A notice in Abingdon Library reads: ‘Welcome all puzzlers to our Community Jigsaw’ and in smaller type ‘Please supervise children at all times and respect the work of previous puzzlers.’ and ‘Not suitable for children under 3.’

By Tuesday the road, pavement and most of Roysse Court were complete, and the bushes. The remaining building pieces had been sorted into the box lid or tried out on the board.

By Friday the buildings, including St Nicolas Church and the Guildhall, are complete. Visitors come and go, stopping to add a handful of pieces – possibly none, as it gets harder. Only the featureless sky is left to do.

The image is titled Stadtzentrum von Abingdon — ‘Abingdon town centre’ — and comes from a 1,000-piece puzzle by the German company Lais.

Community jigsaws have become a familiar sight in Abingdon (and other) libraries in recent years. They offer an activity that anyone can join, away from phones or computer screens.

Built between 1973 and 1977, Abingdon library is part of The Charter, originally devised as the Broad Street North Redevelopment scheme, while Abingdon Borough was still in existence. (Abingdon’s local authorities all changed in 1974). The Charter, when finished, was run jointly by Oxfordshire County Council and the new Vale of White Horse District Council. It housed the library, medical centre, doctor’s surgery, social services, pensioners’ day centre, and a multi-storey car park.

The charter has dark red bricks, a variety of grey slate roofs , walkways on different levels, and plantings of trees and bushes.

The library also a view towards Poundland and Broad Street.

Another window has a view towards the decorative wall that holds The Charter foundation stone (1973) and the official opening stone (1977). The wall looks like part of an old castle, possibly a reminder of 1556  – the original Abingdon Borough Charter.

Libraries in Oxfordshire will re-open either on 13th July or 20th July. Abingdon Library will be among the first to re-open on the 13th.

There will be some changes to how the library will operate to make them Covid-safe:
* you may have to queue to enter
* social distancing measures will be in place
* they will collect your name and contact details on entry
* short visits will be encouraged – up to 30 minutes
* they will take card and online payments only (no cash)
* most soft seating and tables will be removed – so I suspect fewer computers
* newspapers and magazines will be removed
* face-to-face events won’t run until government advice allows.

Looking at the Oxfordshire Library Catalogue, I see my loans have been extended to the 3rd – 10th August. I could still do the Michael Thomas Italian course, but I probably won’t as the Italian holiday was cancelled.

The upper floor of the library also used to be a bit of a social centre – even a day centre at times. Here is an idle ten minutes from before the shutdown …

We all hear a phone ring and then after some low chatter I hear a voice from a soft chair promise, ‘I will call you back in a moment, Sue.’… A group round a local history computer murmur and the one word I can hear is ‘Oxfordshire.’… Bob F reads a 1970’s Abingdon Herald on microfilm… The librarian at the enquiry desk piles books, beeping each through… A young lady with a laptop twirls a plait of hair. With her pink coffee cup and sprawl of papers, she seems to be waiting for inspiration… I flick through the reference only copy of News from a Country Town … From July 1780 I read of a floral festival at the Crown and Thistle. It says, ‘Each person to prove on oath that his Blossoms are his own blowing.’… There’s a ‘rurr jurr’ and then a flapping as the microfilm winds back into its spool … The librarian wheels the books through ‘Staff Only’… Bob slings a bag over his shoulder, and says ‘Good Bye.’… The man in the low back chair is stretched out with a stick next to him. I am more worried about him calling Sue than he seems.