An enormous thank you to the huge number of people that turned out in force on a rainy Monday evening to make your views know to the Council. The Mayor's insistance on holding the meeting in the relatively small Roysse Room, when the much larger Abbey Hall stands empty, meant that over 60 of us (including a few councillors) were locked out. The mood outside the room was not improved by being threatened with the police and then being told to come back next week. Unfortunately I can't offer a first hand report on what was said inside the meeting, however there is a good report on the excellent Abingdon Blog http://www.abingdonblog.co.uk/?p=19903 and Hester Hand has also kindly provided a very balanced report on some of the points made on all sides of the argument below. I know it is a big ask, but I think it would really make the point to the councillors who find listening a struggle if there is another large turnout. Details of the meeting are available on the council website at this link, they need us to register (maybe if enough of us register they'll actually use a larger room!) http://www.abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon-news/abingdon-thames-town-council/meeting-relation-guildhall-and-abbey-hall ............ Hester's report: Around 100 people packed the Roysse Room for the Special Parish Meeting on the future of the Abbey Hall and Guildhall. A further 60 or more were not able to get in, so a further meeting will be held [next Monday] so that they and others who couldn’t come to this one can air their views. The Mayor opened proceedings by reading out a statement of the Council’s intentions: this can be found on the TC website http://www.abingdon.gov.uk/town-council-services/guildhall . The Mayor also explained that she would not be answering questions; she (and a few other Councillors) were there to listen and all comments and questions would be logged and replies issued in due course. The first part of the discussion focused on the Abbey Hall: around 15 people asked questions or offered a range of suggestions for its future use. There was considerable frustration over the lack of information about the “exciting plans” for the longer term, or what the timescale for these would be; there were also conflicting statements about the cost of operating it as a community facility in the short term: some people mentioned figures, others pointed out that the Council had said a few weeks ago that that information wasn’t available. People were interested to hear that an offer had been made for a temporary cinema and hoped to hear more shortly. The final speaker summed up the feelings of many by saying “we all know that the Abbey Hall is what Prince Charles would call a carbuncle, but it is our carbuncle and we want to use it”! The discussion on the old part of the Guildhall attracted a similar number of speakers. Several were concerned that a lot of money was being spent on rooms for archives and museum storage and questioned whether this was cost-effective. There were also questions about the secrecy over the plans and reports and whether the Council had established the likely demand for the refurbished rooms. The issue of removing the staircase to replace it with a lift divided opinion: several speakers supported it, others felt that an alternative solution should be sought. The Town Council will be meeting on 24 January so hopefully will discuss these issues then and take note of the views expressed.