Thankyou to Daniel for this view of Abingdon’s Abbey Meadow open air pool.
The L-shaped pool had a £1.3 million refurbishment and was back open in 2018 and 2019 and very popular.
Like other open air pools it did not open in 2020.
The White Horse Leisure & Tennis Centre is open, as is the Hinksey open air pool, in Oxford, but the opening date for the Abbey Meadow pool is yet to be announced.
So we are trying to be patient.
Meanwhile the play area is open and very popular and people have been using the space of the park.
There has also been a litter bug detective trail.
There is a petition going around about this for people to sign.
The Council say they want visitors to come to Abingdon yet the outdoor pool, in one of the best locations for an outdoor pool in the country, has not opened and no sign of any work being done to prepare it for opening.
Petition for the pool https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/open-abbey-meadow-outdoor-pool-now?source=rawlink&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_source=rawlink&share=aed099c2-df3c-4867-94f4-95fe12dd05f4&fbclid=IwAR1NyF4zLI8ogfEGUP6d60tlRlElOFNA0G2klRPsUozTCdSlDEiql3yHWSY
The splash pad is closed and the kiosk is closed, such a waste. These attractions bring large numbers into town
VWHDC has made all sorts of pledges about “active” or “healthy” communities” and this flies in the face of those. The main excuse seems to be cost – but a bit of creative thinking (longer hours, stay open in September, make more of the kiosk etc etc) would surely help. If Covid safety (eg in changing rooms) is an issue, close the changing rooms: people go to the beach or river without them, they could do the same here.
I believe the outdoor pool has reopened in Wallingford, I don’t understand why the Abingdon one hasn’t. Given the weather at present it seems rather a waste for it to be sat there not doing anything.
While I am not a swimmer, can I ask what is the position with the Tennis and Leisure Centre pool. It has always seemed as if the Local Council was trying to encourage people to only use the indoor pool and didn’t really care much about the outdoor pool, continually quoting cost statistics etc.The Council seems to have spent quite a bit improving the Abbey Meadow facilities. It would be nice to get that area fully operational as a Town attraction as it used to be back in the day.
If it takes 100 years for a tin can to rust away, how long before the open air pool disappears?
I heartily endorse what has been said. Wallingford Pool is run by the same council and has the same operator GLL/”Better”. Any safety considerations here would be exactly the same there. So why has Abingdon not opened?? We have an (almost) brand new pool and it is a tragedy it is not open this lovely weather. It would certainly be paying for itself.
Anne D : Could you post the link to the petition please?
Nick Bell has posted the link to the petition – se above
Those complaining might want to look at the Council website for an update: https://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/vale-of-white-horse-district-council/sports-and-activities/leisure-facilities/
But that won’t fit most people’s agendas…
Thanks for the link Ray.
Whilst it is useful to read that The Veil is eager to save money by not spending so as it has money to not spend elsewhere, next to the article also in today’s Herald is the great fanfare that The Veil are one of only a few councils with money. Which is odd.
Maybe if GLL can’t run the pool at a profit then another company could be offered the opportunity? When the pool has been open, it’s not as if GLL have made much of an effort…
Let us hope that when The Veil builds its expensive shiny new headquarters in Didcot (as opposed to using Abbey House in Abingdon that exists already) they will be in a far better position to administer the facilities they don’t open and continue saving more money!
I wonder how much it costs to turn the water on at the meadow? No doubt rather a lot more than necessary…which is why that is also not on either.
Still…at least the lodge hill interchange is coming along nicely.
If this blog, which I have read for several years, is going to degenerate into political sniping and general attacking of any public body a la the Oxford Mail then I shall not be visiting it anymore.
vale! – veil would be a piece of fabric worn over the face.
Rudi – it’s a brilliantly witty satirical pun, which has only become cleverer and more high-larious on each of the million occasions that it’s been repeated.
Thank you David.
Drinks cans are generally made of aluminium so don’t rust at all, ever.
I used the language of rust because that is what appears on the notice in Alistair’s photographs. Aluminium doesn’t rust, but it does corrode. My point was ironic – try to catch the pun!
To be fair to the current Team running the Vale, a previous “Team” leased out the New Abbey House to the Oxfordshire County Council Social Services function, so the Vale can not return to use it and therefore have no option but to stay in Milton Park or build a new HQ elsewhere – as an Abingdon resident I wish that this was not the case, but it is.
Yes indeed that is so. Before the all too common easy lashout at THE council people need to realise the present cabinet has been in control for just over 2 years. Many of the mind blowingly incompetent decisions were made by the previous lot. That`s not an excuse it`s a fact.The present cabinet has in my opinion made better decisions and has had to make the best if the mess they were left. They also appear to be better at actually trying to make sure that senior officers actually do their job,