There is a Hallowe’en Haunt trail you can follow round the town centre with the chance of a prize of £100 to spend at town centre shops. The event is run by The Town Centre BID.
Walking round Abingdon this evening I was made to feel the fear by one or two of the shop window displays.
EEEHHH!
YIIEEEE!
The newest road in Abingdon is King Street – named after Percival Arthur King of Court 22 Ock Street. He was Abingdon’s first WW1 fatality.
While serving with the 1st Royal Berkshire Regiment as part of the British Expeditionary Force, he was killed at Mons on the 10th September 1914 (just about 6 weeks after war broke out), and is buried at Oulchy-Le-Chateteau Churchyard extension.
Building of the new estate known as Morland Gardens continues apace. Prices range from £380,000 – £530,000 for 2, 3, & 4 bedroom homes.
Taylor Wimpey say “Whether you are a first time buyer or looking for more room for your growing family, you couldn’t be better placed to live life to the full than at Drayton Road.”
(South Abingdon residents have had to battle with traffic congestion for years, particularly on the Drayton Road. So be ready to leave early to work or school if you plan to go by car in the North Abingdon, or Oxford direction. Car and bus travel are much easier travelling to Milton Park or Harwell and to the south.)
Red Kite commented that a speculative developer has put in an Outline planning application to use land on Colwell Drive for 100 new dwellings.
The land is the site of some ex MG factory buildings, that have been reclad, and are currently used by UK Mail Ltd, and other companies, that are valued employers of local people.
Browsing back numbers of The Illustrated London News I came across two stories about RAF Abingdon as a parachute training centre.
The wreckage of Britain’s worst air disaster for eight years in which 41 servicemen were killed when a Hastings of R.A.F Transport Command, on a parachute training flight, fell into a barley field a few minutes after taking off from Abingdon. The aircraft was to have landed at Benson after dropping parachutists at Weston on Green, but soon after take-off the pilot radioed that he was in difficulty. A board of enquiry was set up. Meanwhile all R.A.F Hastings have been taken out of service for a thorough examination. (17 July 1965)
The Falcons, which is what the display team of No 1 Parachute Training School, Abingdon, Berkshire, call themselves, have established a new British free-fall parachuting record. This was a six-man chain falling at a speed of 120 mph, from a height of 12,000 feet over the North African desert. The men jumped separately at half-second intervals, then linked up in mid-air. (21 January 1967).
Thanks to the Illustrated London News.