Last night’s “Annual Parish Meeting” was a quiet affair compared to the recent Special Meetings. This is the event where the Chairs of the various Town Council Committees report to the public on their work over the last 12 months and is the only occasion when the public can put questions – and get answers – without having to give advance notice.

We had reports about the Council’s work on Amenities and Recreation, Community Services and Grants, the Guildhall, Museum, Planning and Finance. These reports will be made available on the Town Council website.

There was a question about whether Bun-throwing was an appropriate means of commemorating the end of WW1; we were told that the decision had been taken and it was unlikely to be re-considered. We were also reminded that bun-throwing had been used in the 1990s to commemorate the anniversary of VE Day (picture above possibly just before VE Day bun throw).

One of the audience commented that stopping publication of the Town Crier magazine meant that people without the internet had little information about Civic Events.

On the Abbey Hall we were told that discussions, feasibility studies etc for the proposed Community Hub, which “might” include the Library would take about two years so discussions were now under way about the approach from the Regal Cinema to use the space for that 2-year period. A formal proposal was expected in time for discussion by the Council at the end of March. The only other option likely to be considered would be to re-open the space for hire alongside the historic rooms, as in the past. A questioner reminded the Council that they had committed to full public consultation on the long-term plan and asked for reassurances that this would be included in the process. These were given.

Work is now under way on the alterations to the historic Guildhall and the date for re-opening is now likely to be early September. There was a lot of interest in using the rooms for conferences which could provide a useful income stream. Plans for the staircase were under review following comments from Historic England and others about the proposal to replace it. There were no questions on this report – possibly because those most interested are waiting to hear what happens at the Guildhall Committee when all of this will be debated.

We were reminded that following the “Abingdon for All” consultation last autumn, public meetings have been set up to discuss the topics which generated most interest: there was one on traffic and transport earlier this month, the one on Planning and Housing is pending and there is one on retail in April. People were encouraged to come along to these.

Not part of the formal reports, but we were told the good news that “Carousel”, the group setting up a replacement for the South Abingdon Childrens Centre, is now making good headway and it should open soon, providing a range of activities and services for families with young children.

And finally, regular readers of this blog will be delighted to hear that we were told that “last year, as always, the flowers were amazing”. I am sure we would all agree.