Festive Carols were happening round the shops of Abingdon this afternoon.
Then everybody got together under the tree on the Market Place at 5:30pm for a sing-along.
Thanks to Abingdon Music Centre and their enthusiastic conductor; all the people who turned out; and Visit Abingdon who helped organised the event.
The Vale of White Horse District Council’s Local Plan: 2031 (Part 1) was adopted this evening at a Full Council Meeting at the Beacon in Wantage. The government planning inspector recently wrote a letter saying he found the plan sound, and the council adopted the plan formally this evening with 31 votes in favour and 5 abstentions.
Now the plan is adopted the district’s five year land supply is secure and major development should only happen in areas identified in the Local Plan.
This means that some land in Abingdon, Kennington and Radley is removed from the Green Belt and can be built on. The plan includes 800 dwellings north of Abingdon, and 200 north west of Abingdon.
At the same meeting Faringdon and Blewbury had their neighbourhood plans adopted. Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council are working on our neighbourhood plan.
The Abingdon Mummers have been performing the Sunningwell version of the ancient mummers play in the pubs of central Abingdon this evening.
The play can take from ten to fifteen minutes depending on the audience, and involves among other happenings a sword fight and the death of one character and his resuscitation with the aid of an flashing brolly.
The play ends with the mummers singing ‘We wish you a merry Christmas’.
The collecting box is then taken round to raise money for a local charity – in 2016 that is the Abingdon Breakaway Club.
After the performance all the character drink some of the pub’s best brew before going to the next performance.
Friday and Saturday saw the first ever Abbey Beer Festival.
Many local breweries were represented at the event held in the ground floor of the Abbey Buildings.
People bought a card for £7 which allowed 2 pints or 4 half pints. Bands, and folk artists were playing most of the time. The event was intended to bring new people to the Abbey Buildings, and did bring in a lot of new people particularly on Friday.
The next Beer Festival is likely to be in a warmer month.