During the summer I could not walk to the field beyond Overmead in South Abingdon because of tangled vegetation.
Today I could and a deer stood there gazing at us before bounding away into the cover.
People living on Overmead probably see deer all the time but it made my day.
We drove out of Abingdon towards Culham on the A415, then drove on old military tracks and rutted farmtracks to Culham Park – just over the River Thames from Abingdon and well known for Moto X.
There were fair ground amusements, food stalls with long queues, slack-line balancing, and in one marquee a drum circle. I gather the Hot Air Balloon ‘night glow’ had not been possible because of conditions but there was a laser show.
Just before the firworks, archers shot flaming arrows to try to get the bonfire started, but it took somebody with a flaming torch – Olympic style – to ignite the pile with Guy Fawkes on top.
Money raised goes to Help The Heroes. If I remember right this is the same event that happened for one year in the Abbey Meadows, since when it has been at Culham Park.
Before that there was a large firework event at Dalton Barracks – although that could have been a different organisation.
(The 2nd Abingdon Scouts fireworks – next Saturday – has been the same as long as I remember.)
The Abingdon Sea Cadets were selling poppies in town today, as they were last Saturday. This year Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday overlap on 11th November so I expect there will be just the one big ceremony round the War Memorial.
Also in town were lots of scouts from the 2nd Abingdon Scout Group.
Some were collecting money in buckets. One young scout told me that their building had a big crack and might fall down.
They also had a cake stall, and were selling tickets for their annual firework display next Saturday. For once the Saturday Abingdon firework displays do not overlap. Tonight at Culham Park gates open at 4:30 and fireworks begin at 7. Next Saturday 10th November (for the scouts) gates open at 6:30 at Long Furlong Community Centre (free parking is at Tilsley Park) and fireworks begin about an hour later but I’m never sure so usually get there early.
The Wellingtonia, or Giant Redwood, with the twin peaks in Albert Park is dead. There are other larger specimens still alive in the park and younger redwoods that may take their place in the next hundred years.
The oldest known Wellingtonia is 3500 years old, according to ring count, so this particular tree is not going to make it into the record books, however much it dwarves the other species of trees around about.
Its leaves have turned as red as its trunk, and many of the inhabitants have already left.
All that remains is a for the tree surgeons to bring it down to ground.