There are more places using Click and Collect during this second lockdown. In Abingdon town centre there are notices outside:
Fabulous Flowers,
Mostly Books,
and Abingdon Library. The library also allows pre-booked access to computers.
The Pandemic did not stop people gathering round the war memorial to remember Armistice Day. At eleven o’clock on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, people stood and traffic came to a stop for the two-minute silence at Abingdon War Memorial.
The giant poppies have been switched on for the last few days near the war memorial.
The lights in Bury Street have also been on.
This afternoon, and evening, the rest of the Christmas lights came on unannounced in Abingdon Town Centre.
In normal times, hundreds of people would have gathered around the Market Place, after a day of entertainment, to watch as a celebrity switched on the lights.
Many local businesses cannot get the full benefit until the 2nd December, when they can fully re-open.
Barclays have sent letters to customers of the Abingdon Marcham Road branch to say that the branch is closing on the 10th February 2021. They are closing other branches including those at Botley and Didcot. The Barclays at The Square in Abingdon must still have enough visitors as it is kept open.
The main reasons, given by the bank, why the Abingdon Marcham Road is closing:
• Customer visits have gone down over the last 2 years
• 82% of customers have other ways of banking, and this percent has increased
• 57% of this branch’s customers have been using nearby branches
• 29 customers use this branch exclusively for their banking
At the Fairacres retail park, across the Marcham Road, a new planning application P20/V2809/FUL requests that the 3 remaining units (of the phase 2 development) will need an exterior garden centre. The application mentions Homebase. So if this goes ahead, in late 2021, it will mean Homebase are returning with a brand new store taking the last 3 new units.
Yesterday’s blog post reported how wooden crosses were placed on up to 100 military graves at the Abingdon’s Cemeteries, as an act of remembrance. These include a large number of military graves for crew members based at RAF Abingdon. There are more RAF graves at Our Lady and St Edmund of Abingdon Church.
Near the lodge of the Spring Road Cemetery are a cluster of six RAF graves.
Behind them is a stone cross, of a different design, for Pilot Officer Peter Shennan, of the RAF. Somebody had left poppies there.
On the morning of 5th April 1939 a Fairey Battle, a light single engine bomber, took off from RAF Abingdon for a series of low level bombing practise runs. On the third run, as the aircraft dived to gain speed towards RAF Abingdon, the pilot became aware of something leaving the rear cockpit. Banking to check, the pilot saw a body falling to the ground.
The body of Peter Shennan was found soon afterwards in a field near Dry Sandford. The inquest found that he died of multiple injuries. The inquest also noted that his pilot suit did not have an anchorage point. He came from Wolverhampton and was buried with full military honours. The webpage http://aircrewremembered.com/shennan-peter.html has a fuller account and pictures of the ceremony.
This image of the Fairey Battle, at the RAF Museum London, was posted to Flickr by tataquax at https://www.flickr.com/photos/25451699@N04/6856709971 and is licensed under the terms of the creative commons cc-by-sa-2.0.