Mayor of Ock Street

Here the Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers dance round a lady volunteer from the crowd.

The election of the Mayor of Ock Street happened today. This involved morris dancing all around the town. All residents of Ock Street were eligible to vote and the Ballot Box was counted at the Brewery Tap in Ock Street at 4 PM. The re-elected Mayor of Ock Street, Stuart Jackson, is shown above next to the Mayor of Abingdon.

There were visiting dancers:
Barnsley Longsword (red caps shown above)
Bampton Traditional Morris Men
Chipping Camden Morris Men.

Neighbourhood Policing

The neighbourhood policing group came to talk and listen to the people of South Abingdon at the Family Centre. They have already been out and about talking to people and doing surveys to find out what is most important to local people - NOT what the politicians set as the next police target.

Local people talked about what they saw as things that most concern them. Things like:
Speeding Cars
Bullying
Under Age drinking
Not enough for young people to do
Anti Social Behaviour
Off road motor bikes

There was no problem coming up with ideas. Then we were given red (most important) amber (next important) and green (next important) post-it notes to vote for the most important issues we wanted the police to concentrate on. The results are shown here by the area Sergeant. This evenings results were:

Anti Social Behviour
Not enough for kids to do
Under Age Drinking

This is broadly in line with other forms of consultation - where criminal damage also figured. The police will publish their results soon. A Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG) has already been set up so that police, local councillors, and local people can work together on solutions. After all the police on their own cannot provide more for young people to do.

One result of this consultation program is that the police have dispersal powers to break up groups of people involved in anti social behaviour. The dispersal order covers the area within the red line between the hours of 17:00 to 06:00, and the blue area around Southern Town Park between the hours of 22:00 to 06:00.

New Blacknall Road Development

Here are some pictures, checking on the new Banner Homes development between Blacknall Road and Caldecott Road. Not much information on the web site yet, but it won't be long, and the selling agent is Andrews.

The view of the houses behind on John Morris Road will soon be no more.

X3 and X4

Abingdon has no railway station but it does have an express bus service to Oxford. Until recently there were competing express services: the X4 run by Stagecoach and the X3 run by the Oxford Bus Company.

Stagecoach has just thrown in the towel, and now there is still an X3 and X4, and both are run by the Oxford Bus Company.

Vale Views

The Vale views is a four sided newspaper that arrives four times a year issued by the Vale of White Horse District Council. This is issue No 36 . Summer 2006. (My scanner caused the strange colouring).

In it we read:

Make a Difference - Vale Volunteer of the year
Plan for Cleaner Air in Abingdon Town Centre (to become an AQMA - Air Quality Management Area)
Vale to host first ever County Youth Games (sponsored sports events)
White horse on the web (their new tourist web site)
Get connected to banish underage boozing (new shopkeepers card scheme)
Rats have a price on their head (introduction of charging for rat catching by the vale)
Cracking down on benefit crime (the successes of the Vale fraud squad)
Neighbourhood Policing (introduction of NAGs - Neighbourhood Action Groups)
Are you entitled to Free bus journeys? (over 60 free bus passes from the Vale)
Composting Craze takes off in the Vale (brown bins for compost waste)
The youth of today and tomorrow (report from Vale Youth Forum)

Bun Throwers Beer

The civic church service this morning ( to celebrate the 450th year of Abingdon's charter) saw a parade led by the St Niklaas Flag throwers, and the Schongau and Abingdon bands. After the Bans for marriages had been read by Rev Charles Miller, the service ended with the churches in Argentan presenting banners that had been entrusted to them during a previous exchange two years ago back to the churches in Abingdon, and they in turn entrusted their own banner to Abingdon.

Afterwards, everybody paraded back up East St Helens Street, and congregated in the council chamber in the Guildhall for drinks.

On offer alongside various wines and juices, was this beer specially brewed by Greene King for the 450th anniversary, and called Bun Thrower. The beer is only a limited edition. It tasted very good but not quite so good as Old Speckled Hen. Just shows that they are missing something by no longer using Abingdon's beer brewing know-how (they took over Morland and moved production to Suffolk).

Looking at the bar code on this box it has a best before date of tomorrow.

Last night people drank the beer during a hand clapping, table banging, German beer evening. Well it was German apart from the meal being steak and kidney pie.

Near the end, both the Mayor of Abingdon and the Mayor of Schongau were invited to conduct the other town's band - a Schongau tradition.

After each tune or two we would be led in singing by the Schongau band:

Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit.

And then everybody would raise their glass and sing

Einz...Zwei...Drei...Suffa!

(which translates roughly to One...Two...Three...Down the Hatch!"