The Abingdon Fire Station Open Day

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The Abingdon Fire Station Open Day was a free event on Saturday, July 15th, from 11am to 3pm. The event was open to everyone and featured various activities that were very popular with young families and children.

Visitors could see and climb into real fire engines and see other emergency vehicles.

Firefighters demonstrated a rope rescue abseil from the tower and cut off a car roof to save the person inside.

People could learn how to prevent fires and what to do if a fire starts. There was also a chance to use a fire hose on a pretend burning building.

There was also a bouncy castle and food and drink available for purchase.

Donations could be made to the Fire Fighters Charity. The money raised from the event will go to help firefighters and their families who are injured or sick, or in need.

Lost

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The Lost Monuments of Abingdon exhibition at Abingdon County Hall Museum explores buildings and structures that have disappeared from the town. The exhibition features a range of excavated artefacts and information boards. It opened on July 1st and runs until October 1st.

The lost monuments include:
* Abingdon’s Iron Age Oppidum (traces of a ditch indicate the iron age town’s defences)
* Abingdon Abbey Church
* Abingdon Market Cross
* Barrow Hills
* Mastervision TV Mast
* Union Workhouse (with model)

There is a video of Jeff Wallis, an archaeologist, walking around Abingdon and pointing out places where the Iron Age Oppidum and a Roman Temple have been excavated. An interactive map allows you to explore the locations of the lost monuments without visiting the museum at https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/lost-monuments-of-abingdon/tour.html.

I found the exhibition to be very informative and interesting. Thanks to local historians, the museum, and Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council, who run the museum.

Jeff Wallis leads a tour of ancient Abingdon on Sunday, 16th July. See https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/event/guided-walk-through-ancient-abingdon

Oxford-based bestselling author at Abingdon Library

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The crowd at Abingdon Library fell silent as Cara Hunter, the acclaimed crime writer, prepared to answer questions. The event was overbooked, with many people on the waiting list. Abingdon Library regularly hosts talks with authors of both fiction and non-fiction writings and this was one of the most popular.

Cara answered questions on writing a crime novel and how her new novel, Murder in the Family, differed from her previous successful series of novels featuring DI Adam Fawley. The DI Fawley novels are based in Oxford, and have sold over a million copies. Murder in the Family has a much larger stage and is based on a true crime TV series where experts discuss a twenty-year-old unsolved murder that gripped the nation. The experts antagonism towards each other increases, as the net tightens, and one of them becomes a suspect. It is written in multi-media styles including TV script, discussion forums, press reports etc.

Murder in the Family will be out on 20th July 2023. Pre-publication copies sold out at the library.

Increasing biodiversity in the Abbey Meadows

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In May 2023, the Vale of White Horse District Council launched the ‘Let It Bee’ campaign to increase biodiversity on council-owned land by allowing wildflowers and plants to grow on specific sites.

As part of the ‘Let It Bee’ campaign, a much larger area of the Abbey Meadows in Abingdon has been allowed to grow, as well as other district sites, including Tilsley Park, White Horse Leisure Centre, and Rye Farm.

The wildflower maze in the Abbey Meadows shows what can be done as it has been left to grow for a few years now, and has a wide variety of wildflowers, including lady’s bedstraw,  vetch, yarrow and meadow scabious.

The flowers attract various insects, including bees and butterflies.