Red Nose Day in Abingdon

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Thanks to Derek for the Oxfam pictures …
Red Nose Day
The district manager of Oxfam started off in Banbury and cycled round all the Oxfam shops in his patch for Red Nose Day. He can be recognised by the cyclist outfit.
Red Nose Day
The staff of Oxfam in Abingdon all entered into spirit of the day which involves making people laugh then asking them for their money.
Red Nose Day
Since starting about 25 years ago Red Nose Day has raised over a billion pounds for charity.
Red Nose Day
Elsewhere in town Stevo, The Accousic Jukebox, was playing requests from Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Tom Waites and others songsmiths not usually known for their comic touch.

Annual Parish Meeting 2015

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Annual Parish Meeting
At this meeting, Town Council committee chairs reported back on what the town council had been doing in the last year. Here are some bits and pieces that caught my attention …
Annual Parish Meeting
The Finance and General Purposes Committee recommended that, as the current town centre traffic wardens are retiring in September, the responsibility for monitoring Residents Parking is returned to the County Council. The scheme was introduced in 1994 to allow residents to park near their homes. The current wardens have provided an excellent service. The Committee feel council staff are overstretched and so are not sure they can carry on with this service. The final decision is for the full Town Council.

The Amenities Committee reported another successful Fun and Music in the Parks in 2014. Tickets go on sale for the next Music in the Park on Monday.

There is an estimated ten years space left in the cemetery, and it will take 5 years to set up a new one, and so this is becoming a more pressing concern.

The Town Council is still waiting for Tenders from Cinema Operators before finally deciding on plans for the Guildhall – although the closing date has been set as August 31st 2015. The council are still looking for the best place to site the Information Office. One possibility is the Museum basement.
Annual Parish Meeting
Throwing Buns, under new ownership, will not be running Buns in the Basement anymore, and so The Mousehole Cafe could be returning.
Annual Parish Meeting
The Town Council got an award for good use of Heraldry. Here are the current Deputy Mayor, Councillor Helen Pighills, and The Mayor, Councillor Angela Lawrence, with the award.

The Vale District Council will be considering the new plans for the Drayton Road estate next Wednesday, when Taylor Wimpey put forward their own plans, rather than those inherited from the original applicant.

Choose Abingdon is no longer supported financially by the District Council or County Council and the Manager has left to take up a post with the Town Council. The Town Council is still supporting the Choose Abingdon committee with £10K next year. That is so that the work on the Business Improvement District (BID) proposal can go to a vote in the summer.

New bus shelters are coming on Marcham Road. The County Council pays for them, and he Town Council maintains them.

The Old Coal Yard

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The Old Coal Yard
Near the end of Audlett Drive
The Old Coal Yard
you will find  Barrow Hills Recreation Area, a place that has not seen much council investment in the last few decades. It has a rundown BMX Track featured in 2006 , an area for football, and a very uneven car park. The area is mostly used by dog walkers who can set out in the direction of Thrupp Lane.
The Old Coal Yard
One route passes through an area of very regular woodland with the exception of one bent tree,
The Old Coal Yard
then across a field with some larger trees to the south, and then skirts an Old Coal Yard (in Radley Parish) just before Thrupp Lane. I am guessing that this was the local coal distribution centre run by the coal board.

I read in the History of Ock Street that T Enoch & Son, of 75 Ock Street, was the last coal merchant in Abingdon. They closed in the 1990s having operated for about 100 years. In the 1970s there were three coal merchants in Abingdon. Go back to the 1960s and most families would have a coal storage area, and took a regular delivery of coal.

Blight and Mites attack Abingdon Cemetery

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Blight and Mites attack Abingdon Cemetery
Anybody who has been to the Spring Gardens Cemetery recently may have noticed that the hedge round the existing garden of remembrance has been removed, and a fence is being put up to screen the area from the road.
Blight and Mites attack Abingdon Cemetery
There have also been quite a few trees chopped down in the cemetery itself.

As I understand it the trees had a blight, and the hedge was being destroyed by mites that sucked the sap and destroyed the roots. The plan is to replace the trees with: Rowan, Silver Birch, and Flowering Cherry. And a new hedge is already beginning to grow.
Blight and Mites attack Abingdon Cemetery
The other change this winter is he construction of a path to the ‘new’ garden of remembrance.

By the way if you have questions about blight, mites, or any other matter, the Annual Parish Meeting takes place on Wednesday, 11th March, 7:00pm-9:00pm in the Guildhall (Roysse Room).

Each year the Town Council organises the Annual Parish Meeting as an opportunity for residents to raise matters which specifically affect the town. The Council also takes the opportunity to provide an update on its work during the past year.