Monthly Archives: January 2020

Proposed Dental Surgery with fine views of the River Thames

Proposed Dental Surgery
There are some new planning application notices outside the Old Gaol riverside entrance.
Proposed Dental Surgery
This part of the Old Gaol development started off as a shop and 2 cafes, then local opinion suggested that a shop would be superfluous and the developers changed that to 3 restaurant / cafes. Only Costa Coffee has so far moved in, and so now one unit could become a dental surgery with views onto the River Thames.
Proposed Dental Surgery
Looking at the plans the glass fronted area could become treatment room 1. People will be able to watch for King Fishers as they get their teeth crowned.
Proposed Dental Surgery
The converted cottages on Bridge Street could still become a Cafe / Bar.

Building Work in January 2020

Building Work in January
The roofs of the new Churchill retirement flats have been tiled.
Building Work in January
The hoardings show how enjoyable retirement could be. Show apartments will be available to look round in the Spring.
Building Work in January
It’s been a warm winter, and the daffodils in front of the Fairacre Retail Park sign have got an early start.
Building Work in January
Looking across the car park, Homebase and Vineys and A&H have been demolished and some of the old concrete has been smashed and pulverised into piles.
Building Work in January
The retained material will help replace gravel that would otherwise need quarrying and bringing to the site.

Town Centre Day Centre looking for a new use

Town Centre Day Centre
The former Charter Day Centre (the downstairs part) has been empty since it closed as a Day Centre for people with Learning Disabilities in October 2017. Before that it served as a Day Centre for the elderly until 2008.
Town Centre Day Centre
Suggested uses by the estate agent are educational or as a surgery. It is next door to the library and Malthouse Surgery and multi story carpark.

It would also make a good day centre. The rent is too high though for a community group to take it on.

Church in Abingdon Quiz

Church in Abingdon Quiz
The Church in Abingdon annual quiz this year was at St Michael’s Church. St Michael’s still have the crib and Christmas decorations up. They will remove the decorations at Candlemas on February 2nd at the end of their Epiphany-tide. They also put the decorations up very late on Christmas Eve.
Church in Abingdon Quiz
The church seats had been cleared and the church had tables and chairs for the different church teams. The person asking the questions was an ex teacher from Larkmead who taught our son Religious Education. He remembers her well, and puts down his enduring curiosity about the unanswerable questions of religion to her teaching. She was a very lively and entertaining hostess.

We started with picture quizzes while people gathered: one was naming properties round the Monopoly Board, the other was recognising famous people as children.

Then there were eight rounds on different topics.

There were two rounds you would not have found at pub quizzes. One was the fiendishly difficult round on women in the bible. For most teams it was the lowest scoring round. (Name one of the daughters of Job in the bible? They were: Jemimah, Keziah and Keren-Happuch).
Church in Abingdon Quiz
Then there was a much easier guess the hymn tune with Glynn Butt playing the first line of each hymn on the piano. Most teams got 10 out of 10 for hymns and scored between 1-6 for women in the bible.

At the break there was a wide selection of cakes, and savouries on offer with tea and coffee, for which you could make a donation. The people of St Michael’s did us proud in hosting the evening.

The final quiz round was about Abingdon’s Twin Towns. One of our team was part of the Abingdon and District Twinning Society and that helped us a lot. There was also a Twinning Society quiz the night before at Preston Road Community Centre.

Here are the questions we had on twinning for anybody interested. I will put answers in the comments unless somebody beats me to it.

Abingdon’s twin town Argentan in France is in what region?
What fabric is Argentan well known for producing?
The twin town St Niklaas in Belgium is in what region?
What famous map maker has a museum in St Niklaas?
The twin town Colmar in France is in what region?
What product is Colmar famous for?
The twin town Schongau in Germany is in what region?
What town near Schongau has a famous passion play this year?
The twin town Lucca in Italy is in what region?
What famous composer was born in Lucca?
Church in Abingdon Quiz
At the end the scores were totalled and the Trinity team just pipped the team of Christ Church in Long Furlong by 1/2 point. The team who won the women in the bible round get to host next year’s quiz. I think that is Abingdon Baptist Church but am not sure. Team’s chose cryptic names. (Update – Peachcroft are hosting it next year).