This morning there was a service at St Helens Church to thank God for Abingdon, past and present.

After the service there was a lunch. There were some notable people present.

Here are the faces…
And here are the names:

Lesley Legge: Abingdon Town Councillor and Chair of Oxfordshire County Council
Tim Ahern: Mayor of Kensington and Chelsea
Peter Green: Mayor of Abingdon
Hugo Brunner: Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire
The Earl of Abingdon
Col Bob Pearce: Station Commander of Dalton Barracks
Julie Mayhew Archer: Town Councillor and Chair of The Vale of the White Horse District Council
Nigel Warner: Abingdon Town Clerk.

Final Preparations for Abingdon’s Big Day on Friday. As in every other year, lights are draped around the trees in the market place…
Like every year there was somebody directing the proceedings and saying “A bit further that way.. no back a bit this way… no a bit that way…”
Like every year it ended with lights being put round the tree…

What will be different about turning on the lights this year is that Friday is the very day 450 years ago, 24th November 1556, when a Horseback rider, from London, presented the Charter to the town of Abingdon. This year that horseback ride is to be re-enacted: not all the way, of course, but at least the last fifty yards.

Winsmore Lane runs from Ock Street, and joins the end of St Edmunds Lane. You now have to go round the carpark on the way to St Helens Church. I remember reading somewhere that the route used to be more direct, going diagonally from Ock Street to St Helens Church.

Those buildings on the left will soon be gone. There was advertised a “single storey storage shed on a site of 0.021 hectares (0.052acres). Offers were sought on a conditional basis subject to planning.”

Price: £100,000

seems a good honest figure. Not the usual £99,995.

The Mental Health Trust (OBMH) says
“Abingdon Clock House is the base for the South Oxfordshire Child and Family Clinic… Our multidisciplinary team provides care for children and adolescents under 18. The team includes Community Psychiatric Nurses, Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Social Workers and Occupational Therapists.”

This wing on the left has an Oriel window beneath which are three moulded faces and the words “The Beaconsfield” over the door. It was at some stage the local HQ for the Conservative Party. The faces are profuiles of Disraeli. Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire was the home constituency of Benjamin Disraeli who became The Earl of Beaconsfield. Beaconsfield got used as a popular road and building name as a result in the Late Victorian Era

The largest part of the building to the right once served as the grand family house to one of the Tomkins Family. Previous Tomkins family buildings covered in this blog are Twickenham House, Stratton House, the Maltings and Almshouse. If I remember rightly this building has a small plaque saying:

Lloyds TSB Private Banking Limited.

I’m not a sure what that is all about. Lloyds TSB have two public banks with the usual trading logo of the Black Horse nearer the centre of Abingdon. But on this their biggest building they are very very modest. Perhaps it is because its a listed building.