We have sent £176 on behalf of AMRA to New Futures Nepal (www.newfuturesnepal.org). This money was the profit from the Pete Morton gig at the Abingdon Rugby Club. New Futures Nepal is a small UK based charity, which supports 2 orphanages for in Nepal and Northern India. Many of the children are also handicapped.

We felt the evening at the rugby club went very well and eveyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  There are some photos of the event.

 

Antonya took some pictures of two magnificent black swans which visited the marina on Saturday.

 

On Wednesday 13 January, despite the snowy conditions, 26 booted AMRA members and friends gathered at the home of Neil and Linda Boston clutching their slippers. The gathering was conducted by Jill Carver who owns a shop called Added Ingredients in Stert Street. She had brought, for our delectation, 4 wines and accompanying finger food from her stores and proceeded to explain the provenance of the provender as we enthusiastically worked our way through the range of delicious offerings.

There were Little Gem lettuce leaves topped with Kitson's fish terrine and smoked mackerel on rye bread to accompany a white Milton Vinyard's Te Arai Chenin Blanc. Smoked chicken breast with pesto on olive focaccia partnered the white Miltons Vineyard's Viognier as well as Parma ham with sun-blushed tomatoes on spinach ciabatta. The following Jean Bousquet Malbec red also enhanced the taste of the latter plus some smoked mozzarella with chorizo and finally, as if we had not been spoiled enough, there was a fortified Jean Bousquet Malbec to complement the heavenly Kitson's sticky toffee pudding! We all were very well fed, well drunk (in the sense of supply) and extremely well informed of the wonderful array of gourmet foods and wine all available at the delicatessen.

Last year we held our first Marina in Bloom event with a variety of categories, you could participate in the front and back gardens, window sills or simply pots. There were some lovely entries and the sharp-eyed amongst you will have seen the winners’ plaques outside Gail & Paddy Viney’s and Dee & Richard Whitfield’s houses. Following that success, we are asking the marina residents’ to get their green fingers working & make it an even bigger and better event this year.

The judging will take place in mid-summer (date to be announced) and if you wish to enter please place the Marina in Bloom logo, which you will receive with the next newsletter, in a prominent place where the judges can see it when they are doing their rounds.

We wish a warm welcome to Paul Burnett as AMRA’s treasurer since the AGM. He will be an asset to the committee.

As most of you will have seen, the council has at last installed a suitable barrier beside the cycle path which will prevent cyclists and other road users causing a danger to themselves and others on North Quay. Our thanks again to John & June Napper who helped the AMRA campaign to persuade the Vale to undertake this work.

The Council confirmed that there are no plans to proceed with the proposal to turn the track into a Motorcycle track. The good news that came out of this meeting is that the Abingdon Vineyard group now organise a Youth Club on the 2^nd and 4^th Friday of each month from 19.30 to 21.00 at The Preston
Road Community Centre.     Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Swan Uppers took a liking to the garden at 26 North Quay last year and carried on their business there with due ceremony. In this picture the adult pair had eight cygnets who were all ringed - 3 to the Dyers Company, 3 to the Vintners Company and the remaining 2 (who were by tradition left unringed) to HM The Queen!

The Abingdon date for the 2009 ceremony is July 24th. Look out for further details in the local newspaper.

Ray Charlton, Captain of the Abingdon Salvation Army, has expressed his thanks to residents, many of them AMRA members, for the donation of £260.34 given by the Fisherman’s Wharf carol singers on Christmas Eve. Thanks to everyone who was there for their generosity and hearty vocals.

The towpath has had to be closed for the time being to meet health and safety requirements while the site is undergoing some construction work.  The Environment Agency requires that the river banks be reduced by half along half their length to allow floodwater to flow directly alongside the river.  Please respect the current ‘Warning’ and ‘Keep out’ notices around the site until such a time as this work on the towpath is completed. In any case, there is no public right of way as the land is privately owned and walking along the riverside is courtesy of the farmer.   There have also been some instances of vandalism to gates and fences in the area - please be vigilant in helping to prevent such occurrences as the replacement costs of these mean that the whole project will then take that much longer to raise money for.

Finally, there is the possibility of an illustrated talk by Martin Buckland, Director and Trustee of the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust.  Please let us know if you would be interested in attending.  No date yet fixed.