FESTIVAL organisers and a further education centre are pushing to fulfil Abingdon's potential as an 'epicentre of UK science'.

Businesspeople and brainiacs behind the ATOM Festival of Science and Technology pledged to return to the town with a big bang this month.

It comes as Abingdon and Witney College begins to shape its £4m science and engineering facility, which was funded by the Government to help develop 'world class' skills in the sectors.

ATOM's committee chairman James White said the group wanted to 'run its own show' following poor turnout last year, when the line-up was largely organised by Oxfordshire Science Festival.

The town centre resident said: "Performance last year was rather disappointing. We want to make this distinctive; it could get swallowed up in Oxford. Last year a lot of focus was on Oxford but neither [events in] Abingdon or Oxford were particularly successful."

ATOM's committee has taken back control and Mr White insisted the festival this year, which runs from March 22 until March 26, would be the 'biggest Abingdon has ever seen'.

Highlights from the packed five-day programme include a talk about aliens by broadcaster and physics Jim Al-Khalili OBE, and a presentation by professor David Martill's experience hunting dinosaur fossils in the Sahara Desert.

There will also be lab-based challenges for families plus an array of activities at an open-air market in the town centre.

Retired businessman Mr White said: "Abingdon is a really major centre for science. My ambition is to build this up as a major event."

He hoped the festival could help the town to step out of the shadow from well-known neighbouring science hubs, and earn itself recognition for the subject in its own right.

He said: "Abingdon is possibly in danger of being overshadowed by Oxford but it has a life of its own and a strong science base.

"It's the epicentre of UK science, we've got famous national labs around us at Culham, Harwell, Appleton and the science parks. There's an awful lot around here, there's lots of things going on. It's a very lively town and it's developing."

The event is still legally linked to the Oxfordshire festival but ATOM has its own committee and organises the town's events independently.

The programme encompasses are a variety of locations including Abingdon School, which is championing science subjects through an outreach programme called the Abingdon Science Partnership.

ATOM's push to embrace science subjects in the town coincides with the start of building works at Abingdon & Witney College, which has just cleared land for its new Advanced Skills Centre.

The Government-funded project promises to catalyse students’ passion for engineering and science in a state-of-the-art building at the Wootton Road campus.

Michael Chiyasa, head of estates and capital development at the college, said: “Everyone here is very excited that work on the centre is under way.

“What was initially a plan to address the local skill shortages in high priority sectors has now transformed into a building project that has been fully-designed and is ready to go.”

The multi-million pound centre was funded by a Government grant announced in 2014.

In papers released at the time about the deal, the Government said: “[It will] help develop a ‘world class’ Oxfordshire skills and learning eco-system that is better able to support the local growth ambition, world class sectors and communities."

Construction is due to be complete by November ahead of the centre’s planned opening at the beginning of January next year.

For more information about ATOM visit atomfestival.org.uk.