Here is the St Helen’s Clock at 2 minutes before 8 this morning.

Here is the clock again at 2 minutes before 9 – after the hands had been moved forward eleven hours.

Putting the clock back an hour at St Helen’s Church involves moving the hands forward eleven hours. Here is the movie…

There is a Hallowe’en Haunt trail you can follow round the town centre with the chance of a prize of £100 to spend at town centre shops. The event is run by The Town Centre BID.

Walking round Abingdon this evening I was made to feel the fear by one or two of the shop window displays.

EEEHHH!

YIIEEEE!

St Michael’s Church was full of colourful stalls for the Autumn Fair. I was suprised on entering how many stalls and people there were, and had to ask “Is it always as big as this?”

There was a raffle with about twenty prizes including a Miele vacuum cleaner. There were charity stalls and games and entertainment and food; also there were craft stalls with people who had paid for a table. Money raised goes towards the church’s operating costs and for HOST Abingdon supporting Syrian refugee families settling in our area.

As people sat over soup and a ploughman’s lunch a man told us a little about the HOST Abingdon project. They want Abingdon to be a place of sanctuary for a few of those who have lost everything – asylum seekers and refugees.

The annual Michaelmas Fair is Abingdon’s oldest tradition, and best attended event.

A number of local restaurants set up camp on their doorsteps to take full advantage, including Dorindo’s Mexican Restaurant.

There were no gaps between the stalls and rides along the full length of the fair, which stretches  from the Market Place to the double mini roundabout off Drayton Road – more than half a mile.

The Town Council website says ‘It is the longest street fair in Europe.’