Champion House Knocked down for 24 Sheltered Apartments

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Champion House
Champion House, the large Edwardian House next door to John Mason School, on Wootton Road, has been demolished.
Champion House
An archaelogical survey says the house was built around 1914 on the site of an orchard that had once been a quarry. More recently the building has been used as offices by Oxfordshire County Council Care Services.

The plan is to turn the area into 24 sheltered apartments with communal facilities including parking.

A previous plan for Champion House was rejected and rejected again on appeal in 2011, but having modified the plans to make more space at the front, and reduce the size of the building, plans were approved in 2012. The town council strongly objected to the original plans, worried by a narrow entrance for traffic near a school, but had “No Strong Views” in 2012.

New Years Boundary Walk 2006 & 2013 – compared

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two pictures compared
Martin Smith led the boundary walk in 2006 (when I first started doing this blog) and was still there leading the walk in 2013. On both occasions he was accompanied by a town crier who rang the bell and announced to anybody in earshot that we were walking the 1556 bounds of Abingdon. In 2006 we all went into a private garden to see a boundary stone and were given mince pies – something I’ve not experienced since.
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This year we could not follow the normal route along the Ock Valley Walk, which is still underwater, and so went down Caldecott Road instead. At one point we saw where the canal bridge would have been.
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We also made a small diversion at Box Hill Walk to view where Fitzharris House once stood, and saw the Motte.
two pictures compared
The other change from 2006 was that we could now cross the new bridge over what was the Abbey Mill Stream.

2012: Diamond Jubilee, Olympics and flooding. 2013: Here We Come!

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2012 quick look back
On Jan 1st the Town Crier kindly posed with the boots and sack as we walked round the 1556 Abingdon boundary.
February did celebrate Valentine’s Day but most people were already looking forward to the olympics.
March brought Mark Steele to town as part of the Abingdon Arts Festival.
In April people competed to see who could throw a bun the furthest and help the councillors during the diamond jubilee bun throw.
2012 quick look back
In May was the amazing Abingdon Air and Country Show.
In June was the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, and James May came with various contraptions to help councillors throw buns. It poured with rain but we showed Dunkirk Spirit.
In July Abingdon Museum was re-opened, and the Olympic Torch was carried through Abingdon.
2012 quick look back
In September the postponed Dragon Boat Racing took place – postponed because the river was flooded earlier in the year. The year started with a drought and hose pipe ban.
October brought the Ock Street Fair.
November brought floods, and December brought yet more floods.
2012 quick look back
Throughout the year contractors have been working on the Abbey Shopping Centre. Their super human efforts will hopefully mean a Happy New Year for Abingdon with shops like M&S and Debenhams queuing up to be part of this wonderful town.

Solar Powered Christmas Trees not a shining success so far

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solar powered Christmas Trees
The new solar powered Christmas trees have not been a shining success during their first Christmas in Abingdon.

I have seen a blue flicker from some of the trees positioned, next to far brighter street lights, on Abingdon Bridge, but don’t know if it is the sun or the streetlight giving them the energy for their faint flickerings.
solar powered Christmas Trees
Some other trees have not managed a flicker, that I have noticed, but then the sun has been like a stranger to us this Christmas. Lets hope things change before twelfth night.