The Green Gym were out last weekend digging up thistles from the newly created wild flowers area in the Abbey Meadows.
They came with thick gloves to uproot the prickly thistles.
Thousands of thistles were taken down and disposed of.
The Green Gym will be promoting their activities at Fun in The Park next weekend, then tackling Himalayan Balsam for most of the rest of June. Their website and full programme is available here.
Spike Abbott has moved from Abingdon to become the newest member of the Body of Yeoman Warders at HM Tower of London.
Before becoming a Yeoman Warder, Spike served for 35 years with the RAF, and is pictured above at his leaving event.
He was often to be seen at Civic Events in Abingdon – such as Remembrance Day and Freedom Ceremonies. A condition for becoming a Yeoman Warder – popularly known as a Beefeater – is to serve for at least 22 years with HM armed forces.
Spike lived in Abingdon from 1981, and his wife is here in Abingdon for a few months more. I think she still volunteers at Abingdon County Hall Museum.
In the Abingdon Oxfam window a stylish ball dress, draped with boa, heralds the start of the Prom season. Proms take place after students have completed their GCSE exams, at the end of year 11 (age 15/16) .
All that is needed to complete the Cinderella transformation is a gold stretch limo.
You can see other takes on this stylish theme, from around the world, here.
Abingdon Country Market are now a regular at the quarterly Local Excellence Market.
I was told by Paul, collecting rent from stall holders, that there were more stalls than ever before. The plant stall was doing particularly well.
I expect some of the stalls, like Chillis 2 U, will be back in Abingdon next weekend at Miele’s, on 7th June, for the 2nd Abingdon Food Festival. (You can pre-book Chef demonstrations, and Wine and Cheese tastings on their website.)
Market Place events do seem to increase the footfall, and buggy fall, in Abingdon town centre.
I did hear that there has been some systematic destruction of advertising signs on lampposts over the last 2 or 3 months in Abingdon. Signs worth around £800 have been ripped down. (Evidence of ‘sign vandalism’ should be sent to the proper authorities. We know it is not any of the councils.)