Abingdon Baptist Church (ABC) are on their travels while their church building is being revamped. Most Sundays they meet at Carswell School but on one Sunday a month they join with Trinity. This morning was such a Sunday and coincided with the Harvest service and Parade Service.
Donations to the harvest this year go to Asylum Welcome (for Trinity) and The Abingdon Food Bank (for ABC).
There were also some excellent flower displays all round the church done by people from Trinity and ABC.
The church and balcony were full because the parade service brought uniformed groups from both churches together with parents.
The young people took a lot of the service with readings and prayers and various activities. At one stage they trailed a rope, down the aisle, and up the stairs to the balcony so that everybody was connected either with the rope or with each other. This was to illustrate Jesus saying, ‘I am the vine. You are the branches.’
Apologies for the post hijack, but a couple of planning items that are of interest to North Abingdonians. One concerns the cricket field at Abingdon United, where there will be 3 storey glass and concrete monstrosities built, for 10 apartments. The other concerns the circus field development.
http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/java/support/Main.jsp?MODULE=ApplicationDetails&REF=P18/V2449/O
ttps://www.heraldseries.co.uk/news/16982018.developer-withdraws-plans-for-200-homes-in-wootton-road-abingdon/
The Northcourt site is in a Conservation area and as such the District Council have considerable additional obligations to consider. The Friends of Abingdon will be pointing this out in our comments on the proposal.
The application that has been withdrawn is not the “circus field” one – that is still live (V/2180/FUL); the one that has been withdrawn (but will almost certainly re-appear) is for 200 houses between Tilsley Park and Wootton Road. The Local Plan provides for about 200 houses across both sites so the 2 combined proposals add up to much more than that.
Well done the Harvest Festival
Well done Abingdon Baptist and Trinity churches.
Hijackers usually have a good cause, but they should not blot out good stuff going ahead elsewhere.
I think you are missing a trick here.
We know that the roads are already at capacity and can’t cope with the cars we have, let alone the extra that more houses will bring (be it 20 or 200). Schools are full and underfunded for what they have, let alone the extra kids that they will then also have to squeeeeeze in. It can take weeks to get a doctors appointment, let alone the extra strain more houses will bring, we paid consultants to tell us that the double roundabout traffic would be sorted – but it wasn’t, let alone the extra strain yet more house will bring. The leisure centre is full, let alone the extra strain yet more houses will bring; but, determined to look on the bright side I think that these £400k starter homes will induce The Veil to give us more dedicated flower beds. And…they, I am sure, will look lovely.
And, if the flower beds look really, really lovely…perhaps our MP will turn up for a photo opp and let us know that she has written a strongly worded email about the Lodge Hill interchange.
Not so much of a trick Daniel more of an ulterior, little known motive. As an incentive to build more new houses government encouragers local authorities by giving a rebate to them for every new home they allow, from memory it’s something like £400 per unit and that “incentive” is supposed to be used to better our infrastructure, however it’s common knowledge the Vale have been using this windfall to balance their books and fund other “stuff” not appertaining to the rules, apparently they’ve got their calculations wildly wrong the upshot of which they’re now having to put several major projects on hold even those that have been started ( wantage leisure centre) !
Thank you Horsesmouth. Reassuringly The Veil is run by experts – as you might expect, what with it being public money…..
Good to see so many people crowding into Trinity Church for the Harvest service.
Ref 4 your assessment on schools is partially correct Daniel.
You are correct state schools are underfunded. Abingdon state schools receive approximately £400 per student (about 10%) less than average national funding. This is grossly unfair and OCC currently have proposals out for consultation to reduce this by a further £22.
Primary school places are indeed stretched in Abingdon, predominantly in the North of the town, and an additional school is required as part of any housing development
There is currently a surplus of secondary school places imn the town, which in fact further increases pressure on the funding of these three schools. The LEA has been predicting a rise in secondary age student numbers in the town for at least the last ten years and, so far, it has not materialised.
Thank you Iain, it is always good to have some facts to lend weight to an opinion. Especially if they are true facts.
Do you happen to know; a few years ago (7, 10?) we were told in a council meeting that the traffic in and stone Abingdon was notorious for being dire – Lodge hill, the AbITS failure, the Ock Street double roundabout, the queues from anywhere south etc etc..and that if there were a wishlist of all the Veils traffic woes to be sorted, that not one of Abingdons issue even registers on such a wishlist…
Is this still the case? I know the “batten of blame” has passed a few times between the yellow and blue teams in the interim, I just wondered if you or anyone else is able to shed light on the current direction of the wind…so we can be sure we continue to whistle in to it.
All facts are true; otherwise they aren’t facts – unless you live in Trumpland 🙂
Floral greetings, Daniel!
Thanks ppjs, I think you are mainly correct. However some facts are truer than others.
For example, despite the constant woes of Abingdon, “the flowers do indeed look lovely.”. This is a proper true fact.
Dont know Daniel, traffic isnt one of the areas i pay particular attention to. I think Steve follows those matters more closely.