There were three church fairs near Abingdon town centre this morning. St Helens had a Christmas Market with stalls in the St Katherine Aisle and a long table of books right down the middle.

At Abingdon Baptist Church there was a Christmas Fayre where Father Christmas could be seen in a grotto, and Readitdaddy and Readitdaughter were selling some excellent Children’s books for a good cause.

At Trinity, where I go, we had a Christmas Fair. The toy stall was particularly interesting with a fort, old wooden game of table skittles, and some stilts, run by the scouts.

The annual Remembrance Day parades and services were held today in Abingdon. There was a large attendance by the army, and other uniformed groups, and a large turnout of the general public.

The first parade was where town dignatories followed the town band from the Guildhall down East St Helen Street to a service at St Helen’s Church led by Revd Dr Charles Miller.

That was followed by a second service of remembrance round the war memorial – with a two minutes silence at 11am

About 40 organisations came to lay wreaths at the war memorial during the singing of the hymn “O God Our Help in Ages Past.” Pictured is Ena Mitchell, aged 97, of the War Widows Association, whose husband died in Belgium in September 1944.

A member of the Royal British Legion then said the Kohima Prayer:

The Lord’s Prayer was said, the National Anthem Sang, and then people lined the High Street to cheer the troops and members of the uniformed groups as they saluted the Mayor of Abingdon-on-Thames, Councillor Alice Badcock.

More pictures on the Abingdon Blog Facebook page.

A two minute silence is held to mark Armistice Day when after four years of fighting in World War I, the end of the war was marked on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

At Eleven O’Clock this morning the Town Crier rang his bell and traffic came to a halt for a two minute silence at Abingdon war memorial.

There were a group of pupils from Thameside School along with their Deputy Head. Over a hundred people had gathered around the war memorial – far more than the much smaller gathering you would have seen ten years ago. People were there to remember those killed in two World Wars and the British servicemen killed or injured since 1945.

Alongside the Mayor, Councillor Alice Badcock, is Stan Bradford who served in WW2.

Thanks to Elizabeth for the last two pictures.

The Abingdon Army Cadets have been in the town centre selling poppies again today. Remembrance Sunday is the 13th November.

There was a first frost on Thursday. Leaves have been falling steadily.

It is November the 5th and there is a chance to take part in a Firewalk at the Nags Head. Money raised goes to Blue Skye Thinking.

Also on tonight is the scouts’ fireworks, and tomorrow is Dalton Barracks fireworks and funfair. They normally also have a big bonfire.

I was reading in the library this morning Ron Chung’s recollections of life in Abingdon (a photocopied pamphlet in the local studies section called ‘Where are they now – The Slums and Courts of Abingdon’). He remembers “November 5th we wanted a ‘Bonfire’ so I asked the farmer to dump all the collected rubbish from the shops to be dumped in the ‘Reck’ for this which he carried out provided we kept it tidy and a great fire we had. (Remember all this was collected by horse and cart).”

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