All Saints Church in Abingdon have been celebrating their Diamond Jubilee this weekend.

All Saints was opened in October 1959, and Lady Cockcroft from the Harwell Atomic Energy Research Establishment was there at the opening. Sir John Cockcroft was a renowned physicist who helped set up Harwell.

Abingdon was expanding northwards in the 1940s with the development of the Fitzharry’s and Manor Estates and then Rush Common Estate in the 1950s. Housing was needed for the workers at Harwell – scientists and technicians.

Members from Trinity Church Abingdon, in an act of faith, bought a plot of land for a new church at the centre of the new housing. Generous contributions ensured it opened free of debt. Members from Trinity left to set up the new church.

The anniversary celebrations took place over All Saints Day on Friday 1st November 2019 and continued with services, exhibitions and activities over the weekend. A lot of former members came back to visit.

The last service was a Songs of Praise that began with the hymn ‘For all the saints’. There was also a hymn specially written by two church member for the celebration called ‘Lead us On‘. The chorus went:

We cannot see where all our paths may lead
We cannot know where each of us will go
We thank you for the grace
that brought us to this place
and we trust in your love to lead us on.

All Saints Church continues to act as centre of community in 2019. Lots of other community groups use the church buildings.

A display of diamonds at the front, and a large display on the side wall had been created by the groups that use that place.

The Abingdon Community Hospital League of Friends were in Bury Street this and last Saturday. Their fund raising helps purchase additional items needed by the hospital. They have an Annual General Meeting at St Helen’s Church Centre on Saturday 16th November (10-12) when their raffle will be drawn. They always like to welcome new members.

Abingdon Community Hospital, on Marcham Road, provides rehabilitation and palliative care for people who no longer require the services of an acute hospital. On site there is a Minor Injuries Unit, the Oxfordshire Stroke Rehabilitation Unit, and an X Ray Department. The hospital is part of the Oxford Health NHS Trust.

The hospital began its existence in 1900 as the Abingdon Isolation Hospital and was built by the Abingdon Joint Hospital Board at a cost of £5000 on the Marcham Road. It served both Abingdon Rural and Abingdon Borough districts. It started off as a hospital with 16 beds for infectious diseases such as scarlet fever, typhoid, diphtheria, and cerebro-spinal fever. Small-pox cases were sent to a specialist hospital in Reading. (Thankyou to the Reading Mercury – Saturday 22 July 1899 – for the details)

The hospital became a more general hospital as hygiene, vaccination and treatment improved, and the need for isolation hospitals declined. General and maternity services moved to the Marcham Road site when the Warren Hospital, on Radley Road, was closed from the 1950s.

The League of Friends has supported the hospital through good times and bad.