
The temperatures have been below freezing for the last three nights, and this morning there was a frost on pavements and roofs. This picture shows Long Alley Almshouses, built in 1446-17 by the Fraternity of the Holy Cross. It is now maintained by its successor, Christ’s Hospital of Abingdon – established in 1553.

Catching up after the Christmas and New Year breaks, the recycling lorry was out collecting recyclables from the large green wheelie bins, and food waste from the little green bins. Another lorry was collecting Christmas trees and compost from people who have brown wheelie bins.

Near Abingdon Marina, the view across the River Thames shows three of the six large cooling towers at Didcot A Power Station. The first three were blown down in July 2014, and the other three will be blown down later this year.

There was a layer of ice near the slipway at the Marina.

and large puddles were iced over,

as was the water where the boats are moored.
Butterworth, Clyne, and Elgar

Dr Les Clyne, who many of us know, can be very proud of his daughter, Anna Clyne, who is becoming a well know composer on the world stage. Currently she lives in the USA, but spent some of her formative years in Abingdon.
This evening there was the UK premier of her Violin Concerto ‘The Seamstress’ at the Barbican in London. It was on Radio 3 in a concert with the BBC Symphony Orchestra containing pieces by Butterworth, Clyne, and Elgar. You can listen again here. The introduction to ‘The Seamstress’ starts at about 14:38 minutes.
Abingdon Alpha Launch Event

There have been banners around town for the annual Abingdon Alpha Courses

There was an introductory meeting with a free meal at the Spice Valley Restaurant this evening. An invited speaker told people how his life had been turned around after he went to an Alpha course, and found out about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

Alpha is a ten week introduction to the Christian Faith. Each week there is a talk at the start and then a discussion.
133 people were there for the launch event – and there is room for more at any of the venues.
Nags Head gets a new roof during the winter months

Below Abingdon Bridge there is a little bit of flooding over by the Abingdon Vale Cricket Pitch, but nothing like last winter.

During the winter months, on Abingdon Bridge, work is underway on the roof of the Nags Head pub, and nearby at ,the Abingdon Boat Centre, work is happening on the ex-chandlery shop that will open as a Riverside Cafe in the Spring, with the Chandlery moving to the smaller building alongside.

Unit 1 of the Old Gaol restaurants has been let. If Captainkaos’s rumour is correct, then it will become Koh Abingdon, a Thai restaurant – part of the expanding Koh Thai chain.

No movement at the Upper Reaches yet. This hotel is owned by Caparo Hotels who say on their web site ‘Caparo Hotels is a management and investment company, which currently operates four hotels in Southern and Central England.’ But they show only three.

Information about the Upper Reaches has been removed since last year.