After a service at St Helen’s Church, the uniformed organisations marched to the war memorial where many townspeople were waiting.

Abingdon Town Band were at the War Memorial and played Slaidburn as the uniformed organisations gathered.

Service sheets had been handed out by members of the Rotary Club so that everybody could join in the responses and the singing.

A member of the Royal British Legion said the exhortation: “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: / Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. / At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.”

Alison Rich of Abingdon Town Band then sounded the last post.

Two minutes of silence followed to remember the fallen.

There followed the laying of the wreaths as the band led the singing of the hymn “O God Our Help in Ages Past.’

The short service ended with The National Anthem.

There followed a march past the County Hall where dignitaries gathered,

including, on a platform, the Mayor, the Deputy Lord Lieutenant, and a senior officer who received the salute.

Some people then viewed the wreaths. Three of them had been put there on Friday by local schools. There was also a wreath from visitors from the twin town of Argentan in France.

This is a video of the arrival at the war memorial, the sounding of the last post and a short extract from uniformed organisations marching by the County Hall.

Abingdon marked Armistice Day with a two-minute silence at 11:00 GMT on 11 November to mark the end of World War One in 1918. The Mayor of Abingdon joined veterans and schoolchildren from Thameside School at the war memorial.

School children from Hawk Class at Kingfisher School have been learning about Remembrance Day and made a display of poppies and Acrostic poems that can be seen inside the Royal British Legion (RBL) HQ in Abingdon.

Also, inside the RBL HQ, somebody has made a poppy out of leftover enamel badges from 2014 to 2021.

Outside the RBL HQ is another display of poppies with two cutout sentries.
And the giant poppies are lit up behind the war memorial.

The 2nd Abingdon Scouts organised a community fireworks display behind Long Furlong Community Centre in Abingdon this evening. The 2nd Abingdon Scout Group was founded in 1922 and was first known as 2nd North Berks Scouts. They moved to their present location off Farm Road in the 1960s.

It had been raining before the firework display and a large crowd waited with umbrellas. The Abbey Brass Band played music. There was a BBQ with hot dogs and beefburgers, and canteens with hot drinks provided by the scouts. Then came the countdown for the fireworks.

During the display, the rain stopped but started soon afterwards.

It was good that the annual display coincided with November 5th, Guy Fawkes Night. “Remember, remember / The fifth of November / Gunpowder, treason and plot.” The only bonfire was one filmed and shown on a screen along with adverts for sponsors and the scouts.

There is more information about the scouts at https://2ndabingdonscouts.org.uk/.