Now for eleven months without

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Twelfth Night
At Preston Road Community Centre, we had three Christmas trees, one in the large hall, one in the hallway and one in the lounge. There were also foil ceiling decorations in three of the rooms.
Twelfth Night
Today was the time to take them all down and store them away. As I wound the long string of lights, I wondered about leaving instructions for unwinding. One wrong move and they can get into such a tangle.
Twelfth Night
The rooms have returned to a simpler state for the next eleven months.

A chain gang of Mayors

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Mayors
Inside the corridor leading to the Town Council offices are portraits of all Mayors of Abingdon since Ewart Hemmings in 1978.

254 members of Abingdon Town Council have been Mayor since the office began when Abingdon received a charter in 1556. 98 members have served more than one year. The first Mayor was Richard Mayotte in 1556, and he served on three occasions.
Mayors
Between 2012 and 2017, there were seven female Mayors in a row. Six of them have been displayed together on the wall.

The first female Mayor was Mrs Agnes Challenor from 1950-51. When first co-opted onto the council, she said, “I felt it such a golden opportunity for a woman to get on to the council that I accepted it”.
Mayors
Albert Earnest Tombs held the office of Mayor for the longest time, five consecutive terms between 1932 and 1937.
Mayors
He later received an O.B.E. for his work rehousing people in Abingdon from slums. Despite all his house building, I don’t think a road has been named after him.

Thomas Knight was Mayor ten times between 1800 and 1832. That is unlikely to be beaten as since 1953, it has become usual for members to only serve one year.

In 1645-1646 there were three Mayors due to the death of the first two in office.

(Thank you to Jackie for the picture and newspaper clipping of A.E. Tombs. Most of the information came from https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/town-council/your-mayor/mayors-abingdon-thames-1556 )

Drainage Lake and Sound Barrier

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NewHouses
Development continues on the other new estate, Abbey Fields. It is separated from Kings Gate by the Tilsley Park sports facility with an athletics track and all-weather sports pitches.
NewHouses
The view from Tilsley Park makes Abbey Fields look picturesque with the new drainage lake in the foreground. There has been a lot of rain recently, and this could be less of a lake during the summer.
NewHouses
Abbey Fields borders the A34, and between houses and the road is a mound of earth topped by a fence to form a sound barrier.
NewHouses
Where the mound ends, the fence is about twenty feet tall.

Cycle and pedestrian and bus ways at Kings Gate estate

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NewHouses
People on the new Kings Gate estate have a wide dual-use (cycle and pedestrian) path that leads to the new store.
NewHouses
That also gives a good route for pedestrians and cyclists from some of the older houses if they cross from around Farm Road to the new Vernon Place. So far the new roads have a Mayor of Abingdon theme, which only holds if Vernon Place is named after Dr Vernon Butt (Mayor 1996-97).
NewHouses
The other new road, Walker Grove, could be after Pamela Walker (Mayor 1979-1980).
NewHouses
The estate also has a half-hourly bus service to Oxford or Abingdon town centre (and Wantage) with the X1.