A new hair dressing salon called Wisteria Avenue opened last Saturday in Abingdon.
It is in the same premises that once housed Local Roots in East St Helen Street.
This is also the same premises that houses the little basement museum – a very interesting place to visit if you ever get the chance.
There has been a planning application P18/V2127/LB since August to turn 23 High Street into a new bar / restaurant. The premises was used for many years by Smiths the Chemist. The rear area was also used as a reading room by Abingdon Library.
Work is underway in renovating the basement and ground floor. The planning application says there has been flooding in the basement which will be tanked so that it can be used for storage and a restaurant area. The dispensary area will become the kitchen, and a modern flat roofed area to the rear will become an enclosed smoking area.
The lantern, above the former Abingdon Library reading room, at the back is an interesting feature.
The plans say no major changes will be done to the front view from the High Street apart from installing stronger glass.
Smiths left the premises in April 2016 and were renamed as Avicenna Pharmacy, and took over the premises of a former pub in Stert Street, Abingdon. Abingdon Library left the back of the premises in the 1976, and moved to the Charter, Abingdon.
This advert may have come from the 1990s but there is still Bingo every Tuesday at Preston Road Community Centre.
Doors open 7:00 – Eyes Down (games start) 8:00.
The traditional bingo calls are still to be heard, depending on who is calling…
‘number one – Kelly’s eye’
‘number 5 – Man alive’
’13 – Unlucky for some’
’22 – Two little ducks’
’59 – the Brighton Line’
There are prizes galore, a cash flyer, and a Jackpot is up for grabs.
The event is run by volunteers and any profits are invested in the Community Centre, and hopefully provides an enjoyable evening out.
Plans for a reservoir south of Abingdon, on four square miles of farmland, have been suggested since the 1970s. It was in 2006 that Thames Water produced plans to build a £1bn Abingdon Reservoir on this famland to hold 150bn litres of water for the growing demand for water from London. They would dig out the earth and make high walls to create the reservoir.
A local campaign group called GARD (Group Against Reservoir Development) was created to oppose the plans. The Vale of White Horse District Council also employed consultants to challenge the plan. Ofwat (the government watchdog on privatised water companies) also said Thames Water needed to do more to stop leaks before grand new projects. Then in 2011 the plans were rejected as ‘there was no immediate need‘.
Thames Water are seeking again in 2018 to build the reservoir. It makes commercial sense to them. GARD has again challenged Thames Water’s plans and provided arguments against the scheme on their website http://www.abingdonreservoir.org.uk.
The reservoir would :
The villages most directly affected are Steventon, East Hanney, and Drayton. (Pictures above of farmland and pylons were taken from Kiln Lane, and Steventon Road, in Drayton. )
The Vale of White Horse district council have put this reservoir land in the Local Plan 2031 – to ensure new housing, or airport development, don’t prevent the new reservoir if it is needed. But most councillors are yet to be convinced it is needed.
Water Resources Management Plans are not easy to read. You could leave it to the experts from Thames Water and GARD to produce in-depth statistics, or be the public’s voice and have your say.
The deadline if you want to have your say on the latest draft of the plan is November 28th 2018. In this latest draft, Thames Water want to bring forward the reservoir date from 2043 to 2037. That means the build process would start in 2027, possibly earlier if it takes 3-5 years to fill.
Comments can be made at https://haveyoursay.thameswater.co.uk/engagement/shape-your-water-future-revisions-to-the-plan/consultation/subpage.2017-11-14.6685474502/?fbclid=IwAR3hGWHlp7fn0ELFSksKhnSvV_vKLh3q0kqj74frZIg7sqGa16FlY8aUd_w