This cat chased a squirrel past the tree towards the Brew House apartments on Coopers Lane. Finding no escape that way, the squirrel ran back. The cat managed to get a paw on it’s back, but not enough to hold it, and the squirrel ran up the tree.
The leaves were thick enough to hide it from my view and I could not see any way of escape. The cat waited. A leaf fell. The cat waited. Another leaf fell.
There’s an exhibition at the County Hall Museum called Abingdon 1945.
It begins with displays tracing the progress of the Second World War from 1939 to 1945, and shows how everyday life in Abingdon was affected by the conflict, with exhibits on gas masks, air raid shelters, evacuees, blackouts, rationing, Dig for Victory gardens, and women taking on manual work at the MG factory and on local farms.
The exhibition then looks at the celebrations that followed the end of the war, with displays on VE Day and VJ Day in 1945. Street parties broke out spontaneously on May 8th, with dancing under the County Hall, and one airman climbed up to kiss Queen Victoria’s statue in the Market Place. In the weeks that followed, street parties were organised across the town. Abingdon was decorated for a grand Victory Parade on 7th August, which included a Fleet Air Arm and RAF fly-past. There were more street parties after VJ Day on 15th August. (The photo above shows residents of Winsmore Lane at their VJ party, as reported in the North Berks Herald.)
After the war, freedoms returned: you could switch on all the lights in the house and leave the curtains open, have a radio in your car, release a racing pigeon without police permission, buy a large-scale map, or sleep in an uncamouflaged tent.
But recovery took time. Rationing continued for several years. Housing was in short supply, and Abingdon saw experimental steel prefabricated homes made — with seven-foot-low ceilings. Many women gave up the jobs they had taken on during the war, returning to domestic or clerical work, while men were gradually demobbed or returned from prisoner-of-war camps and found new employment.
The County Hall Museum is run by Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council.
You can start in the attic of the County Hall Museum, where there’s an exhibition built from one person’s memories which features among other objects: a lost toy elephant, a maternity jumper, and letters and photos from a relative who hoped to be a missionary in 1913. Each everyday object has a story, and Sarah Frodsham shares why they matter to her.
Step out into the autumn air on Wednesday the 15th and head to Abingdon Baptist Church. The lights will be glowing, and Nilmini Roelens will be talking about ‘Solar Villages in Sri Lanka’. It’s hosted by the Abingdon Carbon Cutters.
The very next night, Thursday the 16th, you’ve got a choice.
At the Unicorn Theatre, ‘The Lost Trades’ bring folk harmonies with a touch of 1960s California to the medieval setting. Detta Kenzie is playing support.
Or, if you’d rather hear some local music in a brewery, head to the Loose Cannon Tap Room, where Cheap Petrol, Faith Healers, and Dave King are on the bill – thanks to Music in Abingdon.
On Saturday the 18th, the ‘Oxford Gospel Events Choir’ will fill Christ Church on Northcourt Road with harmonies, raising funds for ‘Family of Hope’, a school in Uganda. Just hand over £10 at the door and let the music lift you up.
Over the weekend and through half-term (check dates on their website), there’s another sort of gathering just outside town. High Lodge Farm has plenty of pumpkins and activities for children on their Spooky Trail.
On Tuesday the 21st, it’s ‘Books and Bakes’ at St Ethelwold’s House. Tables piled with paperbacks and cake — and are you the one who goes home with more books than you can carry?
And, on Saturday the 25th, the sound of Haydn’s ‘The Creation’ fills St Helen’s Church.
The clocks go back an hour at 2am on Sunday, 26th October 2025. There’ll be plenty more happening in Abingdon after that – but that’s for another time.
Fundraising at St Ethelwold’s, the community building and garden, is going well. The appeal reached its £10,000 matched funding target by October 10th, doubling that to £20,000. There’s now just £10,000 to go to meet the £70,000 crowdfunding goal for essential repairs. The St Ethelwold’s Trust has also set aside £70,000 to support the work.
On Sunday, there was Fun Yoga in the garden, followed by tea, and cakes with participants giving a £10 donation towards the appeal.
There were also jars of homemade quince jelly and knobbly, pear-like quinces for sale.