The Christmas Fayre at the Baptist Church was on, today, Saturday 20th November 2021. On entering, a man with a top hat and face mask gives you a card, with the times of the services this Christmas time, and a token for a free drink at the 35 Ock Street Cafe.

Through the door, and up to the balcony and this is the view: a cross, five Christmas trees, a red carpet, and stalls.

Then you go downstairs to look round the stalls and buy some books and a jigsaw. You are tempted by a knitted octopus but then think, ‘what would I do with it?’.

On the way out you pick up Contact, the monthly magazine of Abingdon Baptist Church. There is a message from the minister, Steve Millard. It says, ‘As I’m sure most of you are aware, Heather and I will be moving at the end of November; we are moving to Coventry, and I take up my role as Minister of Laurence Saunders Road Baptist Church on 1 December…’.

You go into the 35 Ock Street Cafe and have a quick look at the exhibition and see Steve Millard.

Finally, you get your coffee and find a place to read the rest of the Contact magazine.

The Traveling Wilburys played the Abbey Cinema in Abingdon this evening. The group is made up of Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, George Harrison (look-alike sound-alikes) and drummer . They not only played Wilbury songs but also individual songs by the individual artists. There was a near capacity audience.

Merchandise included Traveling WilBearys, CDs, pens and T Shirts. A signed guitar was raffled and won by the man with pink ticket 491.

The audience left the concert after one encore. The band did not play a second encore.

An Armistice Day Act of Remembrance was held at the Abingdon War Memorial at 11 am today, as well as many other places in Abingdon.

Armistice Day is remembered each year on November 11th to mark the armistice signed between the Allies and Germany in Compiègne, France, for the end of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I. It came into force at eleven am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918.

The event was attended by the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Andy Foulsham, other councillors, members of the Royal British Legion, and among the public, a group from Thameside School.

Clare Oldfield, poppy appeal organiser, said, ‘I spotted poppies like these these on the doorsteps of various houses in Exbourne road, Bath Street and Ock Street. What a wonderful thing to wake up to. Isn’t Abingdon amazing? Support for the poppy has been overwhelming this year and this is a fabulous tribute. I don’t know who did them but thank you.’

The Exbourne Road poppies are up again and poppy sellers will be out and about in the town centre, Waitrose and Tesco on Friday and Saturday.

The Christmas Lights have been turned on in Bury Street.

There is no Christmas Extravaganza this year. The Abingdon-on-Thames Chamber of Commerce organised the event in previous years. Their website says they are no longer organising local excellence markets / extravaganza. It took all their time and did not leave much time to carry out business related activities.

There will be a Christmas Craft Market on Saturday 4th December. Local excellence markets (including this) are now organised by the Abingdon Events Partnership.