Changes at North East Abingdon Community Centre

North East Abingdon Community Centre
The Social Club has been in the same building and alongside North East Abingdon Community Centre since it opened in 1984. It has a bar, pub games, quizzes, and special events at Christmas and New Year. All residents within the area of Twelve Acre Drive, Oxford Road, Norman Avenue and Radley Road could apply for full membership, and people outside could become associate members.

But in 2017, for financial reasons – I believe, the Social Club is having to close down leaving the Community Centre, and its clubs and societies, to use all of the building.
North East Abingdon Community Centre
The Community Centre is used from Monday to Friday by Peachcroft Pre-School, so is well used. Members of the Committee would like to see the centre also well used in evenings and weekends by all people from the area to ensure the centre is still there for many years to come.

18 thoughts on “Changes at North East Abingdon Community Centre

  1. Confused

    By all accounts the Social Club had been struggling for a couple of years. I’ve also heard/read this week that Outdoor Traders and White Horse Exotics are both closing, can anyone confirm?

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  2. ColinB

    White Horse Exotics Facebook page:

    Closing down reptile store sale!!! 25% off all marked prices in store* loads of second hand equipment available. Every thing must go. Lots of exo terra terrariums second hand in good condition. Be quick as it’s selling fast. *does not include frozen, live or bargain second hand equipment. An a bargain whilst it’s here. First come first served!

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  3. ppjs

    Is this the vibrant economy that I am constantly being told we are experiencing.

    I recently met an long-standing friend in Oxford. He is now living in the USA. He was shocked to see so many vacant shopfronts. I explained about the flourishing economy. He wasn’t convinced either.

    My son lives and works in Sheffield. It make Abingdon look like Shangri -La. And, whatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, there is no magic wand.

    My early childhood was shaped by the end of WW2 and the post-war struggle to survive the massive problems. In that period of dreadful economic austerity, the NHS was born. The financial cost was immense, but the genuine investment in national health paid huge dividends.

    If we want a better world, we are going to have to pay for it. But nobody likes tax, and asking for more is not a vote-winner, so in the current campaign figures are (once again) being fudged and expectations are being raised on the sketchiest of foundations.

    Is it any wonder that many voters say “A plague on both your houses”?

    Meanwhile decent community groups struggle on against the odds and attract criticism for not doing more.

    God help us all.

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  4. Janet

    When we come out of the E U we should have another 35 million pounds a day to allocate. (Thats if we have strong negotiators and not the appeasing ones that gave all our fishing rights, steel production etc away). We want to promote the pride we used to have in Britain and British goods and people. We are not allowed to have a national identity in case we offend other nationaliteis. As Trump said, America first. We want to look after British interests and British citizens for a change.

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  5. Hester

    It would be interesting to know how many of the regulars on here have bought goods from these 4 shops in the last say 2-3 years? I have to put my hand up and say I have only used 2 of them in that time – and probably only once each. Shops do need to offer what people want at prices they are willing to pay – hopefully we have a wide enough spread of tastes and pockets to be able to support a good variety of independent shops, but if the match between the offering and the demand is not right, they won’t make ends meet.

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  6. Captainkaos2

    Sorry to disagree Hester but that’s just too simple an analogy, I was with one of the towns longest ind’s just yesterday who said they’ve just had their 16/17 accounts done and last fi year was their worst ever!
    The town is on its arse ! Take Bath st for instance? Once the premier shopping street in town with red tarmac and well kept, now look at it, it’s the pits! The road and paving has failed and parking across the paving is out of hand, just last week at 9.am I tried to turn into Bath st from the high but couldn’t because the entire area around the war memorial was double parked with taxis, must have been 20! I had a stand up argument with one saying he and his mates had blocked the road, his reply was”! Don’t have a o st me blame the Vale for issuing 500 taxis licences with only 5 taxi bays ! How do you respond to that?
    For most part of the day the town is grid locked and all roads leading to the town are jammed.
    There’s a desperate shortage of parking yet more and more office and retail is being converted to aposryments with no parking, gave a look at west St. Helens st? There’s now more residents parking than shopping spaces?
    The Charter area is a disgrace, as is most of the town centre paving, the old gaol is still not finished, Old Abbey house that the town council was evicted from 5 years ago is still boarded up, the guild hall issue beyond farcical as is the boarded up Upper Resches.
    And what if the Abingdon BID ( business improvement district?) it is/was supposed to be the saviour of business, the vehicle to get Abingdon back on track, apart from a few strips of bunting there’s nothing tangible to suggest Abingdons businesses are compulsory funding a worthwhile organisation ? On the contrary, according to their web site their balance sheet for 16/17 states an income of £70 k, – £2k was spent on bunting, they have £20 k in the bank but a whooping £48k was spent on consultants, salaries I t and other miscellaneous consumables, a dreadful waste of a compulsory tax on business, that said what can you expect from the same old inept faces

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  7. ppjs

    Janet, you really must not believe everything that people say in the fervour of an election or referendum campaign….

    Even, if it were true that there would be an extra £35M per day, that works out at about 60p per person. Numbers are bandied about recklessly in a bonfire of inanities and the media fan the flames.

    Nobody knows what results the Brexit negotiations will bring, and building up hopes on the flimsy foundations of election promises is the surest way to disillusionment.

    Meanwhile, even though Abingdon could be better (where couldn’t?), we are a lot better off than many of the regions of the UK. I am not advocating complacency, but I am suggesting venting anger about situations that are complex (by suggesting that everything is clear cut and immediately fixable) is not the most helpful way of living.

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  8. Old Ghost

    ‘Bonfire of the inanities’ sums it all up very well ppjs, as does ‘reckless inanities on both sides’. I try to remember when Abingdon wasn’t a slightly mouldering backwater – in a more-or-less charming way – and fail. This is the town that rejected the new fangled mainline railway – you could be Reading by now (!). But again Didcot has exploded in recent years from the grimy ‘Deadcat’ of yore to something else… not sure it’s entirely better tho’.

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  9. davidofLuton

    Captain Kaos 2 said: “according to their (the Abingdon BID) web site their balance sheet for 16/17 states an income of £70 k, – £2k was spent on bunting, they have £20 k in the bank but a whooping £48k was spent on consultants, salaries I t and other miscellaneous consumables”

    Where do you get that from? According to the BID pitch before the vote they expected an income of £135K in year 1 and would spend £29K on “A well known town”, £49K on “An eventful town”, £9K on “an attractive town” and £48K on “A productive town” – total spend on the town of £135K. Your figures seem hugely different.

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  10. crispy_p

    I was brought up in Stroud, Gloucestershire which really became a ghost town in the 1980’s when the planners allowed 3 supermarkets to be built on the outskirts – there were many boarded up shops and the place felt really scruffy and run down. More recently Stroud has been rejuvenated and locally has a reputation for good food/arts/crafts and I think the weekly Saturday farmers market has probably really helped with this. We recently visited Frome in Somerset which has an amazing monthly market ‘The Frome Independent’ that I am told has had some really positive impact on the town.

    When I look at Abingdon, I see so much potential – we have the river, beautiful architecture, local history, some excellent shops and good employment around us. I don’t think there is a silver bullet, but I have sympathy with comments made here by CK and others about the traffic, which I really think puts people off from coming into our town.

    I think the specialist shops such as Outdoor Traders are real gems and I suspect they are a draw for people to come into town, so it is concerning to hear that OT may be closing. To Hester’s point, as a family we have shopped in here a number of times over the years, and have always been pleased with the advice and quality of the kit.

    Sorry I don’t have an answer here but looking at the history of Stroud I am sure that all is not lost for Abingdon.

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  11. Captainkaos2

    David , go to their web site and see for your self? If not ask Backstreeter for my email address and I’ll send you s copy of their balance sheet!

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  12. davidofLuton

    thank you. I think i must have been looking at the wrong website – the one i was looking at was all about them campaigning for the bid to be accepted.

    Reply

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