The traffic islands of Abingdon have been transformed in recent years. This is due to Abingdon wanting to do well in the annual “Britain in Bloom” competition. We enter every year in the Thames and Chiltern large Town category. Last year we were joint winners with Bicester (pronounced bister).

The Abbott of Abingdon is the result of the Abbey Press sponsoring the traffic island near Tesco for one years “Britain in Bloom. “

You can see that currently he has a belt of tinzel. During the Christmas festivities somebody dressed him up amd the tinzel still remains.

The threat to our local Abingdon Comunity Hospital keeps returning. The headines in the Abingdon Herald have revealed recently that there are still plans to try to downgrade it to a day centre in 2006. There was a similar threat in 1998, amd 2004. Both times the threat was fought off by local protests.

The earliest Abingdon Cottage hospital was opened in Bath Street in 1886, thanks to John Cremar-Clarke, the owner of the Clarkes Clothes factory, and the local MP (Member of Parliament). It had 12 beds.

The current hospital has 42 beds, a minor injuries unit, a day centre, and various clinics. Many of its users, and their visitors are elderly, and so it is still good to have something local. It is something inbetween the intensive and expensive care at the John Radcliffe (JR) Hospital in Oxford, and care at home.

And so yet again we will fight the big central money pot for a vital part of our community to keep it local.

There is a new shop in town called Fat Face. They sell what they describe as ‘active wear and outdoor clothing.’ The shop is at the corner of High street and Bridge street, the shop with the round corner window where Ciro Citterio used to be until they went into liquidation.

Fat Face clothes are fairly pricey and I haven’t bought anything yet. But I do like that bright window display, and those young looking clothes.

I hope they will do enough business to stay. Maybe I’ll have to pay a bit more for my next purchase of ‘active wear or outdoor clothing’ to help keep them in Abingdon.

This blue strip of light still startles me whenever I walk at night along St Edmunds Lane, and past the entrance to Neave Mews. The sculpture by Philip Bews and Diane Gorvin was constructed almost a year ago, as were the houses of Neave Mews.

Airey Neave was the member of parliament for Abingdon until March 30th 1979. He is famous for being the first person to escape to freedom from Colditz (the second world war pOW camp). He then became a spy for the rest of the war.

This modern housing estate has Electric Gates, and three-story houses round a courtyard. One entrance is through the gate, and the other is under an archway at the Foyer. I can imagine Airey Neave in a German uniform quietly making his way to the gate, and in perfect German talking to the guards before making his way through to a boat waiting for him on the River.