The frost can be seen on the pavilion and bowling green at Albert Park. We have had a couple of early frosts now.
The spring and the autumn are the seasons of dramatic change. Most of the red leaves on the trees in front of the Long Alley almshouses have fallen already. The picture was taken a few days ago.
This afternoon there was an open invitation for tea and birthday cake at the Helen and Douglas House Charity Shop which was five years old today.
As you can see, in the Sessions Hall, some cases have already been emptied.
Most of Abingdon’s collection is already deposited away in the museum store at Standlake, but there are some items stored away at the top of the stairs, on the top floor of the County Hall… an old gramophone, the bones of an Ichthyosaur, drawers for holding a printer’s typeset…
Everything is carefully photographed and labelled, then wrapped for safe transit.
Chris Gale is in charge of decanting the museum and is packing it all away into boxes.
At the end of the month the County Hall museum will close for redevelopment. The staircase is not going to be altered, although in the early days the idea to sink a lift up the central shaft was suggested.
The staircase has been used in recent years to display a brief history of Abingdon.
One display says ‘Entrusted to mother earth’ and tells of the collapse of Roman rule and the coming of the Saxons.
Then about half way up the stairs one reaches the Sessions hall where the main exhibition, reception desk, shop and coffee shop are currently to be found …