The Abingdon Community Hospital League of Friends were in Bury Street this and last Saturday. Their fund raising helps purchase additional items needed by the hospital. They have an Annual General Meeting at St Helen’s Church Centre on Saturday 16th November (10-12) when their raffle will be drawn. They always like to welcome new members.

Abingdon Community Hospital, on Marcham Road, provides rehabilitation and palliative care for people who no longer require the services of an acute hospital. On site there is a Minor Injuries Unit, the Oxfordshire Stroke Rehabilitation Unit, and an X Ray Department. The hospital is part of the Oxford Health NHS Trust.

The hospital began its existence in 1900 as the Abingdon Isolation Hospital and was built by the Abingdon Joint Hospital Board at a cost of £5000 on the Marcham Road. It served both Abingdon Rural and Abingdon Borough districts. It started off as a hospital with 16 beds for infectious diseases such as scarlet fever, typhoid, diphtheria, and cerebro-spinal fever. Small-pox cases were sent to a specialist hospital in Reading. (Thankyou to the Reading Mercury – Saturday 22 July 1899 – for the details)

The hospital became a more general hospital as hygiene, vaccination and treatment improved, and the need for isolation hospitals declined. General and maternity services moved to the Marcham Road site when the Warren Hospital, on Radley Road, was closed from the 1950s.

The League of Friends has supported the hospital through good times and bad.

Thankyou to TrinityLearning for this piece …

Over 70 past and present supporters of TrinityLearning, including the Mayor of Abingdon, Cllr Charlie Birks, gathered together at Trinity Church on Thursday 26th September to mark 10 years of supporting well-being in Abingdon schools.

Rosemary Perrow, the retiring Education Development Officer, was presented with gifts and cards by Reverend Ian Griffiths, who explained how TrinityLearning has developed from small beginnings as a church project into the growing charity it is today. Revd Griffiths reflected on Rosemary’s many years of service to Abingdon schools and the ongoing impact of the TrinityLearning’s work in the lives of Abingdon’s young people.

The current Education Development Officer, Nicola Williams, spoke briefly about current projects including TrinityLearning’s new Thinking Books Mentoring Scheme which is just rolling out in the area’s primary schools.

There were two events this evening at the Abingdon Health and Wellbeing Centre, off Audlett Drive.

There was the official launch of the Abingdon Community Fridge. The fridge takes unsold fresh food from local businesses, including Tesco, Waitrose, and The Co-op on Northcourt Road. The Mayor of Abingdon, Councillor  Charlie Birks, cut the ribbon.
The Mayor was afterwards pictured with some of the organisers. There were also volunteers and people from businesses. The scheme helps prevent food waste and, at the same time, can help people having a hard time to get good food.

The other event was a showing of the film Plastic Ocean put on by the ABCD Film Society and the Carbon Cutters.

The ABCD Film Society has a weekly programme of films.

The Abingdon Silver Club recently held their annual summer barbecue. They are a small friendly group who meet every week during term time at John Mason School, in Abingdon, to work in silver, copper and gold.

Creating jewellery and other pieces from sheet and wire is very satisfying and not expensive.

They will be running their usual ‘Introduction to silversmithing’ course in October. Five of the eight places are already taken! Read about it here – https://www.abingdonsilvergroup.org.uk/beginners/

The silver replica of the Vale of White Horse is by John Huddleston and can be seen on the Abingdon Silver Group facebook page/.