Monthly Archives: January 2015

The large hedge, hiding the college, could soon be coming down

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Abingdon College
External refurbishment of the Abingdon and Witney College D Block is nearing completion.
Abingdon College
The large hedge, hiding the college, could soon be coming down.

A lot of the rest of the college has already been rebuilt or refurbished. There is a fairly new art block; and more recently engineering buildings, and a vehicle maintenance workshop have been added.
Abingdon College
I found a picture of The North Berkshire College of Further Education, as it was called in 1967, on the ATV Television archive site.

The Short Film shows some mums doing an introduction to teaching course; and Mr Comely, the first ever college principal – appointed in 1963 – being interviewed about the course.

Mr Comely retired from the college in 1986, and then became a governor.

The College was renamed as Abingdon College after Abingdon was moved into Oxfordshire in 1974. Then in 2001 the college merged with Witney College to become Abingdon and Witney College. And the hedge has kept growing.

New Proprietor at 15 High Street (West Side)

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15 High Street
Work has begun to fit out the shop making up the west side of 15 High Street, in Abingdon.

15 High Street was The Lion Hotel until the mid 1940s. The premises was wide enough to make 2 or 3 large shops with restaurant or offices above. The west side of number 15 became Woolworths until about 1970. Since then it has been a Home Charm Ltd, Texas Discount Store, FADS, B-Wise and lately QC.

The new shop proprietor, called ‘Savers’, say on their web site “we aim to be the most competitively priced health & beauty products and household goods retailer on the High Street.”
15 High Street
They are recruiting: Sales Assistant and Assistant Manager.

Bring Pooh Sticks to Abingdon in 2015

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Bring Pooh Sticks to Abingdon
The World Pooh Sticks Championship have been held a few miles downstream from Abingdon, at Day’s Lock, since 1983. The competition has grown and the organisers are looking for a new home. They require: a bridge with room for six competitors; over a river with a moderate flow at all times; where there is no risk of hitting passing boats. The site also needs nearby parking for over 300 vehicles, and room for side entertainments.
Bring Pooh Sticks to Abingdon
At Abingdon Bridge there is plenty of room for parking and side entertainments, and the flow is moderate. The main objection might be that competitors would have to cross a busy road to see their sticks re-emerge the other side.
Bring Pooh Sticks to Abingdon
We play pooh sticks on the River Ock near Abingdon town centre.
Bring Pooh Sticks to Abingdon
But the current here is too extreme for a world championship. Sticks plummet over a weir and can get caught in the back tow.

But if anybody does know of a good venue in Abingdon, or way round these problems, please let the Bring Pooh Sticks to Abingdon in 2015 campaigners know. It would be very good if this event could come to Abingdon.

(Pooh Sticks was invented by A.A Milne for his son Christopher Robin – named after his son’s bear Winnie-The-Pooh. The game requires contestants to drop a stick from a bridge into a river. The competitive element is seeing whose stick crosses the finishing line first.)

Wind blown bins, Recycled Christmas Trees, and Plaster Fall

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Wind blown bins
After this Saturday morning’s recycling collection, next week’s collection should be back to the normal Thursday or Friday schedule. A lot of the empty bins got blown over after a windy night, and quite a lot of rubbish before it was collected. Our green food bin disappeared completely – probably not down to the wind.
Recycling Christmas Trees
People had started leaving trees for recycling on the Market Place fairly early, and the barriers appeared to have been blown about overnight.
Plaster Fall
Andrew sent me a picture of some plaster that had fallen in the Strollin tunnel.
Recycling Christmas Trees
Soon after 9am the big tree was cut up, and its branches were recycled along with smaller trees – from the homes of Abingdon.
Plaster Fall
By 9am Police had cordoned off the Strollin Tunnel.