This year’s poppy appeal begins on October 29. The poppy production line has been busy at the Abingdon Royal British Legion in preparation.

There will also be enamel badges this year remembering 100 years since the Somme. Of the many names on the Abingdon War Memorial here is just one … ‘Heber John Hosier, DCM., 10, Thames Street, 8th Royal Berks (killed on the Somme, September 3 1916)’

Last year £40,000 was raised for the appeal in Abingdon. The Mayor is one of the collectors this year and will be doing stints in Tesco and the town centre. There will also be veterans and cadets selling poppies.

Yesterday, at St Helen’s Church Centre, the Abingdon Community Hospital League of Friends held a coffee morning and jumble sale, and raised over £300 to help buy equipment to help patients.

They also have a raffle to be drawn on November 5th at their AGM at the Charter Day Centre 10:30-12:30 .
1st Prize – Miele Vacuum Cleaner
2nd Prize – Quality Electric Keyboard
3rd Prize – Restaurant Meals for two … and many more smaller prizes.

You can also support them by becoming a member at only £5 a year. They will be in the Community Freespace in Bury Street sometime in October.

Next week at the Freespace are the Carbon Cutters with apple pressing.

There was a party in the carpark of Abingdon Baptist Church this afternoon with a hog roast and balloons.

It followed a special service in the church building where old friends returned to Abingdon to join in celebrating the 20th Anniversary of 35 Ock Street – next door.

35 Ock Street was built as a timber framed house in the early 17th Century, and so is older than those twenty years.

From around 1700 it became the manse where the Baptist Minister lived, with a Georgian facade added towards the end of the 18th Century.

During the late 20th Century, after the Minister moved to a manse elsewhere in Abingdon, 35 Ock Street was scheduled for demolition to create modern offices. But because of its listed building status the old rickety building survived, and after a lot of fundraising it was renovated and re-opened in 1996 as a cafe and community centre serving the town centre .

Twenty Years On , it still runs as a cafe, and community centre. And today there was free coffee and tea.

Each month, the Waitrose Supermarket in Abingdon chooses three community groups (often charities) for a head to head to see who gets the lion’s share of the £1000 on offer for the month.

Shoppers get a green token and vote in a transparent ballot box. Shoppers can see how well the parties are doing and change their vote as a result.

Sometimes one community group wins by a landslide. Last month there was a very close contest between Stonewater, Friends of Stowford, and PHAB, which Stonewater just won, possibly because of the use of a human interest story.

Here were their manifestos …

Stonewater got £366.

PHAB got £329

Friends of Stowford got £305.