Beckley & Area Community Benefit society Limited (BACBS)

The Abingdon Arms

We are glad to report that the pub seems to be finally recovering from the COVID damage. However, trading conditions are incredibly tough due to large rises in just about everything they must buy and pay for. BACBS continues to ask for much lower rent than would have been the case had there been no COVID, and no Ukraine invasion increasing fuel prices. BACBS is also paying for certain repairs that would normally be the tenants’ responsibility. We must allow them to thrive, losing our current excellent tenants, and having to close the pub, does not bear thinking about!

Of particular interest is that the new stretch tent covering the upper terrace is going ahead and may be finished by the end of April. This will greatly increase enjoyment of the fantastic view over Otmoor, even in inclement weather.

Vicky and Alex are working hard to provide lots of new initiatives to entice you in https://www.theabingdonarms.co.uk/menus. Fish Fridays have been particularly successful. The pub’s website is being redone to make it easier to navigate. The weather is improving so the pub offers a great starting/finishing place for walks.

Quiz nights and the ‘More than a Pub’ talks continue to be very popular.

Hot off the press, Vicky and Alex are planning activities over the four days of the Jubilee celebrations.

• Thursday 2nd - afternoon tea (scones clotted cream etc) gin bar in the garden with lots of new gins for people to try, plus small a la carte menu and pizzas

• Friday 3rd - best of British - fish and chips, pie and chips, Cornish pasties etc

• Saturday 4th - live music, hog roast, face painting (ticket entry)

• Sunday 5th - Jubilee street party on the High Street in Beckley

More than a Pub program

https://bacbs.org/events

Pub quiz

7.30 pm on the first Wednesday of the month in the bar at The Abingdon Arms. No need to book – just turn up. Free round of drinks for the winning team (courtesy of The Abingdon Arms)!

Community Walks

These gentle, approximately two hour, walks usually start at 2 pm on the third Sunday of the month. Dogs on leads are welcome. Details of individual walks will be emailed around the community and available at https://bacbs.org/events a few days before each one.

Talks

March 27, 7 p.m. (Note later start time!) D.A. Holdsworth: Writing political satire

D.A. Holdsworth (a Beckley resident) will talk about his two debut novels, both published during the pandemic and both political satires. The first of them, How to Buy a Planet, was the culmination of a twenty-year journey. Dom will pull highlights from this journey, including the strange coincidence of completing a novel in 2019 about a global pandemic and a global debt crisis. He will also talk about his experience of self-publishing these books on Amazon.

How to Buy a Planet is set in the year 2024. Drowning in debt following the pandemic, the world’s leaders have taken the only logical decision. They’ve sold the planet. Shortlisted for The Selfies Fiction Award 2021. “Builds a palpable sense of cinematic tension” (BookLife Prize Critic’s report) – “Totally mesmerising” (Oxford Daily Information review) – “Echoes of Douglas Adams... Lots of fun” (Tim Harford, The Undercover Economist).

The Zoo of Intelligent Animals is a prequel set in 1977 – year of the Silver Jubilee, the Sex Pistols, and a spate of unexplained disappearances from across the academic world. This novel satirises authoritarian regimes, while exploring themes of psychopathy, theodicy, and our relationship with the gods.

April 24, 6.30 pm Anthony Harnden: Reflecting back on Britain's vaccination strategy

Anthony Harnden, Stanton St John resident, is Professor of Primary Care, General Practitioner (in Wheatley), and Fellow of St Hugh's College. He has research interests in infections and paediatrics in primary care, specifically common childhood infections, vaccine preventable infections and the early diagnosis of rare but important childhood diseases.

He has been the GP member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) since 2006 and Deputy Chairman since 2015. JCVI advises the UK government on vaccine policy, including the current Covid-19 vaccination programme.

He was appointed to the GMC Council as a board member in 2017. The GMC is responsible for the regulation of all UK doctors and UK medical schools.

May 29, 6.30 pm José Ramón Lopez-Portillo: Can mankind survive the current exponential growth in technology?

Dr Lopez-Portillo, a resident of Beckley, is a specialist in the subject of accelerating technological change and its socio-economic impact. He continues to be an adviser to the Mexican Government regarding science diplomacy and the UN Resolution on “"Impact of rapid technological change on the achievement of the SDGs”. His recent work on this topic is reflected in his book entitled: “The Great Transition” (2018). His multifaceted professional experience allows him to tackle the issues of the impact of technological change from different angles.

José Ramón has served as vice-minister in the Federal Government of Mexico and is a former ambassador and Independent Chairman of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The UN Secretary-General nominated him again as a member of the Group of 10 experts of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism (2018-).

He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Oxford, where he has worked on several academic projects. His wife, Mantina, has previously given us an excellent talk on the Monarch Butterfly and its annual migration to Mexico.

The two most recent talks were well attended both in the pub and on Zoom. Jim Gemmill gave a unique and personal view on surviving in the world of commercial art on the 22nd January. His expertise in adapting his style was fascinating, particularly to the demands of the multitude of different film sets he has worked on; all very impressive. Paul Newton on February 27th gave an account of his time spent in Lao from 1999 to 2019. We were shown lots of excellent photos of Lao, demonstrating what a beautiful place it is. We heard much about the people and customs, as well as the gruesome diseases that Paul has been involved in fighting over the years.

OPEN SHARE OFFER – UPDATE

https://bacbs.org/openshareoffer

Beckley and Area Community Benefit Society Ltd. has now successfully launched the new open share offer to help fund new projects and to rebuild our reserves following COVID. As detailed last month, our funds have been, and continue to be, depleted by reason of the pandemic and are needed to fund ongoing maintenance and improvement works on the pub building, as well as to enable existing shareholders to redeem some of their shares if they wish (as permitted within our Rules, should funds allow). Current expenses include new fences, the stretch tent, and some window replacements.

We have got off to a good start with many new investments, but are still looking forward to more members of the community, new and old, joining the Society and contributing to the preservation of this vital resource within the heart of Beckley. If you have any friends open to persuasion…….