What’s On: Chinese New Year & Lots of Music

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Happy Lunar New Year! It’s the Chinese New Year of the Dragon in 2024. On Saturday, 10th February there’s a free exhibition of CHINESE BRUSH PAINTINGS AND SCROLLS by members of Oxfordshire Chinese Brush Painting Group. They are open from 10-2pm in the Community Space, Unit 24, Bury St Precinct, Abingdon. ( It’s the old H. Samuel shop).

Peter has sent me information about ADMS concerts and there will be two in March, one at St Helen and St Katherine School.

One at St Helen’s Church. For both concerts, tickets will cost £15 on the door or £13 if bought in advance (children £1 in both cases). For advance purchases, contact www.wegotttickets.com (booking fee applies) or tickets@adms.org.uk.

There are also regular chamber concerts at St Nicolas Church. The next is this Sunday and will feature a Cello Trio.

Music at the Unicorn are running concerts. The next one is on Tuesday 13th Feb. The full list is on
https://www.musicattheunicorn.org.uk/.

Make Music in Abingdon have live music on February 15th at the Loose Cannon Taproom where the music starts at 7.30pm. Performing are: Andy Hoger, The Holy Fools, Tim Friers & the Mercenaries.

From Peachcroft Roundabout to Dyson Mews

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The work on cutting the corner at the Peachcroft Roundabout is planned to run from 31 Jul 2023 – 17 Aug 2024 and so is probably half way there. It should allow traffic from the Dunmore Road to cut the corner going up Lodge Hill. So far the work has affected footpaths more than carriageways. This corner is the boundary of the Abbey Fields development.

Despite interest rate rises, there has not been much slowdown in the house building on the Abbey Fields development. This is the view from the footpath from Sunningwell, where it crosses the Abbey Fields development. Abingdon must be a very popular place to live.

In the news today was the story that Barratt are to buy rival Redrow for £2.5bn.

A lot of the new homes in Abbey Fields have a notice from Barratt Homes saying ‘Please be courteous. This house is occupied.’

A cycle way runs from the Abbey Fields development through Tilsley Park (sports ground run by Abingdon School) and then comes to a stop just before the Kings Gate development.

Resourceful walkers have made their own short cut a short way from the main route.

A new road name that has appeared on the Kings Gate estate is Dyson Mews. It is not named after Sir James Dyson, knighted for his vacuum cleaner and hand drier innovations, and not even named after Star Wars R2D2 creator Tony Dyson who did live in Abingdon. It is named after Tony’s mum Ada Dyson who was Mayor of Abingdon. According to the obituary of Ada on the Abingdon and District Twin Towns Society website (July 2008), Ada had bright red hair and a determined northern character and was a formidable fighter.

Abingdon Tesco’s Higher Canopy (Not For Giraffes)

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The Abingdon Tesco Extra petrol station is getting a revamp and will be reopening on March 1st, 2024. They’re making the pumps and forecourt area more spacious by raising the roof to a minimum of 5 meters, according to planning application P23/V1925/FUL (Replace canopy and increase height to Min 5M.)

The Abingdon Tesco petrol station has been around since 1981, and the canopy was just 4.15 meters high.

So, whether you’re filling up your car or your average double-decker bus (4.5 to 4.7 meters), you can do so easily from March 1st! What won’t fit is a giraffe trailer (6 meters).

A regular Monday Market

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It was a regular Abingdon Monday Market. The Market Place cobbles were filled with stalls and vans and the crosspaths with people. There was a breeze but no storms or floods. It was cloudy but the fruit and veg stall knew rain wasn’t expected, as they hadn’t put up a cover!

Everyone’s first stop seemed to be fish van, judging by the queue waiting for their catch fresh from the quay. There was also the butcher’s van, but not the butcher who always keeps up a dialogue through a squeaky PA system. Isla Bakery had piles of loaves, buns, and a table of cakes. The stationary stall had greeting cards and a table of crossword and puzzle books. Over at the photography stall, Martin greeted every enquiry with his usual friendliness. He had a sale – as new stock arrives soon.

You could get a bunch of daffodils for £1, or 3 for £2.50. The pet food stall had bags of pet and wild bird food. You couldn’t miss the outdoor gear stall with its dazzling display of Hi-Viz jackets. Opposite that was the egg stall with the stacked trays of eggs.

Who have I forgotten?