With half term under way and hot weather forecast, the Splash Pad area in Abbey Meadows received a pressure wash today in preparation for busy days ahead. The open-air pool has not yet reopened, but nearby Hinksey Outdoor Pool is already open for swimmers.
AbiBinIt Community Litter Pick: Marcham Road
Saturday 23rd May, 10am–12pm
At MG Heritage Park on Marcham Road.
AbiBinIt’s latest community litter pick takes place around the Marcham Road area. Litter pickers and equipment will be provided, and newcomers are very welcome. Children should be accompanied by a responsible adult, and suitable clothing and footwear are recommended.
The group says: “If you’ve never litter picked with us then make May your month to change that.”
Abingdon Freewheeling Annual Cycling Festival
Saturday 24th May, 9.30am–12.30pm
Starting from Abingdon Market Place.
Abingdon Freewheeling will be hosting its annual cycling festival, with a range of rides leaving at different times during the morning.
The rides will finish at Loose Cannon Brewing Co. for drinks and food. The festival aims to encourage cycling in the community, and all are welcome. No booking is required, although spaces on rides are limited.
Come for a Bank Holiday Walk
Sunday 25th May, 10am–1pm
A chance to explore Abingdon and the surrounding area on foot, either through one of five guided walks or by following a self-guided trail.
Trail leaflets will be available on the day, with around a dozen different walks covering a range of interests and ages.
(Also the day of the Harwell Feast)
AbiBinit Sat 23rd, Cycle festival Sun 24th (not Sat 24th), Bank Holiday walk Mon 25th (not Sun 25th). Last one actually has a red sticker saying “Monday 25th May”. I think someone, Backstreeter, needs to go to Specsaver. 😉
In the past the Abbey Meadows Open Air Pool used to open on this Bank Holiday Saturday for around 100 days until early September. Several years ago the pool was refurbished at great expense and then shortly afterwards the Vale and Town Councils declared they could not afford to open it for longer than the 6 week school holidays, less than half the original period. Despite active campaigning by the Friends group and suggestions as to how money could be saved, the councils refused to budge and we remain saddled with this shorter period until well into the future. I am sure that with a bit of imagination a way could be found to open the pool for the full season. How is it that Hinksey, Wallingford etc. can do this and Abingdon not? The pool is well used by regulars even when we’re not in a heatwave. Our lovely pool is wasted while the gates remain closed, a clear indictment of our so-called caring community administrators. I wonder what Reform would do if they ran the council?
The rationale is that the outdoor pool doesn’t make money.
The street lights don’t make money.
The road signs don’t make money.
Margaret Brown Gardens doesn’t make money.
Schools doesn’t make money.
The flower beds don’t make money.
The market square doesn’t make money.
The play parks don’t make money.
Cycle paths don’t make money.
The weir doesn’t make money.
Emptying the bins doesn’t make money.
Ock Valley walk doesn’t make money.
PCSOs don’t make money.
Abingdon in Bloom doesn’t make money.
Heritage day doesn’t make money.
Visitor centre doesn’t make money.
…but the outdoor pool; the outdoor pool has to make money 🤷♂️
But the pool is a commercial venture that the public pay for directly. You have listed services that are largely paid for out of various taxes, some of them obligatory, or are run by volunteers. The pool is already subsidised out of council tax. I don’t personally have a problem with that as I love it, but, if it was increased to cover the earlier opening, when it was largely unused, a lot of people would complain.
Hinksey, Wallingford etc do not have the competition of close by indoor pools. They are also heavily subsidised,
Last year Abingdon was opened early on a use it or lose it basis. I went fairly regularly but it was very under used on weekdays, even on hot days. Once I was the only one there for around 30 minutes. So guess what, we lost it.
I very much doubt that Reform would agree to even greater subsidies than it already gets – it doesn’t even cover itself on days it is full.
The pool could open earlier if GLL chose to do so. Any earlier opening would be entirely at GLL’s own risk and cost, not the council’s (VWHDC).
In practical terms, it simply requires a change to the contract to specify an extended opening period—for example, from the Spring Bank Holiday through to mid‑September. At present, the contract only requires the pool to operate during the six-week summer holiday.
The justification for the current arrangement is that this is when it is “most commercially viable”. However, GLL is a not-for-profit charitable organisation, which uses income from profitable activities to support services that are not. The pool does not need to be self-sustaining—in fact, it already operates at a loss to GLL, which is manageable within their wider business model. Opening a few weeks earlier, for the benefit of the local community, is therefore a matter for negotiation rather than a financial barrier for the council.
If there were additional costs—such as heating—this should be considered in the context that not all council-supported services are intended to generate profit; many exist for wider community benefit.
That said, recent behaviour suggests that heating may not even be essential. For example, this weekend people are already swimming in the river. Setting aside water quality concerns, the river is unheated and yet has been in regular use for several weeks. It raises the question of whether heating the pool during these earlier weeks is strictly necessary, particularly if it is seen as the main obstacle.
This brings the discussion back to operating costs, which GLL is capable of absorbing within its current model.
Ultimately, where there is a will, there is a way. Unfortunately, it does not feel as though there is sufficient will at present, which is why we continue to be told there is “no way” to open the pool earlier.
A missed opportunity, really.
You are missing the point. GLL chose to open it earlier last year, advertised it extensively, yet very underused.
Yes, it makes a loss even when fully used and that is maneagable, but not when only a handful of people are using it day after day.
When the contract comes up for renewal the council will need to decide just how much they (and therefore the local populace) want to subsidise it out of council tax – many non users would complain, personally I would be happy with it (within reason).
Kelly it also comes down to ADVERTISING and COMMUNICATION from the council etc. Who knew it was open early? Who knew it was use it or loose it? Who is Abingdon and surrounding areas is actually still unaware that there even is an outdoor pool?
Of course there are fewer people during the weekdays as people have *ahem jobs. However, the opening times mean that people are unable to make use of it in the morning before work or after work. Not all pools are always busy – the busy times pay for the quiet times
It was all across facebook including all the local community pages, and included all the arguments, pros and cons, being mentioned on this site, for weeks. Also on and in local newspapers, plus the council website.
I know not everyone is on fb, but would surely be made aware of it by those who are. The phrase use it or lose was mentioned and explained repeatedly.
How else would you like/expect it to be communicated.
GLL or the local council should consider the benefits of cold water swimming especially the benefits to participants of improved mental health. If being able to swim in the Abbey pool improved just one person’s life &/or stopped them committing suicide then I would think it was a worthwhile & necessary expense.
Unfortunately the Thames river is now far too dangerous for swimming because of pollution, it’s powerful current & because the freezing cold river could cause swimmers to have heart attacks, this means local people don’t have access to safe cold/wild water swimming,
The outdoor pool should also be open after the school’s go back in September as September is often a gloriously hot month, the summer hot weather doesn’t stop just because the children go back to school.
Why on earth was so much money spent on renovating this pool only for it to be open for 6 weeks every year, it makes no sense at all. People don’t want to swim in an indoor pool when the weather is as glorious as it is now.
Could the GLL give their members the choice of swimming at both their indoor pool or the outdoor pool to see if it’s just the membership commitment that keeps people going to the indoor pool?
excellent point.
This is well within the GLL remit/business model and could be easily achieved, if tehre were the will to do it. There isn’t.
I think you may have misunderstood my point, Kelly. Opening earlier doesn’t impact the ratepayer due to the existing contract arrangements and GLL’s business model.
As for concerns about ratepayers complaining—since when has that stopped the council from acting? In any case, as I’ve already said, there’s no immediate cost to the ratepayer. And even if there were, that shouldn’t be the only consideration. The outdoor pool is an asset for the whole town, not just for GLL. Its value lies in attracting people into Abingdon more broadly.
There’s plenty of scope to build around that. For example, initiatives like free parking in the afternoons during May–June, or small promotions with local cafés for ticket holders, could help drive footfall and make better use of the facility. These sorts of ideas aren’t especially complex—I would have expected there to be capacity to explore them.
More broadly, the “use it or lose it” approach—based on a single season—feels rather short-sighted. It would be more reasonable to assess the pool over a longer period, perhaps five years, to give it a fair chance to establish consistent demand. After all, how long should something like this be given to gain traction?
It’s also worth considering that people who intended to use the earlier opening this year, based on last year’s experience, have instead found the goalposts moved. That kind of inconsistency makes it harder to build long-term support.
Ultimately, it still comes down to “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” At present, though, it’s difficult to have confidence that the right priorities are driving decisions—or that there is the will to make it work; or find ways that might.
I thought this thread might like to read this report re 2025 season.
Last years press release – best attendance in many years and very strong community feedback at the Health Fest in September.
https://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/leisure/record-breaking-season-at-abbey-meadow-pool/
That’s very interesting, thank you Moira.
Sadly it more earnestly brings in to question why they wont open it again from mid June this year, yet alone from spring bank holiday (all at no cost to the rate payer).
So they opened early,got a good response from the public leader to their highest visitor numbers……and learned from this how……!
So, they doubled the number of visitors to the Abbey pool to 30,000 people last year yet still won’t open the pool earlier this year?
Sorry but that doesn’t make good business sense at all!
What makes the GLL /Council think that this year won’t see yet another vast increase in swimmers?
After all the temperatures are breaking all previous records & Abingdon now has a lot more homes around it & people working from home? A captive audience I would say!
I do miss Abingdon