Ruby’s Vintage Fair was in the Guildhall today. One stall had artwork based on the Bunty Comics. My wife said “their stories were so exciting at the time.”
Fun in The Park was happening in the Abbey Parks, and there were lots of exciting play activities for the children
Abingdon Rotary Club were there with one of their Shelter Boxes. ShelterBox provides emergency shelter and vital supplies to support communities around the world overwhelmed by disaster – such as Nepal.
A group of eminent Abingdon historians were photographed with the MP, Nicola Blackwood, Mayor, Helen Pighills, and Deputy Mayor, to thank them for their work on the town portal’s history section. The Deputy Mayor, Alice Badcock, had done a lot of the organisation of the Park events, together with Town Council staff.
There were also some exciting activities in the Car Park for all ages.
At the Friends of the Open Air Pool stall you could stick a flag in a square on an Old Map of Abingdon, and have the chance of winning a prize.
Music in the Park followed later in the day. A sell out crowd watched bands such as Hippy Haze, the Undercovers (pictured above) …
Prisoners Of Katrina …
and Green Onions.
The evening ended with Abingdon Town Band playing The Proms
followed by fireworks.
A lovely event but the voluntary groups were quite disconcerted at being put in the car park without prior warning. There was a health and safety issue that hadn’t been foreseen – gazebos couldn’t be pegged down on the tarmac and it was a windy day so they could have taken off and injured someone. I noticed some people improvised by tying large bottles of water to the guy ropes. It’s a pity the full plans weren’t notified to stallholders in advance. Anyway – here’s to Fun In The Car Park next year!
On behalf of the Green Onions we would like to thank everyone for being such a great crowd. We thoroughly enjoyed playing to you all and we hope to see you again.
It took a lot of work to organise this day and that needs to be recognised. Music in the Park gets better each year and is a great showcase for talent in Abingdon.
Thanks Again
Elwood and the Green Onions
Well done to the organisers – it seems to have been a great success again.
It was good to see the garden in front of Old Abbey House in use: many people don’t realise that this is public space as well as the rest of the gardens – and indeed it wouldn’t have been if the Vale had sold it with the house earlier in the year. Although the house itself will presumably come back on the market soon (with community organisations having the option to bid) I understand that it is unlikely that the garden will be included and will remain accessible to the public.
I agree with Hester that it was a good evening but I think The Abingdon Town Band need some more lively numbers in their repertoire for next year.The war music was far to samey as played in 1914.Finish off with Proms stuff by all means but they must know some more modern tunes.Also the choir needs better audio as the band was drowning out their singing.Otherwise a pretty good show but the MC needs to be a bit less predictable.
It gets better each year. Well done Alice Badcock and all our council staff. We are lucky to have such dedicated people willing to go the extra mile, and to such good effect.
I don’t know why the choir isn’t miked. Hopefully next year they will be.
Thank you Alastair for the lovely pictures.
Well done to the voluntary groups for using their initiative to overcome a potential H&S disaster. We thought it worked much better this year with the stalls much more spread out and so it seemed much less cramped. A fabulous event.
Very well done to all involved in laying this on for Abingdon — a brilliant family day out had by us.
We were sat near to Nicola Blackwood’s photo call. I was hoping to gauge her opinion on the severity of the Conservative cuts and my wife’s social services-oriented job looking highly likely to be cut in several months time. A number of Abingdon council employees, and ultimately their families, and the services they provide to our community are very likely going to take a hit.
I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and presume she will show her mettle, fight their corner, and for the people the community-facing teams serve. Time will soon tell…
A very enjoyable afternoon, then when things seem in full swing it’s time to clear the area to get ready for the evening. I’d happily pay a contribution for the afternoon if it meant it could run past 3pm.
Agree that it was yet again a wonderful evening of entertainment. I also agree with Geoff’s comment about the town band choice of music. I heard quite a few comments about how great it would be if the town band played as people were coming in, rather than after everyone has been dancing and jumping around to the other bands. I appreciate all the hard work gone into making it such a popular/sold-out event!
My wife and daughter were hoping to go but tickets had sold out which is good news for the organisers, not so good for the people who couldn’t get in. It is an event that has grown every year and is now a very well established event in the town. Could it be held somewhere else so more people could get to see it, could it involve more musical groups, maybe in the market square in the morning and afternoon. Abbey Brass were invited to play as people came in last year but would not have been involved in the concert itself.