Monthly Archives: June 2018

Local Excellence Market

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Local Excellence Market
The Local Excellence Market was on the Market Place today. There are four of these a year. The last one, three months ago, was threatened by snow.
Local Excellence Market
It was the weather for strawberries and cream with Wimbledon only two days away.
Local Excellence Market
The candle, and chocolate stalls had to cancel. It was so hot that their products would have melted.
Local Excellence Market
Abingdon Country Market were there. They have a monthly market at the Salvation Army in St Helen’s Street on the 2nd Saturday of each month, and so the Local Excellence Market gave them two markets in June.
Local Excellence Market
Also lots of people enjoying the Coffee culture here in Abingdon.
Local Excellence Market
England’s last 16 match against Columbia is Tuesday evening as the World cup enters the knockout stage. The nails will be kept painted while England are still in the competition.

It will be an achievement of sorts for England to reach the quarter finals for the first time since 2006 – as remembered on this blog.

The Weekend

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The Weekend
School is out and Work is out.

For those of us that study or work from Monday to Friday, Friday evening is the high point of the week. There are now two days before study and work begin again.
The Weekend
This Friday evening in Abingdon was sunny, and there were a lot of people out having fun by the River Thames.
The Weekend
Abingdon is a big draw for people with boats.
The Weekend
The Nags Head Island in Abingdon is the place to be on a sunny Friday evening.
The Weekend
This was an under-used pub before the current owner took it over. Just shows what can be done.

Drafting Plans for the next 50 years of the Abbey Buildings

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Abbey Buildings
Draft plans for improvements to the Abbey Buildings are on display in the checker. There are a series of options set out for early discussions.

The Friends of Abingdon, custodians of the buildings, are preparing for an application for Heritage Lottery Funding and will be looking to improve access, and the usefulness of the buildings for the next 50 years.
Abbey Buildings
The Friends themselves are to split into two charities, one dedicated to looking after the Abbey Buildings,
Abbey Buildings
and the other a Civic Society, with a more general interest in looking after the town of Abingdon.

The annual Heritage Open Day (8th September) will be a more low key affair this year. I am passing control to somebody else who will take the lead and is already planning for 2019. So for 2018 any buildings that wish to open will do. There will also be some walks. So it will be a more relaxed affair, not the usual themed event with leaflets.

Also in 2018 the Abingdon Area Archaeological and Historical Society are celebrating their 50th anniversary with an exhibition and some big events.

A hot day at Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council

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town council
Another hot day and councillors at the town council meeting this evening did not have to wear the usual heavy robes.
town council
The entrance to the Roysse Room for the town council meeting was by a back door as the Roysse Court is being redeveloped.

Members of the public, councillors, and staff were asked to stand as the Mayor of Abingdon-on-Thames followed the mace into the room. Then Reverend Charles Miller led prayers. The Mayor, Councillor Margaret Crick, then presented cheques to groups who had been awarded grants including Abbey Brass, Abingdon Music Centre, Abingdon Rotary, and Smash badminton.

Three members of the public addressed the council before the meeting. Among them Pat Bryden wanted to set up a memorial for Alan Bryden, a former Town and County Councillor, who did a lot for the town. She proposed some improvements to some of the tourist maps in the town centre, and the addition of seats to some bus stops on the Oxford Road. She will provide the resources if the town council agree.

There followed a lot of questions about the town bus service, being paid for by the town council for £30K. It will run from Monday to Friday, 4 times a day and will go through South Abingdon between 9:06 and 14:56. It uses the route of the 41 bus that was previously subsidised by the County Council. It will run for one year from September 2018 – August 2019.

The meeting then went through all the committee papers since the last Town Council, and an audit of the Town Council accounts.

Lastly there was a discussion of three proposals put forward by town councillors. There is sometimes a misunderstanding that the town council runs the town. But for some matters they need to lobby the Vale of the White Horse District Council (VWHDC)  on important matters about the town. All three proposals were addressed to VWHDC and were unanimously agreed by the Councillors.
town council
1. The Upper Reaches Hotel has been boarded up for three years. What is VWHDC doing about that, and do they have any legal powers to influence the hotel owner? A letter will be written from Town Council to District Council to try and make the current situation public.

2. The toilets at the Charter are disgusting. Money had been put into the VWHDC budget to improve them, and the car park. So how is that going, and what are the plans for the charter generally? A letter will be written from Town Council to District Council to try and make the current situation public.
town council
3. Parking enforcement is not top of the list of police force priorities but they currently control on street parking in Abingdon. In 2014 the VWHDC considered introducing civic parking enforcement, but rejected the idea. Could they consider it again in 2018 for the sake of the parking situation outside schools and the town centre? A letter will be written from Town Council to District Council