Category Archives: Christmas

CiA Christmas Carols on the Market Place

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Sally Mears led the Church in Abingdon (CiA) carols this morning on Abingdon Market Place.

There was a good turn out. By the time they reached ‘O, the rising of the sun / And the running of the deer’ there was also warm sunshine.

In previous years, I have been asked when there will be carol singing in Abingdon. So here is what I have been able to find out about carol services from church websites. (The website links are included if you want to double check. I am just human.)

Abingdon Church Carol Services

Church (Location) Event Name Date Time
All Saints Carols by Candlelight Sunday, December 15th 3:30 PM
Peachcroft Christian Centre
(Peachcroft Park)		 Carols in the Park Sunday, December 15th 5:30 PM
Salvation Army Community Carols Wednesday, December 18th 11:00 AM
Abingdon Community Church
(Thameside School)		 Community Carols Sunday, December 22nd 10:30 AM
Abbey Baptist Church Carol Service Sunday, December 22nd 10:30 AM and 6:00 PM
Christ Church Carol Service Sunday, December 22nd 4:00 PM & 7:00 PM
Our Lady and St Edmund’s Carol Service Sunday, December 22nd 4:00 PM
Trinity Carol Service Sunday, December 22nd 4:30 PM
St Helen’s Carols by Candlelight Sunday, December 22nd 5:30 PM
Abingdon Baptist Church Carol Service Sunday, December 22nd 6:00 PM
St Nicolas Carol Service Sunday, December 22nd 6:00 PM
St Michael and All Angels Carols and Readings Tuesday, December 24th 6:00 PM

The Oxfordshire County Carol Service is in Abingdon this year. The Chair of Oxfordshire County Council, Councillor Alison Rooke, and The Bishop of Dorchester, The Rt Revd Gavin Collins, invite you to join them on Monday 16 December 2024 at 6.30 pm in St Michael and All Angels Church. Dress code is smart casual and chains are to be worn.

A Festive Bells Initiative (FBI) will ensure the carol services at St Helen’s and St Nicolas are heard far and wide.

The Abbey Baptists, who are not part of the CiA, have their own Carol Service on the Market Place on Saturday, December, 21st at 10 AM.

A week of Carol Concerts at St Helen’s Church

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This week, St Helen’s Church has been a hub of activity as local schools bring in large groups of students for their Carol Concerts. These gatherings attract up to 700 young people at a time, filling the church with all the additional chairs.

The services are primarily led by the schools’ own chaplains or teachers and St Helen’s staff play a supportive role. The majority of the organisational work, including managing the large groups of children, is handled by the school staff. On Monday was the Abingdon Prep School Carol Concert; on Tuesday Our Lady’s Abingdon Carol Concerts (there were two); today, Thursday, the Manor Prep School has a day of Concerts; and tomorrow is the Abingdon School Carol Service.

It will then be the end of term for all these schools, which are not in the state sector. The state schools have another week to go. Their carol concerts are next week.

One unique aspect of St Helen’s preparations is the Jesse Tree, a Christmas tree that depicts the lineage of Jesus Christ. Each day, additional figures are added to the tree.

An Arcadian Christmas Concert is at St Helens Church on Saturday. The Arcadian Singers are a student-run chamber choir based in Oxford.

Festive Yarn Bombing at St Helen’s Wharf

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During the first week of December, the row of bollards along St Helen’s Wharf in Abingdon was decorated with crochet covers. The robin and Christmas pudding designs alternate. Last year there were just Christmas Puddings and half of those have reappeared for the second year joined by well rounded robins.

Somebody’s hard work has brought festive cheer to this picturesque spot by the Thames.

Snowflakes on Walls and Stars Beneath Our Feet

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Rain is falling on Abingdon High Street, reflecting the lights.

Overhead, white and blue Christmas lights make icy patterns. Bar windows have a warmer glow. The festive lights brighten what would have been a bleak evening 21 days before Christmas.

Most of the lights in Abingdon town centre are provided by Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council. The candles around the Market Place have been here for almost twenty years, but this year they have been fitted with orange flames.

The modern Christmas tree sculpture, made of a frame with white and blue LED lights, was added last year.

What is new this year is the projection of turning white snowflakes against what is usually a featureless brick wall beside the junction at the bottom of Stratton Way.

Not that projections are new to Abingdon. The other provider of lights is the Bury Street Shopping Centre who do their own. They project stars onto the precinct  pavement.

The lights make Abingdon a little brighter. With just 33 days until Twelfth Night, there’s time to enjoy.