Abingdon & district · Local news you can trust
No Abingdon panto this Christmas. Didcot's Jack and the Beanstalk runs 18 to 30 December from £22; Oxford's Snow White opens 20 November. Times inside.
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Remembrance
Remembrance Sunday Abingdon 2026: Sunday 8 November
Remembrance Sunday is 8 November 2026. Last year Abingdon's service began at St Helen's at 10am, with the silence at the Ock Street war memorial at 11am.
Christmas
Father Christmas Near Abingdon 2026: Grottos and Santa Trains
Millets Farm's grotto opens 14 November from £29.50 for two. Santa trains run at Didcot and Wallingford, and Wantage has a £6 Santa visit on 4 December.
Buses
Abingdon Bus Changes: X1 Withdrawn, Wantage Gets JR Bus
The X1 and the 35 have gone, the 6 now runs through to Abingdon, and Wantage has a direct bus to the John Radcliffe. Every Vale route change from 20 September.
Schools
Wantage's Fitzwaryn School Rated Exceptional in Two Areas
Ofsted graded Fitzwaryn School in Wantage exceptional for inclusion and pupils' wellbeing, and strong in the other five. All 126 pupils have an EHC plan.
Planning
Abingdon Reservoir: 60 Lorries an Hour on the A415
Thames Water now wants 17 reservoir construction entrances, not six, and 60 lorry movements an hour on the A415 at peak. The traffic peak moves to 2030.
Data
Vale Claimant Count August: 1,835, Half England's Rate
1,835 people in the Vale were claiming unemployment-related benefits in August, 2.0 per cent of working-age residents and exactly half England's rate.
Crime
Abingdon Murder Inquiry: Man, 36, Charged Over Woman's Death
A 36-year-old Appleford Drive man is charged with murder after a woman of 88 was found dead in Abingdon on 10 September. Police say there is no wider threat.
Council
Vale Memorial Bench Plan: £762.50 Bench, Trees From £25
A memorial bench on Vale council land would cost £762.50 plus VAT and fitting, a tree £25 to £300, under rules the Cabinet decides on Friday 18 September.
Planning
Didcot A Site: 75,000 sq m Signia Park Plan Approved
Officers back up to 75,000 sq m of warehouse and industrial units on the former Didcot A site, without the 400 homes approved in 2019. Sutton Courtenay objects.
Planning
Joint Local Plan 2045 Consultation Closes 29 September
Comments on the next South and Vale local plan, to 2045, close 29 September. No sites or policies are proposed yet; the next round runs 1 June to 13 July 2027.
Local democracy
Vale Merger Paused: 2028 Date Now in Doubt
The government has told the Vale to stop work on the Ridgeway Council merger. Elections due in May 2027 will now be fought on existing district boundaries.
Planning
Drayton 14 Homes at The Green: Approved 16 September
Officers back 14 homes at 1 The Green, Drayton despite 23 objections. Five would be affordable, four for social rent. The Vale committee approved it on 16 September.
Nobody says they live in the Vale of White Horse. They say Abingdon, Wantage, Grove, Faringdon, Botley, Radley, Marcham, Steventon, Sutton Courtenay or Kingston Bagpuize. The Vale is the council, named after a chalk figure on a hillside, and it is the body that decides planning, bins and council tax for all of those places.
Abingdon Online is written the way people actually talk about the area. We cover Abingdon-on-Thames first, then Wantage and Grove under the Downs, Faringdon out west, and the villages along the Ock and the Thames. What we publish comes from the council’s own registers and papers, and we link to the source on every fact so you can check it.
Our News and What’s On sections carry the week’s Abingdon stories and events.
If a figure is not in a document we can point you to, it does not go on the site.