I mentioned to the owners of Dream Doors that I could not get to the Remembrance Service this year in Abingdon.

They passed that message on, and thanks to Lawrence Harman here are some pictures of the event. You can see more of Lawrence’s pictures on his Flicker Page. He said he did not get the best position but the pictures look very good to me.

The last picture shows Steve Rich with Abindon Town Band leading the parade to the War Memorial.

It was raining hard outside, but inside Trinity Church Hall was the Autumn / Festive Fair – a very traditional event with bric-a-brac, Christmas decorations and cards, lots of marmalades, chutneys, jams, cakes, raffles, refreshments,…

There were two tombolas where you have to draw a ticket ending in 5 to win a prize, one run by Paul, who gets mistaken for Father Christmas at this time of year.

Another tombola and toy stall was run by the uniformed organisations who meet at Trinity.

They also had a game where you get 3 disks for 30p. Score 8 or more you get you money back. It took me a couple of goes to loose my 30p towards church funds.

It is the sort of community event where you meet people you haven’t seen for a while. One of them told me council staff had removed the dead cherry tree from the green at Longfellow Drive yesterday. It had been dead for two years.

This weekend the Nags Head has a first anniversary Beer Festival with twenty beers. The most popular was the new Porter from the Abingdon based Loose Cannon Brewery. (The festival will continue on Monday and Tuesday at a discount for those beers that did not sell out.)

This weekend also saw the first firework displays of the year, including the Nags Head 1st anniversary celebration fireworks at 9:30 last night.

More fireworks tonight (Sunday 3rd Nov 2013) at Abingdon Town Football Club as a fund raiser for the Abingdon Sea Cadets. Tickets are £3 per person under 6’s FREE. The event runs from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

Saturday 9th November at Long Furlong Community Centre, Abingdon, will be the 2nd Abingdon Scouts Fireworks.

Army Cadets were selling poppies in Abingdon this morning.

In 1919, King George V sent a message asking people to observe 2 minutes silence at 11am on 11th November to commemorate the 1st anniversary of armistice day.

The war must have affected everybody, and people were grateful to follow the King’s request.

In Abingdon, at the Pavlova leather works the siren sounded at 11am that Tuesday morning and the work force stopped working to remember in silence those who had not come back. All schools students were reminded of the occasion, and people in the streets, shops, and houses also observed the call for remembrance. The silence was most marked and moving in busy places. Wreathes were placed by the temporary cross at the Square in Abingdon. (Details from ‘Notes of the Week’ in that week’s Herald from 1919)

The use of poppies as a remembrance symbol started in 1920 in the USA, and came to the UK the following year.