Croquet in Abingdon

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You might think that not a lot happens on the cricket ground on Hales Meadow during the winter months. You might be right.

But I did get an email from the Thames Valley Croquet Club saying they have been meeting in Abingdon for almost 20 years, and are open for play and looking for new members to join the Club. (picture of croquet from this blog in 2007)

They play at the Cricket Club on Hales Meadow. I saw somebody preparing the green  this afternoon. For more details contact try thamesvalleycroquetclub.co.uk.

The Seven Wonders of Abingdon

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The City Daily Photo Theme for February was power but I am too late for that. It is February 3rd and entries have now closed. 

The weir is one of the seven wonders of Abingdon and could potentially generate several hundred horse power. A weir is a barrier built across a river to raise the water level on the upstream side, allowing water to flow steadily over. On the River Thames weirs are alongside locks, to let boats pass, and fish passes.

My seven wonders of Abingdon are:
* Abingdon Weir
* The County Hall
* Abingdon Bridge
* St Helen’s Church
* Long Alley Almshouse
* Abbey Buildings
* Albert Park

Here is a short video of the weir to show it deserves to be in the top seven.

January Blooms at St Ethelwold’s

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The garden of St Ethelwold’s House is open on most days and you would not expect there to be a lot of flowers on the last day of January.

The winter aconite has the unusual tactic of producing little ruffs of leaves and popping up yellow flowers in winter.  They may attract some insects who are out during the almost dead of winter. Winter aconite is one of the earliest flowers, and the plant’s spread mostly by tubers underground.

The one flower you might expect are the Snowdrops. They spread via bulb division. However, they may still be visited by insects on a warmer day.

There were also winter flowering irises against a south facing wall.

There were also some primroses but they looked in a bad mood, and did not want their picture taken.

Local Excellence Market

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There are four Local Excellence Markets a year in Abingdon and two craft markets. At today’s market there were craft stalls with paintings and photos. The one in the foreground is Martin Wackenier’s stall selling his photos.

Every Local Excellence Market allows a different community group to have a free stall each time and today that was the Green Forum. They bring together all Abingdon’s Green groups. They were doing a survey with six items about transport. The first item was School Streets. A School Street is a road outside a school with a temporary restriction on motorised traffic at school drop-off and pick-up times. There has been a trial across 9 schools in Oxfordshire, including St Nicolas. 60% of the 120 parents and residents who responded to the School Street survey said they supported the school Street at St Nicolas.

The core stall of any market is fruit and veg. Paul, one of the coordinators, told me that six people retired from doing outside markets during Covid and so he has been looking for new people and trying to get a good mix of stalls. There used to be a lot of people wanting to sell jewellery. Since Covid there have been a lot of people making cakes. New on the market today were a cookie and fudge stall.

The post box has a crochet dragon and a tiger. The Chinese New Year begins on February 1st. 2022 will be the year of the Tiger. In China dragons are seen friendly and the bringers of good luck.