Abingdon Country Market have found a new venue. They are now open on the 2nd Saturday of each month in the Abingdon Charter Day Centre.

The next date is Saturday 14th November 2015. Their cake and produce stall also takes part in the quarterly Local Excellence Market.

Country Markets have grown out of the markets established by the Women’s Institute in 1919, but have always been different from the WI in that men are fully part of the team.

They were renamed from WI Markets to Country Markets in 2004 but still operate under the same principals – selling local homemade baked goods, preserves, garden-grown fruit and vegetables. They also show case the skills and talents of local craftsmen and artists. .

The WI are celebrating their centenary this year, and the Oxfam window wishes them a Happy Birthday.

Safe PC Disposal have a warehouse and shop at 5 Suffolk Way in Abingdon, and have now opened a shop on the High Street in the town centre. They are just waiting for planning permission before putting up a proper sign, and are using one the A boards normally seen off the Drayton Road. They generally sell refurbished PCs and Laptops, and accessories.

Galaxy TecnO on East St Helen Street also do something similar, and have a larger range of technical accessories. So there is now a chance to shop around in Abingdon.

This evening, at the Crown and Thistle in Abingdon, the team behind the Abingdon BID (Business Improvement District) outlined their proposals to representatives from businesses in the town centre.

Ballet papers go out in the first week of October, and the result will be declared on October 29th. There needs to be both a majority of businesses, and also a majority of businesses by rateable value, for the BID to go ahead for five years.

There were also presentations from the Wellingborough BID, Lancaster BID, and Newbury BID telling people what their BIDs had achieved in their areas.

An overview of projects to be funded by the £800K from the BID levy – paid for by businesses in the Abingdon town centre area, over the next five years, would include:

• Marketing, promotion and PR
• High-quality events to boost trade
• Improvements to the town centre environment with parking and cycling initiatives
• Business support and lobbying on behalf of businesses

Full details are to be found at abingdon.bid

The premises, previously known as the Saxton Arms Public House, has been given planning permission to become a shop by the Vale of White Horse District Council.

Now the premises are ‘closed for refurbishment’.

It will be interesting to see what sort of shop this will now become.