At the Culham Road ground Abingdon Town (yellow) were playing at home to Abingdon United (red). Bill Reynolds was there from BBC Radio Oxford. He expected this local derby would bring in the crowds, but said with disappointment “Looks like just one man and his dog.”

Rather suprisingly Abingdon Town won 2-1. Abingdon United have just been promoted to the Southern League and Town ended last season near the bottom of the same Hellenic League Division. This game was a pre-season Charity Cup game.

Next door, Abingdon Vale Cricket Club were playing at home to Great Tew. The second cricket pitch serves as a temporary home to lots of campers from The Camping and Caravanning Club. This is an annual temporary thing during the summer holidays, and earns a few extra pennies. The football club had put up signs to encourage campers to drink at their bar, as well as having a carboot sale tomorrow (more extra pennies).

Here the Abingdon Vale team are leaving the pavillion to start fielding after the Tea break.

The caravans and camping vans in the background brought a few more spectators. It was not as warm as it has been.

At Old Trafford today, England beat Pakistan by an innings and 120 runs.

Abingdon Town Council owns the rights to fish on a five mile stretch of the Thames, and permits can be obtained from Old Abbey House. They were 50p a year for residents last time I heard, and free for under 12s.

The fish shown is one of many in the River Ock this morning, and over a foot long. This specimen was under a tree feeding in the rivers current, staying much to the same place and circling round occasionally.

There are many spots where people can choose to fish on the Thames. This is one of the most popular sports hereabouts, and supplies are available from Goffs on Bridge Street.

The lead story on this evening’s Central News was “Summer Sizzler.” After another week of sunshine, the intrepid reporter visited some people who are having to work in this heat: an air conditioning company who are running low on stock, a laundrette, and hottest of all: A Blacksmith. Then we went back to the cool studio where Wesley said it would be too cold without a jacket.

Wesley Smith has been reporting and reading the news for the Central South region since ther studios first moved to Abingdon in 1989. He is a well known face . But his future is in doubt. He was the face of Central South News but will he be the face of the new Thames Valley News?

Before 1989 the local news came from a central region studio in Birmingham, and so events like the Abingdon bun throwing could get easily missed amongst big city stories. Then in 1989, the southern end of the Central region was given its own studio, costing £5M, and located in the Abingdon Business Park. Now after 17 years , ITV have decided that the area covered from the Abingdon studio (stretching from Winchester to Banbury and from Swindon to Bracknell) does not make geograpical sense.

This is the rear view of the Old Maltings building between the Vineyard and Waitrose. The building was converted in 1999 from Malt making to the Vale Housing Association offices.

Situated in the town centre, it is easy for tenants to reach.

The front door and surround is of the glossy white shiney kind with a lift for the disabled and a revolving door.

The Vale Housing Association owns and maintains over 5,000 properties, most of which it brought twelve years ago from the Vale of White Horse District Council. The association have built over 100 homes in the last year for rent or share ownership.

These are often part of larger private developments where the developer is required to allow a certain proportion of social housing.

This building alongside the Old Malthouse is only a few years old, and has been made to look like the building that stood there before. That building collapsed unfortunately during redevelopment.

Development continues to the rear of the Old Maltings building, at The Maltings. These appartments and houses are being promoted by Persimmon Homes with the slogan “Oxford commuters make an educated move to Abingdon.”

They say “At Persimmon we recognise the importance of local history and the need for new buildings to sympathise with the existing environment.”