The Fitzharris Arms closed down last December. Contractors have been busy for the last couple of months converting the building into a Tesco express which is due to open this month.
Not far away down the Wootton Road is the Tesco owned One-Stop store. They operate as a separate business – without ‘Tesco’ in their name – and with a different range of products. So Tesco express and One-Stop will be local competitors.
The last week has been Christian Aid week. On Sunday we had a video at Trinity about Christian Aid. It showed a coffee growing area establishing a co-operative, with help from Christian Aid. It allowed them to process the coffee themselves and ensure they got a decent price for their work rather than most of the money going to middlemen.
Today a lady came round collecting door to door for Christian Aid. So I was quite happy to give thinking that our Abingdon community was working with another community to make this world a better place.
Friends of Radley Lakes were there. They were joined by Pat Shepheard Moon who donated a painting of a Water Vole to be raffled by the Friends.
Parents and staff of Kingfisher School were also there to sell things in aid of special equipment for the school. Kingfisher offers specialist help for pupils with special needs living in Abingdon, Didcot, Wallingford, Cumnor and surrounding villages. It was also a chance to have a bit of out of school fun together.
We only needed the Kingfisher Canoe Club and there would have been three Kingfisher groups. The third group were the army.
Every day except Sunday the Wilsham Road is an all day car park. There is just a five minute walk to town from this road. Parking there avoids commuters getting stuck in any early morning traffic jam into town, and it is free. But you have to feel for the residents who loose their scenic view across the river, and parking for their visitors.