do not think we will realistically be able to find the required funding. This means that we are not able to continue developing plans for the flood storage area at this time.’ Partners included local councils and businesses.

They said,‘We are continuing our work to investigate options for Natural Flood Management which could help to reduce flooding in Abingdon. We have also identified where Temporary Flood Barriers could help reduce the impact of flooding for specific areas in Abingdon.’

There was a more recent update from the EA to the Tithe Farm and Ladygrove Newsletter in August 2023. It said, ‘We reviewed this plan following problems experienced with barriers in the Midlands. The result of the review was that we would be unable to erect it in time to prevent flooding. As a consequence, we withdrew the plan. This means that there won’t be any permanent structures or temporary barriers to protect you from the River Ock.’

From Peter Pan to Burns Night: Things to Do in Abingdon This January

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Abingdon Drama Club takes flight for their 80th anniversary with their unique production of Peter Pan. There are still tickets available at https://www.abingdon-drama-club.com/

There will be a musical journey for Epiphany and Candlemas with Crown Singers conducted by Paul Hedley. On Saturday, January 27th at 3pm, they present “Here is the Little Door,” a  concert featuring music (by Poulenc, Byrd and Howells), and readings at St Michael and All Angels’ Church, Park Road, Abingdon.

Calling all Scots (and honorary Scots at heart) for a Burns Night evening of traditional haggis, lively dancing, and community spirit in support of the Abingdon Passion Play 2024.

Bring your broken treasures back to life at the Oxford Wood Recycling Repair Cafe on Thursday, January 18th.

A House or Amenity Land?

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Someone wants to build a house between Stratton Way and Withington Court on amenity land. This area is privately owned but has been used by the public for 50 years.

The part on Stratton Way has a bench and flower bed maintained by the council.

It is separated by a wall from the other part that was wild and green. The owner has cleared this area already, but the picture shows what it was like.

The Vale of White Horse District Council will decide and are open to public comments. Web comments can be made until 20th January 2024. See https://data.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/java/support/Main.jsp?MODULE=ApplicationDetails&REF=P23/V2848/O#exactline.