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Newsletter 2 March 2021

Welcome to the Spring Newsletter from AMRA. As I write, a period of warm sunny weather is bringing out the spring flowers. Let’s hope the weather continues to improve.

Keeping in touch with AMRA

We want all residents in our area to be able to keep in touch with AMRA easily. To achieve this AMRA uses the following means of communication:

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 Photo: Claire Heald

  • We produce regular Newsletters. Most of these are sent to members by e-mail but some each year are printed and delivered to every address in our area – this is one of those.
     

  • AMRA maintains a telephone helpline number which is 07943 260074. This will always connect to one of the AMRA Committee members and can be used for any urgent issue or request for help, especially during lockdown periods.
     

  • AMRA has a new website at www.amrauk.org. See below for more details.
     

  • AMRA maintains a Facebook page for those who wish to sign up for this. The address for this is AMRA [Abingdon Marina Residents Association]. Make sure to use this exact format when searching for our page.
     

  • The AMRA Committee can be contacted at our e-mail address: AMRACV2020@googlemail.com.

 

Message from Delia Evans, Chair of AMRA

With spring approaching, we can look forward to a better new year, with the COVID vaccinations being delivered at a good pace and with the government’s plans for coming out of lockdown.

 

AMRA website

The most exciting thing that has happened as far as AMRA is concerned is that we now have a very professional working website in development. Thanks go to Phil Edmonds who has been spending a lot of time and effort on setting this up, supported by some of the committee. Do please have a look at it (the address is https://www.amrauk.org) and spend some time perusing the various menus, as there is plenty to entertain and inform you. It is important that you feel that you can contribute to the website as well. Please send any suggestions for content to Kate Law at Katelaw16@yahoo.com. Kate has kindly offered to be the editor of the website.

 

Social events

The social committee met on Friday 5th March. They were all feeling very positive but frustrated that there is little that can be organised until after June 21st when restrictions will be lifted, we hope. However, some provisional dates have now been booked for the July summer garden party and the Christmas AGM and party. They are also considering the Boatnic and a “picnic in the marina park” which was organised several years ago and proved to be very successful. So make sure that you keep checking that website for further news!

 

Thank you gift

The AMRA committee decided that a thank you gift for Maryanne Steele should be given to her now rather than waiting until the next AGM when we could all meet. So she was given a card and a gift to thank her for her years of tenure as chairman. AMRA has received the following response from Maryanne:

 

‘Dear all,
Thank you for the signed card from the AMRA committee on behalf of you all and the gift voucher which I had requested to put towards our Food Bank in Preston Road. I will pass the voucher onto them. At this time I really wanted the Food Bank to benefit from your generous gift to me. I know that many of you are continuing to contribute to this effort which Sue Cutler is coordinating on our behalf. It has highlighted to me how very fortunate we all are to be in circumstances in which we do not need to be reliant on the Food Bank.

Keep safe, Maryanne Steele’

The AMRA Committee

AMRA’s new improved website

 

With the help of Phil Edmonds and some of the AMRA Committee, we have been developing an improved website for AMRA, which can be found at https://www.amrauk.org/. This website will be kept up to date with Phil’s help, and we would very much welcome contributions from members. Please contact Kate Law at Katelaw16@yahoo.com with any suggestions.

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Foodbank Update

Sue Cutler writes:

 

My heartfelt thanks to everyone in our community who has donated and continues to donate to our weekly collections. Your generosity and thoughtful responses to the requests for what is most urgently required have been truly overwhelming and uplifting and we will keep this going as long as we can.

 

What you are doing is hugely appreciated by the food bank coordinators and every week they ask me to thank you all. They have even bought a new,

 

bigger trolley to make unloading the car easier! They did say that they do not need any more couscous at the moment.

 

I hope you enjoy the photos: I think they tell the story.  Best wishes, Sue.

 

My contact details are: 8 Marina Way, collection box in front of the house Tuesdays all day, Wednesday until 12.30pm.

01235 525212 or email sue_cutler@hotmail.com for any enquiries.

High water in the Marina

The high water levels in January and February caused some damage on the main river and also brought quite a lot of debris through the marina. A couple of abandoned boats on the river lost their moorings, and Tim Baker in South Quay found an asbestos engine cowling washed up on his part of the bank. He removed it from the water, and took it to the tip at Drayton. Here he was turned away, because of the asbestos, and told to book an appointment at Redbridge Waste Recycling for safe disposal. Many thanks to Tim for helping to keep the Marina clean. AMRA has subsidised Tim’s costs in dealing with this item.

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Although the immediate threat from high water levels may now be past, residents may wish to sign up to the Environment Agency Flood Warning System, as many already have. This can be done on the www.gov.uk website here:

https://www.gov.uk/sign-up-for-flood-warnings.

Monthly Photo Competition and Calendar

We are planning to produce an AMRA 2022 calendar at the end of this year, featuring local photographs taken by our residents.  All proceeds will be donated to a local charity.

 

Each month we'll have a competition and the best photo will be included in that month on the 2022 calendar.  Please email your entries to amracv2020@gmail.com.  Each month the winning photo will be featured on our website and our Facebook page.  Initially we also need photos taken in January and February so if you have any please enter those, suitably dated, as well.

 

So - all you budding David Baileys – we look forward to receiving your entries and who knows?

New members for AMRA

 

Welcome to the following residents who have recently joined AMRA:

 

Jo Asquith,

Alastair Clifford Jones

Becky Bonnerjea

Richard and Shirley Collings

Ian Tomalin

Claire Shepherd-Themistocleous

Bill and Margaret Francis

Keith Harding

 

It is good to note that the AMRA membership continues to grow.

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Delia Evans, Chair

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Kate Law, Website

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Nick Newham, Secretary

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George Steele, Treasurer

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Martin Cutler, Membership Secretary

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Tom Hardy, Newsletter

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Linda Gardiner, Member

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Claire Heald, Member

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Sandra North, Member

Update on the marina weed problem

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Nick Newham and Delia Evans visited Gary (the marina manager) recently to discuss the possible ongoing problem of the weed which we experienced last summer. The three types of weed which we have here are:

  1. duck weed which are the small leaflets which float on the top of the water and are enjoyed by the ducks.

  2. blanket weed which is the worst of the three but has value in that it floats on the surface shielding the bottom-growing weed from the sun and thus discouraging growth.

  3. Canadian pond weed growing from the bottom which caused most of the problem last year. This was chopped and removed by a company brought in by Builders Ede last autumn. The value of this weed is that it releases oxygen from those flat leaves and improves the clarity of the water.

Gary assured us that he will be keeping a watchful eye on the weeds as they start growing this year. It is not worth taking action until we can see a problem on the surface of the water and he feels that, at present, the water is remarkably clean and healthy. If anything needs to be done, it will most likely be dealt with in September.

 

Note on the slipway

Gary wanted to warn us that a part of the slipway which goes under the water is broken and needs repair. At the moment, it is only suitable for small boats up to 21ft. The other work to be done around the marina this year is trimming back trees on the island side of the channel and also, some pollarding of trees in the nature reserve itself.

 

Membership reminder

Membership of AMRA costs £12 per person per year, and this becomes due in April of each year. The annual subscription can be paid by BACS to AMRA’s account number 13656950, sort code 20-01-09. Please use the payment reference to show your address and name. Anyone needing more information should contact our Membership Secretary, Martin Cutler, on martin_cutler@hotmail.com. Alternatively, please feel free to write a cheque payable to AMRA, and to deliver it to Martin Cutler at 8 Marina Way. Please complete the following details with your cheque:

 

Name:……………………………....................

Address:………………………………………..

e-mail address:………………………………..

phone number………………………………….

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