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2021 Census to take snapshot of Abingdon – 1921 Census details published soon

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census
We will complete our census return on 21st March 2021. Somebody investigating our family history in one hundred years time (or whenever the census is released) will see that we live at the same address as ten years ago, and that our professions have changed. In 2021, they will also be able to see for the first time whether we served in the armed forces, our sexual orientation, and gender identity.
census
The 1921 census was the only time the census was delayed (until June) and that was due to industrial unrest.

New questions in 1921 included more details about profession: what materials people worked in, place of work and their employer’s name. For those over the age of 15 there was information about marital status, and whether divorced. For those under 15 the census recorded whether both parents were alive or if either or both parents had died. It also had detailed questions on education including whether people were in full-time or part-time education.

The 1921 census summary for the Borough of Abingdon showed the inhabitants to number 7,167, an increase of 358 from 1911. Females numbered 3,896, and males 3,271.

Commenting on the summary statistics, released in September 1921, a local newspaper said, ‘It is evident that all of them cannot get married unless they go further afield. The single man who shows a preference for the single life will have to run the gauntlet and if the feminine majority care to exercise their powers, they will no doubt impose a heavy tax on bachelors. Women came into many occupations during the war, and many of them continued to be employed. They have cultivated the spirit of independence and are claiming equality of opportunity. The males have no longer any right to pose as the superior sex’.

The individual details of the 1921 census have not been published yet but will be within the next year on findmypast.com. This delay is supposedly for reasons of privacy. However a lot of the details of people now over 100 years old will be already in the public domain from other sources.

Abingdon Flooding raised in Parliament

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Thankyou to Daniel for some more drone flood pictures from January. Two are of the River Ock, showing the water getting close to the houses on the Ladygrove Estate and Tesco. The other is of the River Thames.
Abingdon Flooding
In parliament yesterday (24th Feb 2021), Layla Moran, the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, got the opportunity to debate with a Minister of the Environment the issue of flooding in Oxford and Abingdon. This was done as an adjournment debate.

Layla pointed out that Oxford West and Abingdon has historically flooded, and in most recent times devastatingly so in 2007 and again, notably, in 2014. Layla said she raised this question again because she felt little progress had been made since an earlier debate with a previous minister. She mentioned delays in the Oxford flood alleviation scheme which could be delayed by up to five years because of bridge works that need to be completed in Kennington.
Abingdon Flooding
Regarding Abingdon, she said her constituents worried about a repeat of 2007. She said the scheme for a flood storage area upstream of Abingdon on the River Ock had been investigated but for crude cost reasons was not deemed viable. She said residents went from having a scheme to suddenly not having one at all. She said ‘We are not spending enough on communities like Abingdon. If the Minister stands by the calculations, will she at the very least ask the Environment Agency to help draw up new plans for what can be done in Abingdon that it can afford?’

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Rebecca Pow, started by saying what the government are doing nationally about flooding – spending more in the new 2021 to 2027 investment programme.

She said she was mindful of the challenges that the town of Abingdon has faced, and faces, and particularly the flooding experience of 2007, when more than 400 homes were flooded by the River Ock. Over recent years, the Environment Agency has taken action to reduce flooding in Abingdon, including increased levels of river maintenance, the provision of a flood wall along St Helen’s Mill, and a robust deployment plan for temporary defences, should they be needed.
Abingdon Flooding
In 2018, the Environment Agency investigated the development of a flood storage area upstream of Abingdon on the River Ock. The investigations found that while a flood storage area was technically feasible, the benefits would not be much greater than those delivered by the Environment Agency’s routine river maintenance. It did not represent value for money to the taxpayer.

She said the Environment Agency is reviewing further suggestions from a local community flood group, called the Ock Valley Flood Group. It is looking at whether there is scope for a temporary flood barrier alignment to be made into a permanent defence, and the agency is gathering evidence on whether this would be technically and economically viable.

The Environment Agency have also been investigating whether natural flood management options would be effective in reducing flood risk in Abingdon.

The full debate is at https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2021-02-24/debates/58D02CC8-5626-4FE3-902A-CD4B44920CFD/OxfordWestAndAbingdonFlooding

Abingdon Nightlife to reopen in about 3 months time

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Night Life
Abingdon Town Centre remains mostly quiet in the evenings. Pubs and restaurants are closed for consumption on the premises
Night Life
Food and non-alcoholic drinks can be bought on a takeaway basis (between 5am and 11pm). Food and drink (including alcohol if the license allows) can also be delivered.

The government have announced a slow roadmap to reopening. They say this is possible because of the success of the vaccination programme; and how the public have obeyed the law and stayed at home to help suppress COVID-19.

The roadmap includes a number of steps. As part of Step 2 hospitality venues will be allowed to serve people outdoors from 12th April. Then as part of Step 3 indoor hospitality will be allowed no earlier than 17th May. Step 3 includes cinemas.
Night Life
There are bright lights at St Helen’s Wharf. This evening they included the flashing lights of a police car. I hear that the police went from door to door investigating a disturbance.

Old Abbey House to become hotel and Charter Day Centre to be run by Yellow Submarine

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Old Abbey House Hotel
There was a press release from the Vale of White Horse District Council yesterday to say that Old Abbey House has been sold to Ede Holdings Ltd of Witney for £927,000 and that they will develop and run it as a 20 bedroom hotel.

Ede Holdings are mainly house builders and developers but they originally built and co-owned the Four Pillars Hotel Group before selling it on. So this is a return to running a hotel for them.
Old Abbey House Hotel
Daniel Ede, a director intends to work with the local economy and says ‘We want to work closely with other local businesses and people, and initially will be looking for a local laundry provider and a local baker for fresh morning produce, as well as cleaning staff.’

It will also provide career opportunities in the hospitality sector.
Old Abbey House Hotel
There were several bidders for Old Abbey House. The press release goes on to say ‘Another positive to come from the bidding process saw a number of community groups putting forward proposals that may also benefit the town. One group is Oxfordshire-based charity Yellow Submarine, who support young people with learning disabilities and autism. Yellow Submarine will occupy The Charter building in Abingdon town centre, following on from its current use to support the vaccination programme.’

P.S. Yesterday I saw a long queue of people waiting for vaccinations outside the Charter. Over 15 million people in the UK have now had their first vaccination.