The civic church service this morning ( to celebrate the 450th year of Abingdon’s charter) saw a parade led by the St Niklaas Flag throwers, and the Schongau and Abingdon bands. After the Bans for marriages had been read by Rev Charles Miller, the service ended with the churches in Argentan presenting banners that had been entrusted to them during a previous exchange two years ago back to the churches in Abingdon, and they in turn entrusted their own banner to Abingdon.

Afterwards, everybody paraded back up East St Helens Street, and congregated in the council chamber in the Guildhall for drinks.

On offer alongside various wines and juices, was this beer specially brewed by Greene King for the 450th anniversary, and called Bun Thrower. The beer is only a limited edition. It tasted very good but not quite so good as Old Speckled Hen. Just shows that they are missing something by no longer using Abingdon’s beer brewing know-how (they took over Morland and moved production to Suffolk).

Looking at the bar code on this box it has a best before date of tomorrow.

Last night people drank the beer during a hand clapping, table banging, German beer evening. Well it was German apart from the meal being steak and kidney pie.

Near the end, both the Mayor of Abingdon and the Mayor of Schongau were invited to conduct the other town’s band – a Schongau tradition.

After each tune or two we would be led in singing by the Schongau band:

Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit.

And then everybody would raise their glass and sing

Einz…Zwei…Drei…Suffa!

(which translates roughly to One…Two…Three…Down the Hatch!”

The Mayor Cllr Peter Green was ready to throw the first bun.

And here are the sea of faces ready for the buns. The church bells starting ringing, and the buns started raining down.

And here is just one of the 4500 buns being launched (to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the Abingdon charter)…

and being chased down below (as featured on Abingdon Wikipedia).

Then people like the Gottfrieds here (from the World of Bun Throwing Blog) took home their bounty.

This house in Saxton Road is geared up for Englands first world cup match against Paraguay this afternoon.

This mum is taking her three children, complete with flags, into Abingdon, on this sunny morning.

Here are visitors from some of the twin towns, gathering for the start of a conducted tour around the Abbey, and down to St Helens Church.

At the bottom of West St Helens Street, next to the church, were a display of MG cars. Inside the church there was an MG motor club exhibition.

Also on display in the church are the new bells. A lot of the money for the bells was left fifty years ago by Edgar Humphrey. The large bell enscription read “Edgar Humphrey 1870 -1856 By whose benificence this ring of bells was installed in the Church of St Helens. Praise Him upon the loud cymbal”. On the back of the bell Rev Michael Goode’s name is moulded.

In the Market Place, the Schongau band (one of Abingdon’s twin towns ) played.

The Flag throwers from St Niklaas (a Vale twin town) also performed twice. The green flag is Abingdon’s.

The road to Dorchester had to be closed for a couple of hours because of a serious accident down that way.

Copies of the new book “Cameos of Abingdon” were on sale for £8-50. And there were 450 copies of a facsimile copy of the Town Charter for sale for £4-50 to celbrate Abingdon’s 450th charter year.

Abingdon is blessed in having so many good local historians who write about the town. “Abingdon – Past & Present” by Elizabeth Dury and Judith Thomas – shows, side-by-side, the same scenes in old Abingdon and in new Abingdon.

To emulate the book, in my rather slap-dash way, I took this photograph on a lay-by outside Abingdon, going towards Drayton, of a fairly old road sign. It cannot be that old though because Abingdon has only been in Oxfordshire since 1974. But it got the sepia effect.

Next, I crossed over the road, and took this picture in the Abingdon-bound lay-by opposite. The fines have gone up.

Close by people have been filmed and prosecuted for fly tipping. In this case the fines can get quite hefty.