Look back at 2022 in Andover with our review and roundup of the year!
This is the first part, looking at the biggest events that happened from January to June.
JANUARY
The new year started with late Barbara Long, the former Andover Town Council mayor, calling on residents to “stop harping back to the past” and embrace recent changes to the town centre.
Cllr Long said Andoverians needed to celebrate the evolving nature of the high street as we enter the new year and accept the fact that “shopping is not the way it used to be”.
Her comments came after a poll saw Andover appear in the Top 50 Worst Places to Live for a second year
The first month of 2022 also saw residents objecting to plans by a brewing company to turn part of a farm in East Cholderton into a microbrewery and tasting room.
Breach Farm Brewing Ltd. lodged a planning application with Test Valley Borough Council, requesting to change use of a “redundant” annex to “light industrial use” for the purpose of the new business.
The company was later granted permission in May.
However, another application to build a block of 18 flats on land proposed for community use in Picket Twenty was thrown out by the Test Valley Borough Council.
Further in January, a new brand-new bakery named The Magic Bakery opened up in Andover town centre.
On January 17, a four-year-old boy and three other casualties were taken to hospital following a three-vehicle collision on the A303 near Thruxton.
It was also revealed in January that Andover’s MP cost the taxpayer more than former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the 2020-21 financial year. Kit Malthouse, who was then the minister for crime reduction and policing, was also the most expensive member of the Cabinet.
Figures from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority showed the Conservative MP’s total business costs for the 2020-21 financial year were £244,312.05. In the year, Mr Malthouse spent nearly £66,000 more than Mr Johnson, whose costs were £178,406. Speaking about the figures, Mr Malthouse said that “all claims are within the budgets provided and are scrutinised”.
FEBRUARY
February saw a trio of storms causing chaos in Andover as they ripped through the town and the wider borough, with torn-down trees, flooded roads, travel disruption and damage to people’s homes.
Storm Dudley started on Monday, February 14, closely followed by Storm Eunice and then Storm Franklin.
Schools were closed, and South Western Railway and Stagecoach suspended services due to high winds.
Further in the month, the popular Queen Charlotte Inn in London Road reopened. The pub on London Road was taken over by a new management and landlord Joshua Druce is putting the finishing touches ahead of the reopening.
The Queen Charlotte was closed in November 2021 after its previous landlord Victoria Harber was forced to leave her beloved pub after five years in charge.
She then signed a lease to take over The Red Lion pub at 37 High Street in Red Lion Lane, Overton.
In February, it was also revealed that Andover Town Council was reported to the borough council’s chief financial officer for “financial mismanagement” by one of its own members.
Cllr David Coole, who later in the year became the mayor, sent a report to TVBC Section 151 officer, as well as the town council’s own internal and external auditors, accusing the authority of “failing to approve a Balanced Budget, for False Accounting and for serious mismanagement of its Financial Reserves and its Balanced Budget setting process”.
However, an internal audit later found that there was ‘no breach’ of regulations in the budget setting process for 2022/23.
Later in the month, a Tidworth man who sexually abused two girls over a number of years was jailed for 15 years. Semi Tuilovoni Lave, 31, from Tidworth, was found guilty of six counts of rape of a child and one count of sexual assault of a child by touching.
His offending came to light in July 2020 when his young victims bravely reported the abuse.
MARCH
From the start of March, people from different parts of Andover started campaigning to raise donations for war-torn Ukraine.
The month also saw a project being formed to create a ‘place brand’ for Andover. More than 60 residents, businesses and community representatives came together to discuss the way forward. Residents were then asked to ‘get on board’ and help work out what Andover means to them and help the town establish its brand to those outside it.
In March, former Andover town councillor Adam Buckenham went on trial at Winchester Crown Court where he denied 14 charges of ‘grooming and sexually abusing a child’ over a number of years. He pleaded guilty to six other charges. Buckenham, who now lives on the Isle of Wight, is alleged to have incited the child, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to engage in sexual activity. However the trial was later delayed to later in the year.
It was also revealed in March that an Andover school with 33 pupils and two teachers would soon be closing its doors for good.
Hatherden Church of England Primary School in Andover was rated inadequate by Ofsted in 2019, and since then has been monitored by the education watchdog.
Hampshire County Council said it was not financially viable to keep the school open.
APRIL
Police began investigations in April after two indecent exposure incidents which took place in Andover in the space of a week. In the first incident, a woman was sitting on a bench when a man approached her and exposed himself. In the second incident, an 11-year-old girl was walking home from school when a man approached her and exposed himself.
April saw Tidworth’s new £7.3million civic centre celebrating a milestone as a ceremony was held to mark the start of work on the site. The building will also house the town’s new community police station.
The new building replaces the town’s ageing community centre on Wylye Road and police stations in Tidworth and Amesbury which were “no longer fit for purpose for modern policing”.
A new sushi takeaway opened in Andover in April. Aliona Viarenich opened Rice and Roll, based at the Station Inn, in Bridge Street.
Andover saw a tragic incident in April as a puppy tragically died following a walk at Anton Lakes. At around 4pm on Saturday, April 30, Jordan Shearman and Hannah Washington took their one-year-old cocker spaniel Roo for his daily walk. Roo jumped in briefly in Anton Lakes.
His eyes became a little droopy and his third eyelid began to show. However, the day out soon turned to disaster, as Roo’s condition began to deteriorate. He tragically passed later that night. A TVBC officer later said the water at Anton Lakes was tested and there were no signs of blue or green algae.
MAY
Andover saw two sad demises in May. A former Andover councillor and Test Valley mayor, Lieutenant Colonel Brian Page died on Saturday, May 14, at the Countess of Brecknock Hospice.
Former Andover mayor Barbara Long, who was an independent councillor for Andover St Mary's ward, died on Saturday, May 21, after battling cancer.
In May, concerns were raised on plans for a new retirement complex in Andover town centre. Churchill Retirement Living submitted proposals to TVBC to convert the former Simplyhealth office block, Alan Child House, into 69 retirement apartments, alongside communal facilities.
Andover’s youth festival, A-Fest, returned to the High Street in May, marking its eighth event.
In May, Cllr David Coole was elected as the new mayor of Andover Town Council.
JUNE
Andover celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in style in the first week of June.
The month also saw TVBC announcing plans to apply for up to £20 million of government funding for Andover town centre’s masterplan regeneration.
In June it was revealed that Andover’s oldest church was set to close its doors for good after dwindling congregation numbers made it unviable.
On Sunday, June 26 at 3pm, a Thanksgiving Service for the life and work of Andover United Reformed Church took place to celebrate the historic place of worship and community venue, before its final service on July 17.
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