The month saw a ceremonial milestone with the laying of the memorial stone for the new Abingdon Church Hall. The Archdeacon of Berkshire, the Ven. R. Wickham Legg, performed the ceremony before a large congregation. A book of parishioners’ signatures was sealed into the stone, raising nearly £28, with collections bringing the total to just over £40. The architect, J. G. T. West, presented the Archdeacon with a silver-plated trowel.
Music also supported the fund: an organ recital at St Nicolas’ later in the month drew an appreciative audience, with anthems, quartets and solos forming part of a programme which was “much enjoyed”.
A seven-year-old girl, the only daughter of Mr and Mrs J. Dix of St Edmund’s Cottages, was killed when she was run over by a lorry near The Square. The inquest absolved the driver of any blame. The jurors gave their fees to the parents.
Christmas shopping and a “white” Christmas
Abingdon experienced a “white” Christmas, though the snow was light and short-lived. Christmas Eve was cold, and the streets were crowded with shoppers who had left their purchases until the last moment. Shopkeepers decorated their windows attractively, though many noted that money was being spent on food rather than on fancy goods. Still, the streets told their own story: most people were “well laden with parcels”.
The railways struggled to cope with the surge in passengers and goods, helped by the fact that Christmas Day and Boxing Day fell at the weekend, allowing family reunions on a larger scale than usual. Roads were crowded too, despite conditions that made walking “decidedly unpleasant”.
One noticeable change was the decline in carol singers. Their absence was attributed to the growing popularity of carols broadcast by wireless, along with BBC Christmas programming, including the popular Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.
Worship across the town
At St Helen’s, Holy Communion was celebrated three times on Christmas morning, followed by Matins, a carol service, and the annual Christmas Day Lionel Bostock sermon reflecting on the Holy Family and the meaning of home and mutual love. St Michael’s saw large congregations at Midnight Mass and early morning celebrations, while St Nicolas’ services were also popular. Together the three Anglican churches recorded a total of over 700 communicants, with more than £50 raised for the Sick and Poor Fund.
The Free Churches held a united Christmas morning service at the Baptist Church. The sermon acknowledged the uneasy wider world. There were concerns about unemployment, housing, and international uncertainty. They gave thanks for Christmas as a brief but necessary pause, a time of peace and goodwill.
The Roman Catholic church marked the festival with a well-attended Midnight Mass, followed by High Mass and Benediction on Christmas morning. The church was richly decorated with flowers.
The Junior department of Abingdon Congregational Sunday School occasionally enjoyed practical demonstrations. Kindness to animals was the subject of a visit by ‘Roy’ – the dog, a well know hospital charity collector in Abingdon.
Christmas care: hospitals and institutions
At the sanatorium, isolation hospitals, and Cottage Hospital, Christmas trees, entertainment, and gifts were provided for patients. Wireless sets, still a novelty, played a central role, bringing BBC programmes into wards and dining rooms.
The Cottage Hospital’s Christmas menu included turkey and plum pudding, and the list of donated gifts — pheasants, cakes, oranges, sweets.
At the Poor-Law Institution, Dickens’s grim imagery was a thing of the past. Christmas Day there was described as humane and generous. Children received toys and sweets; women were given sugar and tea; men tobacco and pipes. The Christmas dinner was substantial, with roast beef and pork, vegetables, plum pudding, custard, and beer or mineral water — followed by fruit and sweets. The Mayor and Mayoress attended, and the day ended with music from the Master’s wireless set and an impromptu concert.
Boxing Day
Earlier on Boxing Day, the Market Place filled for the meet of the Old Berks Hunt, the pink coats of the huntsmen standing out amid an immense crowd before hounds, riders and pedestrians moved off together.
There was a local football “Derby” between Abingdon Town and Abingdon Pavlova, which the Town won 4–3.
The Kinema offered a popular alternative, “well patronised” and up to its usual high standard with a programme designed for children and adults.
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to the British Newspaper Archive for access to the Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette for the first two stories. Thanks also to the British Newspaper Archive for the photo stories from the Oxford Journal.
Additional thanks to the North Berks Herald Library microfilm for the description of Christmas Day and Boxing Day.