Monthly Archives: November 2018

Memorial Plaque, Grommit, and Tailoring

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He died for freedom and honour
Peter sent me this picture last weekend. It was a medal displayed in the window of  Art and Stuff, which is near the war memorial in Abingdon.

Such medals were given to the families of servicemen killed in WW1, and known as Memorial Plaques. The name of the serviceman is displayed beneath a laurel crown held by Britannia, with a British Lion alongside. Two dolphins represent British sea power, and below a second lion mauls an eagle.
He died for freedom and honour
Anybody who has been into Art and Stuff will know Grommit, who lets his owner know when anybody has come into the shop.

Oenone, his owner, was telling me all that information about the medal, and about some other finds from WWI that were on display. She is a fount of information when it comes to antiques and art stuff.
He died for freedom and honour
But when it came to nearby businesses in Bath Street I could tell her something she did not know. There is a new tailoring service, with a sewing machinist, next to Masons.

Hear the People’s Voices

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Hear the Peoples Voices
This evening in Abingdon there was a concert that combined folk singing and the history of the struggle of ordinary people for justice, equality and freedom. The concert was performed by the Sea Green Singers, based in Oxford and with seven people from Abingdon.
Hear the Peoples Voices
The first song came from the Peasant’s Revolt in 1381 – an early protest movement where the leaders were executed. There followed songs from the Diggers, and the Levellers through to Peterloo.

Songs gave us a people’s history lesson and took us at the end of the first half to the Chartist movement whose aim was to gain political rights for the ordinary people. The video above is the singing of the Chartist Anthem.
Hear the Peoples Voices
In the second half we heard protest songs from the start of the industrial revolution and Tolpuddle Martyrs, right up to the Greenham Common protests and the miners strikes.

Then at the end we were reminded that the struggle still goes on for many ordinary people. Money raised from the concert goes towards Host Abingdon.

Third Friday of the month in Abingdon

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Third Friday of the month
The Farmers Market was on the Market Place in Abingdon this Friday lunchtime. Every third Friday of each month local farmshops and producers come to Abingdon, all at the same time, to sell their produce at this special market.
Third Friday of the month
Christmas lights were also being put up in preparation for the big switch-on on Saturday December 1st.

The Christmas Extravaganza Parade is at 12:00. Then there will be time to do some Christmas shopping, visit coffee shops and cafes, and get your hair cut, or have a tattoo done, before the big switch-on and fireworks at 18:00.
Third Friday of the month
There was also this Jessops telescope for sale in the Sue Ryder shop in Abingdon. It is a great shame Jessops no longer have their camera shop in Abingdon Market Place. The best we can hope for now is an occasional second hand telescope.

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

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That time of year
 That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
That time of year
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
That time of year
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
That time of year
   This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
   To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

William Shakespeare (Sonnet 73)