Update - October 2014

Thank you to all who helped with the first edition of the revived newsletter, including all the deliverers.  Although the first edition was short, we hope that you enjoyed getting this again. Lots of people have told us that they are very pleased to find that the newsletter is to continue. We are hoping to get another, longer, edition out before Christmas, with a competition for the children and a quiz for us older ones!

Sheila and Maureen went to the County Council meeting about the crossing proposals for Ock Street and Marcham Road. Their report is below this article (or click HERE) and we are sure that their disappointment and frustration about the outcome is shared by many on our estates. Work hasbeen started in earnest on the field and sometime soon trees will be felled. While we would welcome people who want to live in our area, there is still considerable anxiety about the problems that their increased traffic will bring.

Next year we will have the added problem of the closure of Steventon Bridge – reports on how long it will be closed vary but 8 months seems about the most optimistic time scale. And work will be started soon on the Milton interchange…… Send the blog your thoughts about all this road work surrounding us.

We are beginning to get pieces for both the newsletter and the blog. Do send us ideas for articles – or write something yourself! And it would be great to have something from the children - drawings and stories and anything else that you want to share with others. See ‘Contacts’ for email, mobile telephone number and addresses.

Remember that you can also advertise your business. A full advert can go on the blog with a short summary in the paper newsletters. £10.00 for residents for the year.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Advertisement - Abingdon Drama Club presents 'The Wrong Goodbye' by Stephen Rees.

Moving the crossing on Marcham Road

Comments to the decision of the Transport Committee - Oxford County Council 9th October 2014

We are very angry, disillusioned, disappointed and sad to have to report that the Oxfordshire County Council decided to accept the proposal from the developers to move the pedestrian crossing on the Marcham Road and to install a new one in Ock Street.

Despite many Councillors and Abingdon Residents speaking against the proposal and making very good points:

• about safety of children crossing
• the Councils 'duty of care' to residents
• air pollution
• congestion
• traffic management and the wider Abingdon traffic crisis
• the fact that it has already been turned down at 3 different Committee levels and the local MP is against the proposal

..... the Transport Committee decided to make their decision on the actual crossing itself without taking any of the fore-mentioned points into account.

In his summing up the Chairman said that he had listened carefully to all the comments, that the crossing does meet National safety guidelines and that he had observed the Drayton Road crossing for twenty minutes one Saturday morning (sic!).  He had to ask himself "do the proposals make the crossing safer and mitigate the traffic on the Drayton Road".  He thought it would, and would therefore support the recommendation.

There was general outrage and much discussion afterwards.  Residents and Councillors are not giving up and are looking into getting legal advice on further steps.  We will keep you posted.

report by Maureen and Sheila

Gardening - The Garden in Autumn

• There will be winter flowering violas and pansies in the Garden Centres now.  Pot them up in hanging baskets and containers for a winter-long display.  Keep them fed and watered.

• Also look our for end-of-season bargain perennials.  They may not be in flower but they can be bought, split and planted out for next year.

• Plant spring bulbs in September at a depth equal to at 4 times their height to ensure flowering, and also consider planting them in layers in containers.  Tulips can wait until November.

• Bring herbs indoors or into a cold greenhouse to ensure a winter supply.  Mint can be propagated by tearing off roots and planting them in pots to ensure fresh new plants for next year.

• Keep trimming lawns and keep weeds down.

• In very wet weather, check containers to make sure they don't get waterlogged.

Grenville Wells

The Residents' Association were very sorry to hear of the recent death of Grenville Wells of Longfellow Drive.  Grenville was well known for his many interests and activities, including work with St John's Ambulance.  He was involved with the Residents' Association for a long time, including a period of helping to run the newsletter.  He will be missed.

Welcome

Welcome to the first edition of the revived newsletter and the brand new Tithe Farm & Ladygrove Residents Blog!!!  The Blog will cover the information in the newsletter but will be updated between editions with news for residents.  You will of course, be able to send your information to the editors to be added to the Blog.  We are aware that not everyone has access to a computer, so if anything significant happens between newsletters, we will organise a short paper 'flyer' round the estates.

The Spring Newsletter said that it would be the farewell edition unless something amazing happened.  Well, something amazing did happen and several new people came forward to help organise a newsletter.  Thank you Kay, Val and Jack.

This short edition is mainly to tell you about our plans.  At the moment, we are aiming to get out 4 paper editions of the newsletter a year - maybe more later if this is successful.

We have enough in the TFLRA account to cover the printing of 2 or 3 shorter newsletters so we won't be collecting subscriptions for the newsletter just yet but will start knocking on doors again in the Spring.  The next couple of newsletters will go to all residents on the estates unless they have said recently that they definitely do not want a newsletter.  We thought that there might be a number of houses that have missed out in the past for a variety of reasons - for example, away when the collectors called or are new residents.

Do let us have your contributions and articles.  If you want to contact us by email, you can do this on tfl_ra@zoho.com  If you would prefer to ring us, then you can get us on 07732251334 and leave a message.  More contact details at the end of the newsletter.

Finally, in the last edition Eleanor Dangerfield thanked many people for their help with the newsletter.  We would also like to thank Eleanor for all her hard work editing and running the newsletter in the past.

We look forward to hearing from residents and hope you will enjoy the new look newsletter and Blog.

News

At the end of August we learned that the County Council must reconsider their earlier decision 'not to proceed with the proposals' to alter the pelican crossing on Marcham Road/install a new pelican crossing on Ock Street.  Apparently they decided to do this after a legal challenge.  They have invited comments on this by 26th September 2014, in time for their meeting on 9th October 2014.  Unfortunately the timing of this newsletter may mean that we haven't brought you this news before the meeting, but is the sort of item that we hope to circulate as 'flyers' in between newsletters in future.

AGM

The TFLRA AGM will be held on Tuesday 18th November at 7.30pm at the Jephson flats Common Room, Bridges Close.  All residents are welcome!

Contact

Please see our Contact page for more details.

Children's Corner - September 2014

Hi everyone

Welcome to our 'Children's Corner'.  In our 'new-style' newsletter we would like to include our young reader and welcome contributions of all kinds ...... drawings, stories, jokes, puzzles, ideas ...... anything that appeals to our young ones, of any age!

from Elianne (age 5)

The picture shown here is by Elianne - well done!!!!

Please send your contributions to 18 Mill Road and one will be chosen to be printed in our next issue.  So ..... come on and get busy!!!

We are looking forward to seeing your lovely ideas.

Many thanks!

Advert - Mathews & Son

Simon's News