Thanks to Mark for this …

There is a new music venue in Abingdon at the Northcourt (home of Abingdon United FC)

Since commencing in April there has been a steadily increasing audience and the decision has been taken to move from one gig a month to two gigs a month starting in February 2016.

The bands income is the door money so the more people they have attending the larger their purse and the more inclined the better bands are to come and visit us here in Abingdon.

They have had some bands that have been very popular with the audience, such as Egypt pictured above, and such bands get re-booked.

The Music at the Northcourt website has a lot of info, and the Facebook page even more. Thanks to their Facebook for the images.

Next Gig is on September 25th 2015 and features The Jeffery Brothers – Canadian rockers + support.

The Sisters of Swing sang at Abingdon Royal British Legion on Sunday to entertain people taking part in the Battle of Britain Classic Car Parade.

The cars drove round Abingdon visiting “RAF Abingdon” and saluting the Lodge Hill Spitfire before returning to the Royal British Legion.

Today (September 15th 2015) marked the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

While the newer part of the Guildhall is being revamped, the Town Council Tourist and Visitor Information service has moved downstairs to Roysse Court.

Next door, at St Nicolas Church at lunchtime, Ruth Weinberg was doing a slide show on Victorian Abingdon – the second event this year for Heritage Open Days.

She told us that the River Stert used to be an open ditch that ran along Stert Street, with bridges across. There was a peculiar sound to be heard on Saturday nights when people left the  Stert Street drinking establishments, called the Saturday Night Sound – of people landing with a splash. It was an interesting and entertaining talk with many good pictures.

This Saturday, there are events on the Market Place, and 16 open properties – all for free. It will be the first time that The Abingdon Bridge (at The Old Police Station on Bridge Street), and the Bowling Club in Albert park, have taken part.

The bells of St Nicolas Church, in Abingdon, rang out during the bun throwing ceremony when the Queen visited Abingdon in 1956, and rang out at 6pm this evening to mark the hour when Queen Elizabeth II became the longest reigning monarch.

The peel began with the trainee group.

The church of St Nicolas has been there since at least 1170, and so has been there since the reign of Henry II, through the reign of 37 Monarchs.

Not far away Fabulous Flowers had their own tribute.

The Queen, now 89 years old, went about business as usual: opening a railway, unveiling a plaque, meeting people ,and passing the many flowers she received to a lady in waiting.