At the recent Abingdon Town Council parish meeting, there was a report by the Abingdon Citizens Advice Bureau. (Here are my notes.)

South and Vale Citizens Advice is a local charity with advice hubs at Abingdon, Didcot, Henley and Thame, and they have to fundraise locally. They received funds from Abingdon Town Council, the two district councils, most other parish councils, and other groups. 123 volunteers help give free impartial advice, and a small staff team support the service.

Demand for advice has soared because of the cost-of-living crisis; the complexity of cases has increased. Some people are overwhelmed by problems. Citizens Advice have about 4000 clients in the Abingdon office, and the biggest demand comes from the Caldecott area. The most frequent issues are: benefits, fuel debt (a new issue and now second most frequent), and council tax arrears. More people need food banks and fuel support.

The data they collect on issues locally help in campaigning nationally. In 2022 Citizens Advice saw more people who couldn’t top up their prepayment meter than in the whole of the last 10 years combined. This helped lead their recent campaign on pre-payment meters.

There was mainly online support during Covid restrictions, but now more support is being given face-to-face.

Bob was a popular entertainer, with singing and a few jokes, at the Trinity Evergreens Christmas Party. Bob said it had been his first performance in three years, since the start of the Covid pandemic. The afternoon also included a Secret Santa gift exchange, food, and carols.

The Evergreens at Trinity Church meet on the third Monday of every month. They have been able to arrange transport by taxi to and from the Club when and where it was needed for members, thanks to the generosity of a grant from the Oxfordshire Community Foundation. At the end of the summer, this enabled a visit to Millets Garden Centre.

The Mayor of Abingdon, Cllr Andy Foulsham, will host a party for Abingdon residents aged 70 and over at the Hilton Garden Inn. The Hilton Garden Inn has generously provided a free venue and refreshments.

Peter has been the leader of the Abingdon Monday Club for nineteen years, and the members love his sense of fun. He is planning one more year to make it twenty, and hopefully, somebody else can be found to take over. He is helped by his wife, Alison, and Helen, the chairman, who has been doing it even longer. Other volunteers also make this club possible.

On Sunday, they took members to the annual pantomime in Swindon. It was good, apart from one joke about Oxford United. Swindon Town are local rivals.

On Monday, there was a concert by the Abingdon Town Band. The banter between Steve Rich (band leader) and Monday Club members was hilarious in between songs. It was an enjoyable concert with lots of Christmas favourites.

On Monday, the club said goodbye to Brian, who used to organise bingo and other activities at the club, as he has died, and club members were saddened by the news.

The Abingdon & District Musical Society have two concerts in the near future, both at the School of St Helen and St Katherine. The Spring Concert, on 19th March, includes:

• Dvorak: “The Noon Witch”
• Saint Saens: Cello Concerto (soloist Oliver Simpson, winner of Abingdon Concerto Competition, 2021)
• Brahms: Symphony No. 2

The following concert is Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion, on 9th April

This evening the Abingdon Carbon Cutters had a talk by Neil Kitching via Zoom from Stirling. If you missed it then Neil’s blog can be seen http://www.carbonchoices.uk/index.php/blog. A recording of the talk should be soon available on the Carbon Cutters YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLCR7PvRniTiWKOhPPnO-xw