Halloween – getting creative with wool, wood, and pumpkins

7 Replies

All Hallows is a religious festival where the dead are remembered on the night before All Saints Day. Before then, it could have been a pre-Christian festival. Halloween has become a time for dressing up, spooky parties and trick-and-treating.

It is also a chance for people in Abingdon to get creative with wool, wood, and pumpkins.

The postbox on the  Market place has been decorated with a spooky topper.

The Blue Boar has been made to resemble a House of Horrors with wood from Oxford Wood Recycling.

Pumpkins of different sizes and colours are there on display for people to get creative at Fabulous flowers.

Local Excellence Market

5 Replies


Traders and craftspeople came to Abingdon Market Place for the autumn Local Excellence Market today.

After a two-year absence, the Abingdon Extravaganza will be back on the 26th of November and will have a football theme. In the year when the England Lionesses won Euro 2022, after beating Germany 2-1 in extra-time at Wembley, the extravaganza will be opened by some of the Oxford United Women’s team. The extravaganza format will be the same as in previous years, with a parade, stalls, and entertainment.

The Royal British Legion has launched its annual poppy appeal, and there were traditional poppies and smaller lapel badges, including a Falklands 40 badge. 255 British personnel lost their lives recapturing the Falklands in 1982.

On St Helen’s Wharf

Leave a reply


On St Helen’s Wharf, there were friends from the twin towns, visiting Abingdon for a church twinning conference on the environment that is taking place this weekend. There is a presentation tomorrow morning by five Abingdon Eco groups, and in the afternoon a presentation about the Heat Source at Peachcroft Christian Centre.

St  Helen’s Wharf looks lovely with the trees autumnal, and the drift of leaves.

Whoever planned the sunken rowing boat deserves a prize. It featured on the front page of the Abingdon Herald a week ago, thanks to a Becca Collacott photograph – taken on a misty morning

The Garden Room

1 Reply


The Garden Room was open at St Ethelwold’s House. In the Garden Room, there is a Visitors Book. Here is a small and quite typical selection.

‘An amazing retreat to stumble across in Abingdon. I can’t believe I never knew this was here.’

‘I lived in Abingdon from 1964 to 67. I can’t believe I’d never been here before. Wonderful. I’ve done some knitting.’

‘I’m so glad I walked into this fabulous setting. Spring has finally started to do its magic, and flowers are coming up. The birds are singing, and I can watch the geese and riverboats. It’s a site for sore eyes after the harsh winter months.’

‘What’s a lovely place to stumble upon. We are studying at Oxford and decided to take a little day trip to explore Abingdon during our Christmas holidays. What a lovely place.’

‘Stumbled across the lovely garden. So tranquil.’

‘Thank you to all the people who make this what it is. It’s a beautiful place. Restores my soul.’

‘It’s my great joy that I was joined for about five minutes by a Kingfisher on one of the poles.’

When I left, I saw one of the volunteer gardeners cutting back plants, a visitor sitting on a bench enjoying the October sunshine, and a dragonfly resting on a garden table.