What’s On in Abingdon: May 25th – May 28th, 2025

Sunday, May 25th, 2025 –


Abingdon Cycle Festival – Rides set off from the Market Place at 9:00 AM and continue throughout the morning.

Litter Picking in Abingdon Town Centre (AbiBinit!) – Keep Abingdon Tidy! Equipment provided – including litter pickers for adults and children, high-vis jackets, gloves, and hand sanitizer – or feel free to bring your own.

The 42nd World Poohsticks Championship – Take your chance at becoming a world champion in something you never trained for! Organised by The Rotary Club of Abingdon.

Tuesday, May 27th, 2025 –


Agnostics Anonymous – A chance to explore another faith question  – open to all.

Wednesday, May 28th, 2025 –


Abingdon Naturalists Society – talk on ‘Dragons and Damsels of the Abingdon Area: Are They the Ultimate Predator?’


Abingdon Mega Reservoir – a talk about the concerns raised by the proposed reservoir.

A Walk by the Mill Stream – Wildlife and a Fire


Walking beside the Mill Stream, which flows from the weir near the Abbey Grounds, I spotted a swan family.

There was also a parent moorhen with two young. They have grown a lot since the last time I saw them. There is so much undergrowth on the river that the others may or may not have been about.

I also saw what looked like a small fire and thought somebody was camping.

A heron was waiting for fish at the weir. The weir walkway is still closed because of safety concerns.

On the way back, I saw the fire had grown much larger. A couple had stopped to watch, and on the far bank, three or four people were actively gathering wood and throwing it onto the flames. The surrounding vegetation was dry and looked ready to catch fire, posing a real risk to nearby trees and wildlife.

We shouted at them to stop, but they ignored us and carried on. The lady called the emergency services, and we made our way around via the bridge to try to locate the fire. It was clearly visible from the Snakes and Ladders car park, and was still burning between Protyre and the Mill Stream — but access was blocked by a fence.

As we reached the fence, the people responsible ran off, and then the fire brigade arrived. The firefighters knew of another way in and drove round to reach the fire from there.

Old Free Library Revealed

Old Free Library Building
The Free Library building has been hidden behind scaffolding for quite some time. Now the covers are off, revealing the mix of Victorian and Mock Tudor architecture. Features include large bay windows, steep gables, and a grand stone doorway. Above it, the plaque reads ‘FREE LIBRARY’  It opened in 1895.

At street level, the right-hand side is Crumbs Sandwich Bar – in bright orange. On the left, a sweet and vape shop briefly occupied the space last summer — still under scaffolding at the time. Now, a new barbershop has taken its place.
Crumbs and Efes
On the other side of Crumbs is Efes, Abingdon’s first Turkish barbershop. (Crumbs is now in the middle of a barbershop sandwich.)

Efes has also had a quick update in the last week and now features foldaway doors and a newly laid floor. ‘Efes’ refers to the ancient city of Ephesus known from the bible. It is also a popular Turkish beer named after the ancient city.

Trinity Church Celebrates 150 Years on Sunday 1st June


On Sunday 1st June, Trinity Church in Abingdon will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of its opening in 1875. To mark this special occasion, there will be a thanksgiving service at 3pm, with former ministers Revd Malcolm Atherton, Revd Richard Bittleston, and Revd Ian Griffiths joining the current minister, Revd Georgina Bondzi-Simpson.
As part of the celebrations, there will be an exhibition in the church, looking back over Trinity’s 150-year history. A slideshow of images will be shown during the service, and from 2:30pm, a 20-minute extract from the 1980 BBC Songs of Praise broadcast from Trinity will be playing. The broadcast includes a performance by the Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers.

If you have any photos or memories of Trinity Church that could be included in the exhibition, please get in touch via: trinity.abingdon@gmail.com.

The service will be followed by tea in the Conduit Centre, and all are warmly invited. If you’d like to stay for tea, please RSVP by 25th May to: trinity.abingdon@gmail.com. This will help with catering numbers.

Thankyou.