There was a Town Council Meeting this evening. The meeting begins with the chance for people from Abingdon to ask questions, and community groups to make presentations. There were no questions but there was a presentation by Dementia Friendly Abingdon. I will begin with a summary of that. I will summarise the rest of the town council meeting tomorrow.

There are 900,000 people in the United Kingdom with a diagnosis of dementia. In addition, there are many people who have mild cognitive impairment which in many cases will lead to a full diagnosis of dementia. The full diagnosis happens at a memory clinic run out of Abingdon Community Hospital by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.

A dementia diagnosis allows access to services provided by Dementia Oxfordshire. Those without a diagnosis have no access to those services.

The speaker told a story about a friend whose mother had dementia and went into a shop in Abingdon. The lady with dementia said to her daughter, What are we in here for? She was told three times patiently. The lady with dementia asked again and a shop assistant said, Oh, for goodness sake you! Why can’t you just listen!

Dementia Abingdon is there to raise awareness on how to recognise, and to react to people with Dementia. It is led by a group of people with experience of living with people with dementia, or with dementia themselves. Dementia Abingdon leads training sessions and have given them to community groups, to individuals, to businesses, and the fire service. They offered the same for the Town Councillors and the offer was accepted.

A number of councillors asked questions, but Councillor Charlie Birks put it in a way that made it relevant to everybody, ‘None of us are immune from dementia, nor are any of our relatives and it is not age specific.’

The Mayor of Abingdon-on-Thames, Councillor Cheryl Briggs, was at the Abingdon Community Fridge today at Hadland Road Community Centre, helping the volunteers.

The fridge is free for all to use and fights food waste by redistributing surplus food from local businesses and members of the community.

The helpers first set out everything that has been donated and then open the doors to the public.

The Radley Lakes Trust will oversee projects to improve pedestrian access to the Lakes, to manage important wildlife habitats, and to provide signage and information for people who visit the area.

Trustees at the launch in the Silk Hall, Radley College, on 25th September 2021 (left to right: Andrew Ashton, Mike Wilson, David Fraser, Lynda Crowley, Richard Dudding, Roger Thomas.)

Lynda Crowley, Chair of Radley Parish Council and a trustee, said,‘I am delighted that Radley Parish Council will be supporting the work of the Radley Lakes Trust. When we did our Radley Neighbourhood Plan a few years back, taking proper care of the Lakes emerged as a major concern of local residents. Now, we have a locally based Trust which can fulfil those aspirations,  I am very excited about the future.’

Abingdon Country Market were letting customers know that after 72 years their last market will be on September 11th (at the Salvation Army in West St Helen Street).

They have very much enjoyed running the Market, and have loved baking for the people of Abingdon. It is with regret that they have taken the decision to close.

The reason is a change to food standard regulations. Natasha’s Law will come into force on 1st October 2021. The law was introduced following the death of a teenager called Natasha, who suffered a fatal allergic reaction after eating a baguette bought from Pret a Manger. Businesses will need to label packaged food with a full ingredients list and allergen information.

The person I spoke to at the Abingdon Country Market agreed this is needed for bigger businesses but will find it too difficult to do as a small concern (see example of Lemon Drizzle Cake above). Currently Abingdon Country Market provide allergen information on each package and know the ingredients of their own products. The full ingredients list and allergen information will be a large overhead where only a small number of each cake or preserve are made every month.

Another difficulty is maintaining an ingredient’s list where ingredients can change unexpectedly. If a certain margarine is used in a cake, then the full breakdown of the margarine ingredients are shown on the cake, and where ingredients change, or an alternative is used, the change will have to be noticed and the label changed as a result.

The Country Market have known about the new law since 2019 and have waited to see whether there will be a dispensation for small producers before taking the decision to close.

I don’t know whether such labelling will be needed for cakes sold at church and school fetes.