A new discount store opened today in the Fairacres retail park in Abingdon. B&M Homestore already have a store in Wantage and will be opening another in Didcot at the weekend, and they look to be growing fast, having opened a store in Isle of Sheppey yesterday, Macclesfield the day before…
From only 21 stores and 1 distribution centre in 2004, B&M has grown to 4 distribution centres and over 380 stores across the UK.
I hope there is still a UK when I wake tomorrow.
Before the meeting there was a presentation on the forthcoming Abingdon Hydro share offer on November 1st.
In a second presentation The Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Abingdon, Mrs Felicity Dick, explained the role of the Lord Lieutenant as the Queen’s representative in Oxfordshire.
The Town Council Meeting then examined the minutes of the previous town council meeting (25th June), and made a few corrections. After that the council went through the minutes of all the sub-committees – discussing and voting on the recommendations.
(Pictured above is a new fashion shop that has appeared this week in Bury Street.)
The town council is a business in the proposed Abingdon Business Improvement District (BID). Like other businesses in the town centre it can vote for, or against, the BID, intended to promote the town centre at a levy of 1.5 – 1.7% on business rates.
The Town Council actually has 4 businesses (Guildhall, Museum, Town Council etc) and each have a vote. So the Town Council voted by 17-0 with 1 abstention to vote 4X for the BID.
There followed a discussion, and agreement, on a plan for choosing a cinema operator for the Guildhall. Adverts will go out in trade magazines looking for expressions of interest. Then operators will be asked to tender to run the future cinema. A decision about the preferred operator will be made on 11th December 2014.
You do wonder whether a pop up cinema like the one in Wantage at The Beacon (the renamed Civic Hall) might validate whether the people will use the cinema they say they want.
When the County Hall Museum was redeveloped the flag pole was trimmed, cutting off the rotten end. Now it appears that the flag pole is too short as the flags are getting snagged and damaged. This has been a false economy and a new longer flag pole will be purchased.
The Town Council is also selling some of the worn Union Flags that have graced our streets to raise money for the Mayor’s Charity fund. They will be £5 each. Email the council to get one.
A company (sounded similar to the one that half planned a last minute Retro Music festival last weekend and pulled out with 3 days to go) want to do a Christmas Market Place event in December, with council help. The council did not think the company had given enough detail to their plan, and so have not approved it.
The side of the River Thames opposite Wilsham Road, in Abingdon, has had a dredging boat in position for a couple of weeks. The plan must be to make the Thames through Abingdon more easy to navigate. A number of pleasure boats have run aground here over recent months, despite a warning buoy.
A new exhibition has opened at St Nics Church called “What Does Love Require of Us? – Quakers in a Time of War” from Monday 15th – Thursday 18th September – 10am – 4pm.
The Society of Friends, or Quakers, meet at the Health and Well Being Centre, off Audlett Drive, each Sunday at 10:15 am. Their form of worship is to sit in silence unless inspired to say something. On occasions 2 or 3 people may share something fairly short during the hour. On other occasions the hour passes in silence.
Since the Peace Declaration of 1661 an important part of Quaker Faith has been the ‘denial of all outward wars and strife’.
The exhibition has a display showing one Abingdon Friend who was a Conscientious Objector in WW1, and tells of the Friends Ambulance Service and the Friends Relief Service, set up to give Concientous Objectors an alternative to Military Service. Quakers were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 recognising their long standing commitment to reconciliation, and their relief work during and after the second world war.