The best thing about giving blood is the cup of tea and selection of biscuits afterwards.
There are not as many people pre-booked as usual this Friday at Preston Road Community Centre so blood will be gratefully received.
For many of us this is a chance to give something back: I am only alive because I had a blood transfusion at birth.
It is the start of the road to the Abingdon Passion in 2016 and the first fundraising event took place on Saturday evening at St Nicolas Church …
1) There was a concert including 4 pieces by French composers culminating in the ‘Quartet for the End of Time’ by Olivier Messiaen, written and first performed when Messiaen was in a prison camp in the Second World War.
2) Tuesday March 24th, 7.30pm in Christ Church, Northcourt Road there will be a performance of “Inheritance” by the Riding Lights Theatre Company. A Passion play with a difference! Tickets £10.
3) Saturday March 28th, 7pm in St Helen’s Church there is Come and Sing Fauré’s Requiem.
4) Antiques evaluation day on May 9th.
On Saturday 31st Jan 2015 (2.30 – 4.30pm) Caldecott Meadow, behind South Abingdon Children’s Centre, will see the revival of wassailing in Abingdon. Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers will lead the festivities round the new apple trees.
You are asked to bring along:
In other towns and villages the tradition of wassailing the Apple Trees – some time in January – still continues, and was intended to produce lots of apples the following season by pouring some of last year’s cider on their roots. Read more at Here We Go A-Wassailing.
On this occasion the cider will be apple juice because it is an alcohol free family wassail.
About 9 months ago the Vale of White Horse District Council (VWHDC) moved a lot of their staff out of Abbey House in Abingdon to offices at Crowmarsh Gifford – home of South Oxfordshire District Council, as part of a closer collaboration between the councils to save money. The space they released at Abbey House was then used by Oxfordshire County Council.
It was a shock to see those joint offices in flames on 15th Jan 2015. Two other buildings were also set alight, and a local resident arrested for arson.
Nobody appears to have been hurt.
Meanwhile, there were many comings and goings at Abbey House in Abingdon. An early police presence made people speculate that it too might come under attack.
Core people were moved to ‘hot desks’ at Abbey House. And we were told:
Most council employees were asked to work from home until desks were available.
Residents who wanted to contact the council, with non urgent matters, were asked to delay for a few days until people and systems are back in place.
The sale by VWHDC of Old Abbey House (next door) was delayed because of a community challenge a few months ago. The delay was to give time for bids for community use to come forward. The Vale’s empty properties, like this, may get used again, bringing more Council employees back to Abingdon for a while.