This afternoon, David Thomas, was ringing with 5 other Abingdon bellringers to celebrate David’s birthday. They rang a peal lasting 3 hours and 5 minutes with 5040 changes (pulls of the rope). The peal ended at about 5:10pm. David was born at 5:08pm 18 years earlier.

At 5:30pm there was a Songs of Praise to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Abingdon Town Band, of which Steve Rich has been the musical director for the last 30 years.

There was a mix of hymns accompanied by Abingdon Town Band, and Brass Band music. Short youtube of one Brass Band piece above.

The view of Abingdon Lock, from Abingdon Bridge, was hidden by a slight mist this Saturday Morning..

Posters have been put up around town announcing a circus, down Wootton Road, at the end of this month, and the annual Michaelmas Fair at the start of October.

Friends of Radley Lakes were on the Market Place, with a well stocked Tombola, with tickets at 50p. Tickets ending in ‘0’ win a prize.

The Cottage Imperial is currently closed, but there is now a notice saying that the premises will soon re-open as The Imperial Express.The lease was up, and the previous people decided, even though they loved Abingdon, to open a restaurant in the rapidly expanding town of Bicester instead.

Les, the remaining residents traffic warden, was doing his rounds in the town centre. He was about to retire this weekend, after 20 years in the job, but has been asked to continue until the new system is put in place. All will soon become clear.

Thanks to Mark for this …

There is a new music venue in Abingdon at the Northcourt (home of Abingdon United FC)

Since commencing in April there has been a steadily increasing audience and the decision has been taken to move from one gig a month to two gigs a month starting in February 2016.

The bands income is the door money so the more people they have attending the larger their purse and the more inclined the better bands are to come and visit us here in Abingdon.

They have had some bands that have been very popular with the audience, such as Egypt pictured above, and such bands get re-booked.

The Music at the Northcourt website has a lot of info, and the Facebook page even more. Thanks to their Facebook for the images.

Next Gig is on September 25th 2015 and features The Jeffery Brothers – Canadian rockers + support.