{"id":34541,"date":"2025-11-09T21:59:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T21:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=34541"},"modified":"2025-11-09T21:59:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T21:59:15","slug":"remembrance-sunday-2025-abingdon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=34541","title":{"rendered":"Remembrance Sunday 2025 &#8211; Abingdon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag25\/2025110923.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nThe formal part of Remembrance Sunday began when Civic dignitaries processed from the Guildhall to St Helen\u2019s Church. They were led by the Mayor, Cllr Rawda Jehanli and Felicity Dick, Deputy Lieutenant of Oxfordshire,<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag25\/2025110924.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nThe church filled up with uniformed groups and other local people for a short service led by the Rector, Rev Dr Jen Brown.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag25\/2025110905.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nThere were road closures in the town centre. Other groups &#8211; including soldiers from Dalton Barracks &#8211; gathered outside the church. At the War Memorial, a large crowd had gathered, and members of the Rotary Club handed out service sheets. Four soldiers took up sentry positions.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag25\/2025110907.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nAfter the church service, the Rector led the procession to the war memorial, followed by the army, the uniformed organisations, and civic dignitaries. A service at the memorial began with prayers.<\/p>\n<p>I made a short video of part of the service:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Remembrance Sunday 2025 - Abingdon\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kzoFDQHvnq0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Sections shown in the video include:<br \/>\n* The Exhortation delivered by a member of the Royal British Legion: <em>\u201cThey shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old\u2026\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n* Alison Rich of Abingdon Town Band performing the Last Post (before the Two Minutes\u2019 Silence)<br \/>\n* The laying of some wreaths at the war memorial (shown out of sequence here as it happens after the Reveille).<br \/>\n* Abingdon Town Band performing the Reveille (after the Two Minutes\u2019 Silence)<br \/>\n* The National Anthem<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag25\/2025110925.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nThe war memorial bears the names of Abingdon men and women who died in both World Wars, as well as later conflicts. The long lists of names engraved in stone are a reminder of how deeply the town was affected, and how many local families carry a legacy of service and sacrifice.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag25\/2025110922.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nAfter the service, Jon Shaw, the Drum Major, led the soldiers and other uniformed organisations through the town, cheered by people who had gathered.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag25\/2025110919.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nAt the County Hall, the uniformed groups saluted the Deputy Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, Layla Moran MP, the Mayor, and the senior officer.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag25\/2025110921a.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nLocal people had their chance to put their own crosses in the turf round the war memorial for family and friends who they remembered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The formal part of Remembrance Sunday began when Civic dignitaries processed from the Guildhall to St Helen\u2019s Church. They were led by the Mayor, Cllr Rawda Jehanli and Felicity Dick, Deputy Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, The church filled up with uniformed groups and other local people for a short service led by the Rector, Rev Dr [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}