Two Weekends of Music


The Abingdon Music Festival is a charity established in 1998. It holds classes and a concert each year, giving young musicians and adult performers the opportunity to perform in front of an audience and receive feedback from professional adjudicators.

This year’s festival ran over two weekends. The piano classes took place from 6th – 8th November, followed by the other classes on 14th – 15th November. Most of the classes were held at Trinity Church, although St Nicolas Church was also used for some of the piano classes on Friday 6th November.

Some of the performers have been selected to take part in a concert at Trinity Church this evening.

The festival has a no-photography policy because obtaining permission from every participant would be impractical. However, I did manage to get a couple of photographs outside Trinity.

The first, thanks to Lynette, shows vapour trails above Trinity yesterday, when the sky was clear. You will have to imagine the music going on inside.

The second was taken this evening. Rain was falling. People had gone inside for the concert. Again, I will let you imagine the music.

Christmas Fair at St Michael and All Angels


There were a lot of stalls at St Michael and All Angels Church in Abingdon for its Annual Christmas Fair.

Among them were craft stalls, including Steve Fisher Crafts – Local Woodturning. Steve was positioned just inside the entrance, which meant he got a cold draught every time the door opened but lots of viewers.

Some stalls, such as the cake stall, were run on behalf of the church, with all the profits going towards church funds and the charity Emmaus Oxford, which helps people who are homeless.

It was the first opportunity this year to hear some Christmas carols, thanks to the Abingdon Handbell Ringers.

Another craft stall belonged to Abingdon Artist Margaret Horton, who was displaying her artwork.

The church-run bookstall had a lot of fiction, but a closer look revealed a large religious section, including The Joy of Being Anglican (St Michael’s is an Anglican church) and The Life and Work of a Priest.

The fair also featured traditional fund raising competitions. One of them, Guess the Weight of The Cake, I also read about when researching last month’s Abingdon 100 years ago.

Someone I spoke to had been to see (local author) Paul Mayhew-Archer’s film Onwards and Sideways at the Abbey Cinema and said it was very good. The film is showing for another week, with Paul taking part in live Q&As at some of the screenings.

A fine cold start to the day in Abingdon


There was a cold start to the day. Over Abbey Meadow, aircraft vapour trails criss-crossed the sky and reflected in the River Thames.

The sun appeared over the south-eastern horizon at about 7:30. That was later than the 7:20 sunrise time predicted online, possibly because the online time assumes a level horizon.

The river was warmer than the cold air above it, allowing water to evaporate, creating river mist.

The walk to Abingdon Lock was about half a mile out alongside Abbey Meadow, and half an hour back along the Thames Path.

There were icy puddles. Plants were furred with frost.

St Helen’s Church caught the early sunshine on what was a fine start to the day.

Autumn Leaves and A Christmas Tree


There are plans to replace a tree in Bury Street with a sculpture as part of the proposed investment in the precinct.

Back in April, the tree had new leaves and blossom and probably looked its best.

Now most of those leaves have fallen. The last few remain.

Meanwhile on the Market Place, while all the other trees are loosing their leaves, a Christmas Tree appeared today.