Thursday 5 November – Gilmore & Roberts, 7pm
Award-winning folk duo Gilmore & Roberts bring contemporary folk, acoustic music and trademark harmonies to Music at the Unicorn, St Helen’s Church. Support from Rob Clamp.

Saturday 7 November – 2nd Abingdon Scouts Fireworks, 6pm
Family fireworks evening at Long Furlong Community Centre, with BBQ, hot drinks and a spectacular display from around 7.30–7.45pm. Advance tickets £7, or £24 for four. Under-threes free.

Saturday 7 November 2026 at 7.30 pm ADMS’s 80th anniversary. Borodin – Polovtsian Dances. Franck – Symphony in D minor. Shostakovich – Festive Overture. Elgar – The Music Makers

Sunday 8 November – Remembrance Sunday, 10am Remembrance service at St Helen’s Church, Abingdon, followed by a parade to the War Memorial for the service at 10:50am and the two-minute silence at 11am.

Thursday 12 November – Meet romance novelist Linda Corbett, 6pm–7pm
Local author Linda Corbett talks about her writing career, published novels and inspirations at Abingdon Library. Includes a reading, advice for aspiring writers, Q&A and book signing. Tickets £2, including a welcome drink.

Saturday 14 November – Abingdon Funfair & Fireworks, 1pm – 10 pm
Abingdon Airfield hosts a huge fairground, rides, food stalls and a 270-degree fireworks, light and laser spectacular. Includes an earlier family fireworks show. Advance booking essential; parking must be pre-booked.

Saturday 14 November – St Michael’s Christmas Fair, 10am–2pm
Christmas crafts, gift stalls, raffle and children’s activities at St Michael and All Angels’ Church, Park Road. Home-made cakes, plants, books, bric-a-brac and bacon rolls.  Proceeds support the church and Sobell House Hospice.

Tuesday 17 November – William the Conqueror: A Lucky King, 2.30pm
Historian and archaeologist Trevor Rowley explores William the Conqueror and his place in British history at Abingdon United Football Club. Organised by Abingdon & District National Trust Association. Visitors welcome; £4 donation.

Tuesday 17 November – The Ultracold Quantum World, 7.30pm
Professor Tim Softley explores whether chemical reactions can happen at temperatures close to absolute zero, and how scientists might control them. Organised by the ATOM Society at Abingdon United Football Club.

Tuesday 17 – Saturday 21 November – The Importance of Being Earnest
Studio Theatre Club presents Oscar Wilde’s comedy at the Old Magistrates’ Court, Bridge Street. A satire of Victorian society. Tickets from studiotheatreclub.com.

Thursday 19 November – The People’s Emergency Briefing, 7.30pm
A 50-minute film at Christ Church Abingdon bringing together leading UK experts on the climate and nature crisis and its effects on everyday life. Followed by a discussion about what it means for the community.

Thursday 19 November – Æthelstan: The First King of Britain? 7.45pm
Professor Sarah Foot explores the life and significance of Æthelstan for Abingdon Area Archaeological and History Society at the Northcourt Centre. Visitors welcome; suggested donation £4.

Thursday 19 – Saturday 21 November – Abbey Group of Artists
The Abbey Group of artists presents paintings, prints, glass art, jewellery and handmade Christmas gifts at St Nicolas Church. Free entry. Open 10am–4pm Thursday and Friday, and 10am–5pm Saturday.

Wednesday 25 November – Archaeology and Wilding, 7.30pm
Anwen Cooper of Oxford Archaeology explores what archaeological evidence can tell us about prehistoric wildlife and how this knowledge might contribute to nature recovery today. At Christ Church Hall, Northcourt Road. Organised by Abingdon Naturalists Society. Visitors £3.

Saturday 28 November – Abingdon Extravaganza – The 2026 Extravaganza will be held from 10am in the town centre. There will be a day of music, dancing, Christmas market, donkeys, street foods, mini funfair, street entertainers etc..

Saturday 28 November – St Helen’s Christmas Market, 10am–3pm
Christmas market at St Helen’s Church with home produce, jewellery, pre-loved goods, books, gifts and a raffle. Bacon butties, cakes and drinks available. There may also be handbell ringing.

There are a variety of events as we move towards the second half of October. I’ll begin with 3 events where people emailed me details.

Abingdon Swingtime, an 18-piece big band featuring vocalists, will be playing classic big band tunes from the Glenn Miller, Count Basie and Duke Ellington era. The band played at last year’s Poppy Ball.

Eddy Smythe will tell the story of his father, John Smythe, who came to the UK from Sierra Leone to join the RAF during the Second World War. He became an officer but was shot down over Germany during a bombing raid and spent 18 months in a prisoner-of-war camp. After liberation, he was seconded to the Colonial Office, where he played a crucial role in the beginnings of the Windrush Generation. He later trained as a barrister and became Attorney General of his home country.

Mental health charity Restore is running a free 10-week series of crafting and mental health and wellbeing sessions, starting on 20 October. The sessions are intended to reach and support people in the Caldecott area.

Then there are those posters and banners I’ve seen advertised around town. Make Music Abingdon have another music event at the Loose Cannon Taproom on 15th October.

The Abingdon Traditional Craft Fair cannot be in the Abbey Buildings this year and so instead from the 23rd to 25th October they will be at St Helen and St Katherine School. See https://www.abingdoncraftfair.org.uk/.

The Abingdon Drama Club are also displaced while the Abbey Building’s work is underway. And their Play 1984 will be in Sutton Courtney Parish Church. The author of 1984, George Orwell, is buried in the church yard.

Abingdon Artist have their Autumn Exhibition at Christ Church Barn at the end of the month.

Abingdon Operatic Society will be staging the musical COME FROM AWAY at the end of the month. Come From Away tells the true story of 7,000 air passengers who were stranded in the wake of 9/11. Grounded in the tiny town of Gander, Newfoundland, when US airspace closed.

The Salvation Army were holding a jumble sale this morning. Tables were full of low‑priced items, starting from 10p, with donated clothes, books, games, and a bric‑a‑brac stall. The A‑board outside let me know it was happening. I’d missed it on the blog’s ‘What’s On’ yesterday.

The window display at the Helen & Douglas House charity shop has a wedding theme, with brides dressed in white.

On the Market Place there was a visit from Guide Dogs, with two Labradors and a couple of gazebos offering merchandise and information. Collectors with tins were taking donations and handing out stickers.

Traffic moved in a slow queue through town from Bridge Street and West St Helen Street, and at St Helen’s Church Revd Dr AKMA and a man in a kilt with bagpipes were waiting for the bride to arrive. Her car eventually made it through the queue of vehicles, and the piper piped a welcome.

Here are some of the events and activities coming up in Abingdon over the next couple of weeks that I have noticed.

Saturday 3 October – Oxford Gospel Choir Concert – St Helen’s Church, 7.30pm

The Oxford Gospel Choir will be performing at St Helen’s Church in aid of Family of Hope, a school in Uganda for children with special educational needs. Tickets: £10, available at the door.

Saturday 3 October – Sewing Repair Cafe

Also taking place on Saturday 3 October is a sewing repair workshop at Unit 25, Bury Street. A chance to bring along those clothes and textiles and learn some repair skills rather than sending them to landfill.

Sunday 4 – Tuesday 6 October – Abingdon Michaelmas Fair

The Michaelmas Fair returns to Abingdon from Sunday 4 to Tuesday 6 October, bringing the usual fairground activity to the town centre and along Ock Street.

There will also be fair-related traffic restrictions from Sunday 4 to Wednesday 7 October, so motorists may want to allow extra time for journeys through the town.

The Fair Blessing Service will take place in the Market Place at 4pm on Sunday 4 October. (Sorry this was at 3:30pm)

Sunday 4 October – Animal Blessing Service – St Michael’s Church, 2pm

St Michael’s will hold an animal blessing service at 2pm on Sunday 4 October, celebrating St Francis’ Day and Animal Welfare Sunday. Well-behaved animals are welcome, provided they are on leads or in appropriate carriers. If your animal wouldn’t be comfortable attending, you can still have them blessed by bringing along a photograph.

Wednesday 7 October – Abingdon Town Council Meeting – Guildhall, 7pm

Town council meetings are normally held in the Old Magistrates’ Court and are open to the public. I sometimes go along to see what’s being discussed and, where appropriate, write about them for the blog.

Saturday 10 October – 50 years of Abingdon Library at The Charter

Abingdon Library has been in its current building at The Charter for 50 years. On Saturday 10 October the library will be marking the anniversary by sharing some photographs from its history. The library opened at The Charter on 11 October 1976.

Saturday 17 October – 10 Circuits of Abingdon Airfield

Robin is taking on a cycling challenge on Saturday 17 October – ten circuits of the old RAF Abingdon airfield at Dalton Barracks.

The challenge is in support of the Newman Holiday Trust, which has helped Robin’s family over the past few years, including providing a six-day residential holiday at Bloxham this year. Robin wants to give something back to the charity. While he still has a specially adapted bike on loan from Charlotte’s Tandems, he will attempt the ten circuits with Andrew and Helena.

You can find out more and support Robin’s fundraising on his JustGiving page https://justgiving.com/page/robinday2026