I took the Mayor, Councillor Patricia Hobby, round the Abingdon Air and Country Show today, picking her up at 9:15 on what was a disappointingly cold and rainy start.

We drove up the Wootton Road and  along Honeybottom Lane to the north entrance of the airfield at Dalton Barracks. It was a road Pat knew well. As a young teacher she used to walk that way to the – then – recently built Rush Common School – some 3 or 4 miles away.

She was introduced to the Dutch crew of the F16 Jet. The pilot on the left  was due to fly at 4 PM, when it was hoped the cloud base would have risen.

We were also shown round a Merlin and a  Puma helicopter. Then it was back to Abingdon for some warmer clothes.

On arriving back, Pat opened the show formerly with an announcement over the public address, and met the shows organisers.

They had suffered a doubly whammy. On Wednesday they were not granted a licence for fixed winged aircraft to take off or land. There had been no problem in previous years.

This shock news, from Defence Estates, very late in the day was because the runway was not given the all clear for use.

It was a huge disappointment to all the hard working volunteers involved in the event.

Either the show would have to be cancelled, or scaled down. The decision was taken to continue but visiting aircraft were told not to come, and aerobatic displays had to take off from airports like RAF Benson instead.

The second whammy was the weather – although it did clear by afternoon.

The one fixed wing aircraft that was allowed was a glider plane for the Air Training Corps, who have their base across Dalton Barracks.

Pat started a tour of the grounds, meeting immediately an ex pupil – the mum not the child. And as we walked round we met quite a few ex pupils. Pat remembered them all.

Pat has only another week and a half in the post of Mayor. In Abingdon the Mayor only serves for one year.  On May 12th her current deputy, Councillor Duncan Brown, will take over.

Here Pat meets an Ex Didcot Mayor, who served in Didcot during the millennium year, who now has more time to indulge in his passion for steam engines.

This final picture is one for Pat’s Grandson who likes Doctor Who. I’ll send her a copy.

More pictures of the Air Show in tomorrow’s post.