Many Abingdon people gathered round the war memorial in the sunshine, and along High Street to await the remembrance day parade. Abingdon Town Band led the parade from a service at St Helen’s Church to the war memorial. The parade included soldiers from Dalton Barracks.

Uniformed groups, and civic organisations brought wreaths of poppies to lay at the war memorial.

Then at 11 am, one hundred years after the guns of WW1 became silent, Steve Rich read the exhortation “They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old… we will remember them“. Alison Rich of Abingdon Town Band then played the last post (recording above). There followed a two minutes silence (to remember the fallen).

After Alison Rich sounded the Reveille, the band played and the crowd sang “Oh God our Help in Ages Past” as wreaths were put beside the memorial.

After the end of the ceremony, and after God save the Queen had been sung, civic dignitaries then went ahead to the County Hall to await the march by.

The Deputy Lord-Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, representing the Queen, (Mrs Felicity Dick), the Mayor of Abingdon-on-Thames (Councillor Margaret Crick), the town’s poppy appeal organiser (Clare Oldfield), and a senior officer from Dalton Barracks took the salute. To their left is 100 year old Ena Mitchell, from the war widows association.

The march was led by Abingdon Town Band and soldiers from Dalton Barracks,

It included veterans,

and uniformed groups and went on and on and on. It is a wonder they all fitted round the war memorial.

Back at the war memorial people looked at the wreaths,

and left their own tributes.

The event was very well organised, and people along the High Street could hear what was going on through loud speakers.

For the second time during the centenary of the commemoration of World War I, the Abingdon (Borough) Roll of Service has been read at St Helen’s Church. The first time was in 2014 ,one hundred years after the start of the war, and this second time is today, November 10th 1918, at the end of the bloody war.

Lots of people were invited to read. Some with family connections, some not.

They read Surname, Christian names, and address. The reading took on a particular rhythm with the emphasis on the surname, many of which were repeated lots of times. The reading was sometimes broken up with poems.

The names of the men who died on service are printed in heavier type in the Roll and they were read from the pulpit, while those who endured injury, or the hardship and horror of the war, were read from the lectern.

The Deputy Lieutenant of Oxfordshire (the Queen’s representative) read the the end of the G’s.

Then Ewart Hemmings, a former Mayor of Abingdon, read H’s into the Hemmings, including his father.

There were a lot of Hemmings, and at least four were read from the pulpit together with the place of death.

Another name to be read from the pulpit was King, Percival Arthur, 22 Ock Street. There were also a lot of Kings. Percival was killed in action at Mons while serving with the Royal Berkshire Regiment as part of the British Expeditionary Force. He was Abingdon’s first fatality of WW1 and King street on the new Morland Garden development is named after him. Thanks to Steve for sending me that.

Exbourne Road,  a street of 31 houses in Abingdon, has 18 large poppies on display. Each poppy in a front window represents men from that house who signed up to answer the call of duty during WWI.

From one house, six men / lads signed up.

From this small street, 34 men signed up; six were never to return; eight were wounded; and the rest returned having been through the hardship and horror of war.

A cascade of poppies, one for each of Abingdon’s fallen in WWI, falls from the beams of St Nicolas church in the marketplace.  The Abingdon Crochet group from Masons created the poppies to commemorate the sacrifice.

Events over the weekend include:

Abingdon Roll of Honour read by various people – St Helen’s Church
Saturday, 10 November 2018 – 9:30am

Civic Bun Throw – County Hall and Abingdon Market Place
Saturday, 10 November 2018 – 2:00pm

Remembrance Concert – Abingdon Town Band – St Helen’s Church
Saturday, 10th November, 7:30pm-9:30pm

Remembrance Day Service – St Helen’s Church and Abingdon War Memorial
Sunday, 11th November, 10:00am-11:15am

Ringing out for peace – Abingdon Market Place
Sunday, 11th November, 7.00 pm

Beacon Lighting – County Hall
Sunday, 11th November, 7:00pm-8:00pm

A lot of the shop windows in Abingdon town centre have poppies and WWI displays as we near the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI on November 11th 2018.

Gemini Hair and Robert Stanley Opticians  are displaying large poppies.

Fat Face has the Abingdon WWI Roll of Honour, showing men from Bridge Street who served together with pictures of them and their families.

The Abingdon Flower Club has a double display in the Community Free Space. On one side are poppies and military symbols;

and on the other side is a reminder of the women’s suffrage movement, that led to women over the age of 30 who owned property getting the vote in 1918, together with all men over the age of 21.