Monthly Archives: June 2022

Marmalade sandwiches with hats

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On BBC1 TV, we saw the Queen having tea with Paddington Bear. I knew that Paddington kept a stash of marmalade sandwiches under his hat but was surprised when the Queen got marmalade sandwiches out of her handbag. Since then, crochet of The Queen and Paddington and corgi has appeared on the post box on Abingdon Market Place.

Michael emailed me a picture of Queen Victoria with a hat.
The Mother and Child statue in Abingdon also has a hat.

Do the hats hide marmalade sandwiches, or do they have another purpose?

Announcing The Election of the Mayor of Ock Street

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The election of the Mayor of Ock Street will take place on Saturday 18th June 2022. Following recent tradition, there is a lego display in the curved corner window of Fatface. The new 2022 model shows the Abbey Archway, St Nicolas Church, and The Guildhall, with a water fountain.

The Abingdon Traditional Morris dancers will process into town at around 11:15 to dance outside the Black Swan, Station Yard, Abbey Gateway and the Market Place before lunch.

Afternoon dance locations include Long Alley Almshouses, Coopers Lane, and Brewery Tap. At around 16:15, the election of the Mayor of Ock Street will be announced, followed by the chairing and dancing.

This is the first election in three years. The candidates will be the current Mayor of Ock Street, Harry Knight, and the contender, Richard Grimsdale-Yates. The contest will be officiated by the Mayor of Abingdon (left above), and the new President of Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers, Stuart Jackson (centre above).

I am sorry to say I have a family wedding so will miss this all-important event. Hopefully, somebody will let me use their pictures. I have written a poem for the occasion.

Morris Dancing

Thought it was a Moorish dance brought back from the crusades?
Thought it was like the Basque dances of Luzaide?
Thought it was like the Romanian Călușari dance?
Thought it was Terry Pratchett’s made-up dance?
Think again!

This is England,
Good old England.
This is Oxfordshire.
Good old Abingdon.
This is Mayor’s Day.
This is Abingdon Traditional Morris
Dancing the Princess Royale.

Old mother Harvey
Old George Hunt
Went to Nuneham in a Punt
Lost the pole and away they wunt
and they never got to Nuneham.

Lifting arms together
line dancing
cross dancing
cross ribboned
Abingdon crested
white trousered
white shirted
fabulous flowers
in their hats.

Lifting legs together
ring-a-ling a-ling
lifting arms together
hankies flowing
throwing grain together
making the harvest grow
higher and higher
pure nature
loving dance.

Central Abingdon Regeneration Framework (CARF) – June Consultation Event

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Thank you to Hester for the heads up about a Central Abingdon Regeneration Framework (CARF) event. There was a stakeholder workshop at the start of May. The information gathered at the event has been used to plan this event.

An in-person consultation in Abingdon will be held on Friday, 17 and Saturday, 18 June 2022. The aim is to create a vision and objectives for central Abingdon. There will be options for critical sites in the town, including the Upper Reaches, Charter Car Park and Abbey House. (This is run by the VWHDC district council and not to be confused with the Neighbourhood plan being run by the Town Council)

The event will take place at Unit 24, Bury Street precinct (the former H Samuel shop) on:
Friday 17 June from 11am-8pm
Saturday 18 June from 9.30am-1pm

The https://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/central-abingdon-regeneration-framework/ webpage will also be updated with the latest information. People can then fill in an online consultation survey from Friday, 17 June.

Ten Poems about Abingdon – officially released

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Life-time readers of the Abingdon Blog may remember how I started collecting poems about Abingdon. There was also a request through the Abingdon Herald in January 2022 for poems.

The resulting book is now available in The Bookstore, Mostly Books, Abingdon Museum, and from TAB (The Abingdon Bridge). The Bookstore is giving all proceeds to charity but to help that can only take cash. For anybody who cannot get to any of these shops, email or drop a note to my truenym’s email (see the picture above).

The book is dedicated to Pauline Sykes, who has been running the Abingdon Share-a-poem for a long time. The group meets monthly to share poems, some self-written and others by established authors. Previous books from the group include Wellspring Words in 2007 and WAR and PEACE in 2003.

Andrew Jamison helped with selecting ten from over forty poems submitted to me. Andrew also wrote the foreword. Andrew is a teacher at Abingdon School. His poetry has been published widely in UK and Irish literary journals, and anthologies. His books of poetry include: ‘Stay’ and ‘Happy Hour’ published by The Gallery Press.

Money will go to The Abingdon Bridge, a well-being charity that supports young people aged 13-25. This does suggest the idea for a follow-up book, ‘Ten poems about young Abingdon’.