There was a Meeting of Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council this evening.
One councillor did ask why the front page for the meeting did not say Abingdon-on-Thames yet, and another councillor asked why a letter sent out by the council had just Abingdon on the letter head. The Town Clerk explained that the idea was NOT to incur cost as part of the name change and old stationary supplies are still being used up.
Anyway here are a few things picked up from the meeting and the meeting papers …
The Mayor will be hosting a charity Big Brew on 12th October.
Of the £5K set aside for the olympics only £2K got spent so the remaining £3K will go into the grants pot. It is hoped sports organisations will apply and so increase community involvement in sport, possibly disabled sport.
The Union Jack flags that have graced the town this year will be coming down next week as the Paralympics are over, and some flags are looking a little ragged. They do need to be down before the Fair in any case.
£200 will be used to purchase purse bells to counter purse thefts. The town council PCSO will be asked to distribute these purse bells – they ring when anybody tries to steal your purse.
The £150 request for a grant from the Church in Abingdon Twinning Group had been referred to full Town Council. The Grants Committee felt the grant application did not give enough detail how the money would be used, but others wanted it looked at again and so it got a second chance. The application was intended to help finance a recent visit of 15 people from our twin town Schongau. After a long discussion during which almost every councilor spoke it was referred back to the Grants committee – asking for them to find out what it would be used for – then decide.
There has been quite a lot of negative comments about the lack of lift to the museum upper floors so a statement will be made available explaining the lengths the Town Council made to try to make this happen.
Income from roof visits is good.
A resident in the Brewery Development is worried about some leaning trees in the Ock Valley Walk, and so further inspection of leaning trees will be undertaken.
It looks as if the Town Council will be financing community notice boards in central locations such as one at the Peachcroft shops.
The new stone lockers for cremated remains in the Spring Gardens cemetery will cost people £1,000 for 10 years, and £1,500 for 20 years. This is the average price for such a service.
Regarding the Guildhall, a manager has just been appointed. A budget has also been allocated for improving the Roysse Court Gardens.
Money has also been set aside to try to investigate widening the corridor between the Guildhall Reception and the Mayor’s Parlour.
The Council are starting the process of looking for an architect to develop ideas put forward for the newer part of the Guildhall. This is to develop a flexible studio arts facility including a cinema. But a lot more else needs doing in the detailed design brief – such as improving access and rehousing the Town Council Information service.
Councillors were worried about a document issued by Central Government called “Localising Support for Council Tax”. It could benefit principal authorities like County and District but not town and parish councils in its present form. The Town Council will write a letter asking for the status quo in terms of council tax raising powers for town and parishes to be maintained.
I hope they also gave congratulations to town councillor Sam Bowring who has had a baby recently.
Purse bells? For whom, pray?
Also, it appears that one of Parkinson’s Law operates: “The amount of time spent in committee discussing an item of expenditure is in inverse proportion to the sum of money involved”
David – Charlotte was indeed welcomed to Abingdon-on-Thames, and the officers and councillors present toasted her health and also baby Eve who is the recently arrived granddaughter/neice to cllrs Badcock, Badcock and Badcock.
Congratulation Sam and Neil, Rachel and Leon
Well done to the town clerk for reminding some of the councillors that changing the town name to ‘upon thames’ was not to incur any uneccesary costs.
Amazing how quickly some promises are ‘forgotten’ isnt it.
The summons / agenda looks to be printed and it would seem odd to bulk print the logo / town name in advance on (100’s of) sheets, store them and then print the meeting name date / time at a later date.
It may have been a quick thinking answer from the Clerk to a point scoring question that does no more than identify a simple and honest oversight, thus avoiding unproductive debate…
I understood the Town Clerk’s comments to relate specifically to the pre-printed stationery. I think Chris is correct that the summons and agenda frontsheet was just an oversight.
What happens after the 10 years or 20 years you paid for,??
And does that include any monument insurance?.
At the moment the older garden of rememberance is fast filling up. I have recently renewed a 5 year monument Insurance for a very reasonable cost. (Just for the stone ‘marker’).
Col.
Hi Col – from what I understand it’s as follows, with exact actions depending on preferences of surviving family.
– family can extend the lease
– family can retrieve ashes to disperse/retain as they wish
– family can request, or if no family can be identified, the ashes be scattered in tge garden of remembrance
There is no monument as such as the plaque is part of the sanctum 2000 unit itself and is included in the prices quoted above I believe
Hope this helps – if I’ve misunderstood I’m sure
… Someone will correct me (hit fire too early – whoops)
I think that the 10/20 year leases are quite interesting. I used to be a member of the Churches Funerals Group – a body (excuse the pun) that had regular contact with all sections of the funerals industry and with central government.
With the decreasing amount of burial space available nationally (not everybody wants cremation), the question was asked, “Would you be in favour of re-use of burial spaces, if managed with care and respect?” There was a large measure of support for the idea.
However, when the question was asked with a time span attached, reactions were very different.
Should graves be re-used after 100 years? Most were happy with this?
Should graves be re-used after 50 years? Considerable reservations were expressed.
Should graves be re-used after 25 years? Almost total opposition.
Ten or twenty year leases (for memorials) may throw up similar differentials of approval. I would love to know what the research is on this. I am not sure that it has been done; it certainly ought to be before decisions of this kind are made.
Col, I didnt realise the stone masons were not only coining it in on over priced grave stones but they are selling insurance on them. What exactly are they insuring your stone marker against? Paul, I would think re using a grave (which surely would involve digging up a body!?) would recieve a very different response than re using a stone box that ashes were kept in. We have a similer agreement with my parents at the cremetorium where its the norm and although expensive im not worried that i dont own it and one day someone else will be in there.
Paul – my understanding is that a fairly comprehensive review of other parish cemeteries was undertaken and these are fairly standard terms
To Native: re-use of graves does not involve digging up bodies – it may require re-siting of bones. It is fairly common in many parts of the world, where the bones are stored in ossuaries. We used to have osusaries in England (not sure about Wales and Scotland) – sometimes called “charnel houses.” As far as insurance goes, I think the greatest risk would be vandalism and the cost of making good that kind of damage.
To Iain: I am sure that a review would have been undertaken; I was interested in “user response”. As to “fairly standard terms”, that begs a whole series of other questions that it’s probably not best to explore here! Thanks for the information.
Native,
They insure the ‘Headstone’ marker.
Payout in the event of Vandalism, breakage, or theft….
Marker set into the ground where parents ashes are ‘inturred’ (In a casket I think). I think I paid for the policy when I purchased it from Abingdon Stonemason.
this is a 5 year renewal.
Col.
It is the 10th anniversary of dads death, (and 7th for Mum) got me thinking.
Read a lot of the Sanctum 2000,some councils have used this system for a while now. Lambeth where we used to live.
Room for 2 remains, in a Marble Sanctum with polished granite facia, inscription/photo plaque included in the cost.
(much the same as the Granite Marker I purchased)
Times vary with different councils, 30 years in some cases, after which ashes are ‘placed’ in a Flower Garden . (dug into the earth).