There was camaraderie as uniformed groups gathered at the Market Place and along Bury Street. Normally they gather in St Helen’s Church, but because of Covid it was thought better to meet outside.

Soldiers marched to the War Memorial, leading the parade.

The Mayor of Ock Street can be seen here representing Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers. Many of the Morris Dancers joined up in WWI and some were injured and one is known to have died. (See http://atmd.org.uk/ww1/ )

There was a large crowd gathered at the War Memorial. This is the moment when the flags are lowered before the two minute silence where people join in remembering those who fell in the wars.

We have seen pictures of WWI and WWII and footage of Afghanistan and Iraq. There are people in Abingdon who still live with the memory of wars where they served, or had to escape as refugees.

2021 is the centenary of the Royal British Legion and their flag was prominent as groups marched back from the War Memorial to salute dignitaries in front of the County Hall.

2021 is also the centenary of the Abingdon War Memorial.

Clare, who organises the poppy appeal in Abingdon, returned to look at the tributes before going on to the Royal British Legion club.

She sent me this picture of a tribute done by pupils of Our Lady Abingdon.

The cutouts feature names from the Abingdon War Memorial. Clare said ‘It has real wow emotive factor and it’s great to pupils get involved.’

The latest decoration on the postbox in the Market Place in Abingdon has been put there to symbolise
‘those who gave their tomorrow
for our today
LEST WE FORGET’.

Thanks to ‘THE CREATOR’ for the excellent crochet / knitwear.

The big red poppy over the war memorial is there waiting to be turned on soon. The remembrance service is on Sunday 14th.

There are three charity shops with Remembrance Displays. Acacia

Helen and Douglas House, and Sue Ryder.

When troops returned, after being heavily involved in Afghanistan, there were homecoming parades in Abingdon for soldiers returning to Dalton Barracks. HRH Princess Anne presented medals to the soldiers of The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) from Dalton Barracks, in May 2013.

After a Freedom March round the town she also took the salute.

Now that the Taliban are back in power, after the twenty year war, our local MP says our country should do more to help refugees. Local council Leaders from Oxfordshire and the Vale are ready to help support Afghan refugees.

Layla Moran MP has said ‘The scenes in Afghanistan have shocked us all. We can do better than take in 5,000 refugees – that is only 7 per constituency. Our starting point should be 20,000 refugees – still only 30 per constituency – and not our target. The Government must help those fleeing the Taliban.’

Councillor Liz Leffman, the leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said: ‘As has been very well publicised, the situation in Afghanistan has become acute in recent days and there is a clear requirement for authorities at local, regional and national level to respond quickly.

At Oxfordshire County Council we will do all we can to support those in need. We already know that the people of Oxfordshire are keen to provide support as many have come forward with generous offers of help. We will work with district council colleagues and community organisations to co-ordinate this goodwill and generosity.’

Vale of White Horse District Council leader, Emily Smith, said ‘As a local housing authority, Vale of White Horse District Council can provide assistance locally to people over the age of 18 arriving in the UK who have been granted refugee status, subject to the availability of the necessary resources in the district. The Vale has previously supported six Syrian families to successfully resettle in the area… As a council and a district, we will work with local partners to put plans place to support those from Afghanistan who are granted refugee status in the UK.’

Yesterday’s blog post reported how wooden crosses were placed on up to 100 military graves at the Abingdon’s Cemeteries, as an act of remembrance. These include a large number of military graves for crew members based at RAF Abingdon. There are more RAF graves at Our Lady and St Edmund of Abingdon Church.

Near the lodge of the Spring Road Cemetery are a cluster of six RAF graves.

Behind them is a stone cross, of a different design, for Pilot Officer Peter Shennan, of the RAF. Somebody had left poppies there.

On the morning of 5th April 1939 a Fairey Battle, a light single engine bomber, took off from RAF Abingdon for a series of low level bombing practise runs. On the third run, as the aircraft dived to gain speed towards RAF Abingdon, the pilot became aware of something leaving the rear cockpit. Banking to check, the pilot saw a body falling to the ground.

The body of Peter Shennan was found soon afterwards in a field near Dry Sandford. The inquest found that he died of multiple injuries. The inquest also noted that his pilot suit did not have an anchorage point. He came from Wolverhampton and was buried with full military honours. The webpage http://aircrewremembered.com/shennan-peter.html has a fuller account and pictures of the ceremony.

This image of the Fairey Battle, at the RAF Museum London, was posted to Flickr by tataquax at https://www.flickr.com/photos/25451699@N04/6856709971 and is licensed under the terms of the creative commons cc-by-sa-2.0.