Thanks to Jane for this …
In Abingdon Market Square Abingdon, from 10.30 to 12.30 a.m, there will be a shoe cleaning event for the local community – also serving tea, coffee, chocolate eggs and mini hot cross buns!
Everything is absolutely free and is supported by Our Lady and St Edmunds Catholic Church, Abingdon and Abingdon Community Church.
They will also be giving away leaflets detailing all of the Easter Church services in Abingdon, and answering any questions people may have.
Ever so slightly off topic but relevant at this time of year doesanyone else feel the residents of the Knowl are not being very well cared for?
Every time I’m in town (most days) I see a man in his 50s wandering around,clutching a can of beer and dressed in rags, today he’s sat on a bench on the market place with another, equally disheveled soul, staring into oblivion. Surely he/they deserve better care than this?
Thoughts please peeps?
I agree Ck2 but perhaps as is often the way nowadays they are allowed a certain amount of slack to live their own lives. This may be the wrong way to describe it but as they are in many ways trapped a little freedom may mean a lot to them as individuals.
I see where you’re coming from Badger but that’s no life, I think our less fortunate and vulnerable are poorly served, we spend and send zillions on overseas aid, most of which is miss spent yet we ignore those in our back yard who need it just as much, if not more,
Very true Ck2 I’m sure what we’re seeing is the result of a lack of funding or if questions are asked I’m sure that would be the excuse. It’s an awkward conundrum, complain about them too much and they’ll be kept in or those responsible for their welfare will be told off, equally not mentioning anything at all brings the kind of sighting you mention in the Market Place or the Vineyard. I don’t fully know what the answer is here but like most things it probably comes down to money, asking for ‘more’ would just generate an Oliver’esque answer.
Indeed Badger indeed, isn’t this the unfortunate ( I nearly said unacceptable) side of capitalism? Business in the form of the newly created B I D are raising hundreds of thousands of pounds to improve footfall and profits but in the heart of the town it appears a few are being sidelined ?
So much for shoe shinning and Maundy Thursday, what hope these poor souls, who cares ?
This just an observation not a view but I’m sure many would just say at least these people have a life, in the Middle Ages they would have been ridiculed, in Victorian times locked up in an Asylum, gassed or worse by the Nazi’s, modern drugs mean they at least have a life of sorts although it doesn’t look all that comfortable to me. I’m sure many in Abingdon don’t know of the Knowl even though they drive past it every day. Who cares? I’m sure the accountant does! Capitalism, I wonder if anyone’s bought them an Easter Egg.
Not another snipe at the overseas aid budget! Less than 1 penny in the annual budget. And far less than that against annual GDP.
We do, in fact, spend far more on those in need in this country (quite appropriately) than we do on those abroad. Can we really not see that both need defending?
The political arguments about what “they” (government, local authorities etc) should/shouldnt do will I am sure rumble on for years, but there are plenty of ways in which we can provide practical help for those who need it. Whether we like it or not, the government is increasingly turning to the voluntary sector to provide the support they are unable/unwilling to and there are numerous charities providing that support – MIND in Abingdon do a wonderful job for those with mental illness, Age UK for the elderly, CRISIS in Oxford for the homeless and the unemployed, CAB for everyone, the Food Bank. various church-based the list goes on and on. Many of those need volunteers, all welcome financial support so, to paraphrase JFK “think about what you can do for them…” not just about what other people/organisations should be doing.
Hester & PPJS I accept all you say and concur about the wonderful job the voluntary sector does, my gripe is aimed at the Knowl, how can they purport to be any kind of care centre when they turn their guests out every and all day in such an appalling state ? Their clothes, or rather rags, are filthy, they stink, as for their personal hygiene, well it would seem this goes a miss for weeks on end, filthy hair, unshaven, I dread to think what their rooms are like?
Just wondering Capt K how you know these people are from the Knowl? Might they not be homeless – or among the many people who “fall between the cracks” and get little or no support? If you are sure they are residents of the Knowl, have you taken it up either with the operators (Richmond Fellowship) or the County Council, on whose behalf it is run?
First on my to do list of next week H,