Michaelmas festivities – late this year

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Street Fair
This blog often receives comments about the traditional Abingdon Street Fair.

Some commenters argues that it causes disruption and should be put somewhere less disruptive – like in a field outside the town centre. Other people comment, ironically, that it is the only time when the Abingdon traffic system works.

But this year I got a different complaint – NOT that the fair is in the wrong place, BUT that the fair is on the wrong date.

An Abingdonian – born and bred – argued that the Abingdon Street Fair is also the traditional Abingdon Michaelmas Fair. Michaelmas – the Feast of Saints Michael the Archangel – falls on 29th September. So the Fair should be on the Monday and Tuesday after Michaelmas – not a week later.

So are we in Abingdon taking the Michaelmas festivities too far from their traditional meaning?

Getting the message across

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Street Fair
Signs have sprung up all over to let people know that the fair is next week. This one is next to Audrey’s flower shop on Ock Street – sold subject to contract with residential development opportunities.
Folk at the Unicorn
On the subject of publicity and things not getting publisicised well enough in Abingdon, which came up on the post about the young folk performers, it is worth a mention that Folk at the Unicorn begins on November 4th. The first act will be two rising young folk performers: Hannah James & Sam Sweeney.

Abingdon on Sea

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I hope the boats and the long distance swimmers and the water help make the title ‘Abingdon On Sea’  plausible as a title for the September 2011 Blog Slideshow.

The tune – Lord Franklin – is about a heroic man who was lost at sea trying to navigate polar waters a long time ago and people – who loved him – did not give up hope of finding him  … Youtube allows you to search 1000s of audios for a slideshow and this is the one that stuck…

An introduction to Folk

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Starting Young
We were very pleased to be visited today in Abingdon by the National Youth Folklore Troupe of England, a group of young people from all over the country who share an interest in traditional folk music, song and dance. They performed two one hour sessions on the Market Place.
Starting Young
It is good to see young people getting an early interest in Folk.
Starting Young
The little boy watching was also enthralled. He kept trying to copy with his drinking straw.