The Broad Face sign that has reigned over the Bridge Street entrance into Abingdon for the last few years has been knocked off its perch by another sign.
These are not the executioners of the old. They are a couple of the helpers preparing the sign for the unveiling.
The veil is pulled away…
The Old Broad Face is back!
25th January – Burns night – second national day of Scotland – and ex-pat Scots have been reciting poems by Rabbie Burns, eating haggis with neeps, and playing the bagpipes in a number of locations in Abingdon.
Isabel organises one such event every year at Millstream Court in Abingdon.
The obelisk is near to where the sheep market was held – and now the site of the war memorial. On the right is the Congregational Church erected in 1862 to replace an earlier Congregational Church building. It now houses Ask – a restaurant.
Inside the restaurant is a large reproduction of the ‘View West along Ock Street c 1875′ where you can pose for a 2011 digital photograph.
The Town Crier was outside the Guildhall to welcome teachers and Year 7 students from John Mason School. Every year Year 7 comes to the Guildhall to learn about some of Abingdon’s important buildings and some of their history.
The Mayor, Duncan Brown welcomed everybody, then the students split into 9 different groups, and were taken on a tour of 9 different locations in the Guildhall itself, the Abbey Buildings, St Helen’s Church and the almshouses.
The Mayor held court in the Guildhall’s Council Chamber, an oak panelled room rebuilt in 1733, where he entertained the students with a talk that began with the picture of Mad King George III who lost the American colonies … looked at many other seemingly uninteresting pictures in a fun way … discovered a statue outside riddled with civil war musket fire … and ended with a picture of the town council in 1878. The students had to say what might have changed between 1878 to 2010. For a start the council in 1878 were all male, looked elderly, sported a lot of facial hair, and did not smile.
I have a copy of the leaflet and questionnaire the pupils carried round during the morning. It says at the start “Have fun and be a credit to John Mason“.
It was. They were.