The third Abingdon Passion Play was on today in the Abbey Gardens.

In the two hours before the play, from 12 – 2 pm, there was a chance to look round the community stalls and take part in activities.

There was a display by Gideons from Abingdon who give Bibles, and New Testaments to schools, hotels, hospitals, prisons etc.

The Abingdon Carbon Cutters were there letting us know about some of their campaigns including Plastic Free Abingdon.

Hilary Green, Mayor of Abingdon (2003 – 2004) was there as the Chairperson of the Abingdon Sea Cadets.

The Vineyard Church had a very popular Easter Egg hunt, something they do every year, but this year part of The Big Easter Event..

St Ethelwolds House were there to let us know about their activities, such as Mindfulness Courses, and about Oxfordshire Artweeks which I will do separately some time in the near future.

The local National Trust group had a stall to let us all know about their talks and tours.

At 2 pm, the Passion Play began. It was quite different from previous productions. All the action took place on a stage with a big screen behind. The screen sometimes showed the action magnified, and sometimes showed the choir. There were three very good actors, from LAMPS theatre, playing: Marcus, a centurion, Mary Magdalene, and Simon Peter. Through their eyes, we saw the last days of Jesus who was there, in some sense, but never seen.

The local community came on for other roles and crowd scenes.

The script and eight songs were created for the production, and the songs sung by a large choir.

Near the end Jesus was crucified,

and then rose again and appeared to Mary Magdelene.

There was a good audience and the production was well received. LAMPs will now go on tour with the production.

I am not sure whether community members like Mike Gould, who played Herod ‘Nigel Farage’, will be joining them.

Thankyou to Jane for sending this:

Singers, dancers and actors from the Oxfordshire Youth Music Theatre are a group of talented 14 to 19-year-olds from all across the county, including quite a few from Abingdon.

Their latest production of 42nd Street is running now with tickets available for the shows on Friday 5th at 7pm and Saturday 6th at the 2pm and 7pm. The performance is at Radley College Theatre, Abingdon.

Tickets are available by searching We Got Tickets for 42nd Street OYMT on https://www.wegottickets.com or on the door if there are some left.

The Easter holiday starts this weekend and children have two weeks off from 6th – 22nd April. Abingdon’s new cinema, The Abbey, will be screening some new, family-friendly films: Missing Link and Peppa Pig’s Festival of Fun. The Dumbo film should also be on soon.

In the animated film Missing Link, Myths and monsters investigator, Sir Lionel Frost, sets off on an adventure to the Pacific Northwest to prove the existence of a legendary creature – Mr. Link.

Peppa Pig is celebrating 15 years of entertaining children and there will be ten brand new episodes, making up an hour for little ones to spend with Peppa and her family.

Then coming soon is Dumbo 2019.

Ian Wiper, Managing Director says: “Dumbo is the first of several fantastic live action Disney remakes to look forward to this year, along with Aladdin and the Lion King. The ticket demand has already been huge.”

As well as the Passion Play this Saturday at 2pm, there is also the Abingdon Horticultural Society Spring Show from 2pm until 4pm. The entrance fee for non members is £1. There will be a plant stall and refreshments will be available.

Members compete in classes for Spring Flowers, Baking, Photographs and  Handicrafts, and there is a special section for young people to enter a range of exhibits.

It’s that time of the year when the clocks go forward, but more important than that everyone in Abingdon has been finding ways to thank the person who brought them into the world, and I don’t mean the midwife. Happy Mothers Day

In Abingdon there are a wide variety of shops where we can get gifts, cards, and flowers for our mums – like Finishing Touch shown above. Restaurants also had a busy day.