Welcome to the 12th Abingdon Arts Festival. We have a programme to interest everyone with a mix of professional, international and amateur performers and artists. After the popularity of “Bigging up Holbein” this year we are “Bigging up Vermeer”. Don't miss your chance of being involved or at least pop into the Guildhall to see it being constructed or on display during the festival. We again feature events for children, exhibitions, film, literature, jazz, music and theatre and we end with a flurry of events including dancing to the Big Band sound of Swingtime. We welcome Dr Phil Hammond in Trust Me, I'm (still) a Doctor and Kevin Tomlinson with his hilarious Seven Ages. Both events promise to be great fun. There is insufficient space in this introduction to highlight all the events so do look inside and mark up the events you don't want to miss. We particularly want to thank our sponsors. Without them the programme would have been much less interesting. I also thank the committee for their support and hard work. It is now over to you – enjoy! Malcolm Ross - Festival Co-ordinator