Barriers are stacked on the Market Place.

Notices have been put up warning people not to leave cars or bikes in town. Road closures will be in operation. The streets in the town centre have been gone over a couple of times, and will be gone over once more, in the early hours, with a street cleaner.

The Parade will leave the Fire Station in Ock Street at 09:35 and arrive on the Market Place by 09:45. HRH the Princess Royal will arrive at 10:00 when the ceremonies will take place, following which the 12 LSR will parade though the Town, with the Princess taking the salute.

Sometimes there are events going on Abingdon people would have liked to have known about beforehand. Marks out of five for how many you knew were happening.

1. The Choose Abingdon AGM is at the Guildhall at 7pm today (21st May). They will featuring a number of videos and revealing plans for involving the community in a brainstorming session about how we use our riverside spaces. And telling us about the new community shop project. All welcome.

2. Ruby’s Vintage and Retro Fair is coming to Abingdon Guildhall on June 7th.

3. Andy Flannagan will be playing the Amey Theatre this Friday . Profits go to a charity very dear to two local people which is why they staged the event.

4. Billi Smiles Circus is on from the 22nd May on the Wootton Road. You can not have missed Billi Smiles’s posters!!!

5. Parents and Tots need never get bored in Abingdon with so many groups. More info from North Abingdon Children’s Centre.

On June 8th 1953 The ‘Two Angry Women of Abingdon’ was performed by Abingdon Drama Club – the first ever performance at the Unicorn Theatre in Abingdon.

In 1959 Orlando, an opera by Handel was performed. It was to be the first of many Handel operas brought back to the stage at the Unicorn in Abingdon by Alan Kitching. The Unicorn and Handel have became part of Handel operatic history.

This evening to commemorate those sixty years there was another Handel opera – Semele – performed by Jackdaws Opera Plus. Jackdaws run music courses and Opera Plus helps young singers get on. Semele has been performed as workshops in schools and the performance was brought to the Unicorn Theatre tonight.

Tickets were £30 each and were sold out.

The audience included Colin Kitching, the son of Alan kitching, and David Madden, who was a child actor in the mid-50s (more plays than operas), and Christine Lightfoot, a musician from the early operas.

The modern dress Handel had great humour and was enjoyed by all those I spoke to afterwards.

(Thanks to Hester for the pictures)

To celebrate 460 years of the Charity Christ’s Hospital of Abingdon there is an exhibition at Long Alley Almshouse this weekend.

In the hall, used for Governors’ meetings, there are pictures and books and manuscripts from the archives on display. The earliest book of meeting minutes, dating from 1577, is open, with a typewritten transcription alongside. There is an album showing the pictures taken by The Times Newspaper when they did a feature on almshouses in 1939. Another photo album shows Abingdon Bridge being rebuilt in 1927.

In 1668 Samuel Pepys visited the Almshouses and donated half-a-crown into the poor box. The poor box is still there – opened at Christmas.

Last Saturday Christ’s Hospital of Abingdon held a lunch at the Guildhall for their residents, staff and suppliers as part of their 460th anniversary celebrations.

The occasion also marked the retirement of the charity’s clerk, Chris Nutman, after ten years of service. After a very convivial lunch, Chris was driven off to enjoy his retirement in unusual fashion by Tom Robinson, the park keeper of Albert Park (run by Christ’s Hospital).