...of throwing buns from the roof of the Town Hall at Abingdon is not so very old...it dates back to the 18th century and the coronation of George III. It happens for all major Royal occasions - and so a large crowd gathered in the town square on Saturday, as the Mayor and members of the Borough Council gathered on the roof with some 5,000 buns specially baked by the local branch of Tescos...
The trafiic had been diverted, and various preparations made, including polite notices announcing that upturned umbrellas were not to be used.
It was all tremendous fun. The square was packed,. A band played, and we sang "Happy Birthday" to Her Majesty, and then the National Anthem...and expectation grew, and as 7pm drew near people began to chant "We want buns! We want buns!" And then, when the church clock finally marked 7 - the buns began to fly through the air with tremendous speed and there was great shouting and scrabbling and cries of excitement. Cheers greeted spectacularly good catches. Enormous enthusiasm - arms outstreched, children diving to collect buns that dropped to the ground, raisins and currants flying off as buns whizzed overhead...
It all lasted for some ten minutes or so, and then as the last buns were thrown, the bells of St Nicholas churvch rang out a glorious joyful peal...
The buns were delicious, eaten with butter over a mug of tea later.
On a previous family visit, I had been told that "the Mayor and councillors throw buns from the Town Hall roof on Royal occasions" and wasn't sure it was true. But it is.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment