Abingdon Artists Spring Exhibition at St Helen’s Church

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The Mayor of Abingdon, Cllr Rawda Jehanli, opened the Abingdon Artists Spring Exhibition at St Helen’s Church. In her remarks, the Mayor said that Abingdon has many talented artists. Many of them were present for the preview – each exhibiting up to three artworks.

Livio Lobo is pictured with his three works: Fruit of the Wine – Cheers, Fabulous Flowers Abingdon and Boxing Day MG Meet in Abingdon.

When the exhibition opened to the public on Monday, one of the first works to be sold was Fabulous Flowers Abingdon. It was bought by Gary, the owner of the Fabulous Flowers shop, who has a collection of paintings of his shop – a popular subject for artists.

One artist missed at this exhibition is Dougie Simpson, a well-known Abingdon artist who died in December 2025. A painting of Venice by Dougie was on display at the exhibition. A gathering of artists in Dougie’s honour will take place on Saturday, when they will draw and paint together.

The exhibition runs until Saturday.

All Aboard at the Abingdon Model Railway Show 2026

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Outside the entrance to the exhibition, miniature train rides were being offered by the City of Oxford Model Engineers.

Inside, the exhibition was spread across three buildings. There were more than 40 layouts on display, organised by the Abingdon and District Model Railway Club.

For some enthusiasts the fascination begins early in life and becomes a lifelong pursuit. Even for those of us who are not enthusiasts there was plenty of interest at the show.

There were also dozens of trade and other stalls. Pauline Hazelwood writes children’s books based on stories told to her by railway enthusiasts. She also has a model railway layout featuring Alice the Little Welsh Engine, from one of her books.

Some of the layouts have more going on than trains travelling. Under the arches of Blackfriars Bridge, for example, I wondered what story lay behind the man distracting the policeman.

One of the largest layouts in the Sports Hall was Dorehill St Stevens. There was a wide variety of railway trains and scenery, including a small drama between a VW Beetle and a tree, with an ambulance taking away an injured person.

Of local interest was a model of the Wantage Tramway as it was in the 1920s. The two-mile tramway closed to passengers in 1925.

The Live Steam Roadshow came to the Abingdon Model Railway Show for the first time in 2025 and has already booked to return in 2027. Their layout has been very popular because the trains are powered by real steam and visitors are welcome to have a go at driving a locomotive.

The Bottom of the Barrel model is presented inside a beer barrel and shows the brewing process at the Trent Brewery, complete with almospheric lighting.

The layout showing the cup for Best in Show was The Wolfstatt Alpine Railway, which featured some impressively long trains. As with all good layouts, the longer you looked the more there was to discover.

Plant-based Market

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There was a plant-based market with around 20 stalls arranged around the Market Place in Abingdon today. The event was organised by Kordia Events, which runs a travelling programme of vegan markets across the country, bringing together traders with plant-based foods, drinks and products. The market had previously visited Wallingford in February and is due to appear in Dorking tomorrow.

The stalls included several hot-food vendors (with queues at lunchtime), alongside drinks traders, cake stalls and deli-style stands offering food to take home.

One stall specialised in vegan cheezes.

Although the sky remained grey for most of the day, the weather stayed dry. It appeared to draw not only local residents but also visitors from outside Abingdon who had come specifically for the plant-based market.

Also to be seen on or near the Market Place were people flying a Palestinian flag, reflecting continuing concern about developments in the Middle East.

Two New Views of Abingdon for the Museum

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At present, two new painting are displayed side by side in the Attic of Abingdon County Hall Museum. Both now belong to the museum. One was a gift from Sint-Niklaas to the Abingdon Church Twinning Group who, after displaying it themselves at churches, donated it to the museum. That is Study of St Helen’s Church and St Helen’s Wharf by George Vicat Cole.

The other, Near Abingdon, a watercolour by Arthur Claude Strachan, was purchased from a bequest from Peter Clare. Peter worked for the UK Atomic Energy Authority at Harwell and later for a scientific institute in Cambridge, before returning to Abingdon to work in the family business, Touchwood Sports, on the High Street. Alongside his professional life, and in retirement, Peter became involved in many local organisations, and was treasurer of the Abingdon Museum Friends and CPRE Oxfordshire for many years.

(CPRE Oxfordshire have an obituary to peter in their Autumn 2021 magazine.)