Children’s Air Ambulance closing

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The Children’s Air Ambulance shop in Abingdon will be closing permanently on Thursday 6th October 2022 at 5pm. They thank customers and say the Air Ambulance helicopters continue to operate from Oxford. Their nearest shop is Headington and people can still support them through their website.

Since the Abingdon store opened in 2018, total sales have generated over £313,000 which equates to nearly 90 potentially lifesaving transfer missions. It has also received over 13,000 bags of donated goods.

Added Ingredients update

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A notice in the window of Added Ingredients says that the shop will not be reopening fully in October, as planned, but may open for a stock sale (cash only). For a long time, Jill Carver has been one of the mainstays of the town centre, not only running Added Ingredients but also chairing the Chamber of Commerce. There is more information on the Added Ingredients website.

Progress on hotel

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The frame of the new 85-bedroom hotel on the site of the old Tesco Garden Centre is underway.

Parts of the site are vulnerable to flooding. A flood-survey was done before development which says the building itself will be in flood zones 1 and 2. Part of the site area that will not be built on is flood zone 3a.

zone 1: less than 0.1% chance of flooding in any year
zone 2: 0.1% – 1% chance of flooding in any year
zone 3a: greater than 1% chance of flooding in any year
zone 3b: greater than 3.3% chance of flooding in any year

From the flood maps in the survey, it looks as if areas of the Tesco carpark, such as the area between the hotel and the filling station and access road are in zone 3b. The last widespread flooding of the Tesco Carpark and access road was probably February 2014 (pictured below).

Celebrating 50 years of the United Reformed Church

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This morning at Trinity Church in Abingdon we celebrated 50 years since the founding of the United Reformed Church or URC. The URC was created by the union of the Presbyterian Church of England and the Congregational Church in England and Wales.

The Congregational Church in Abingdon was where Ask now is.

Timeline
1700 – Erection of the first Congregational meeting house in the sheep market. Most of this still stands today and was a building about 40 feet square. The roof was upheld by two ships’ masts.

1862 – The Congregational Church was extended in the Square in 1862. Part of the old meeting house became a schoolroom and part was incorporated into the new church sanctuary. Three cottages were taken down and rebuilt in Spring Road to make more room.

1968 – The Congregational Church closed its building in the town centre and moved in for joint services with Trinity Church, Conduit Road, on an informal basis.

1972 – The Congregational Church nationally united with the Presbyterians to form the United Reformed Church.

1978 – The signing of sharing agreements between Trinity Methodist Church and Abingdon United Reformed Church formed the current church.

In 1972 it was hoped that the forming of the URC would be a catalyst for bringing more churches together. That has not happened nationally but has happened locally. The Church in Abingdon was formed in 1992 and allows 14 Abingdon churches to work and worship together. Trinity is a Methodist, URC union. The Peachcroft Christian Centre is an Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, and URC union.