This evening, on Ebay, the 1960 Abingdon Rural District Official Guide c. 1960 fetched £13.50 plus postage.
A few days ago a postcard of Abingdon Sanatorium went for £21.88 plus postage and one of Abingdon Warren Hospital went for £22.00 plus postage.
This is a detail from a postcard that has a few days to go on Ebay. It looks interesting and will probably cost a few pounds.
The Practical Motorist advertised at H. J. Polley, on the postcard, would have cost 3d back then but will cost £11.99 + postage now on Ebay.
Monthly Archives: November 2018
Not so Black Saturday
The day after Black Friday is Saturday 24th November, or, as I shall refer to it – not so Black Saturday. We will be over the worst by then and St Helen’s Church will be holding their annual Christmas Market.
Trinity Church will be holding a Christmas Fair.
These two churches can be seen from a long way away because both of them have a tall steeple. So if you see a steeple in Abingdon on Saturday morning, head towards it and take part in one of these festive events, and don’t be black anymore.
Woolworths as Poundland ten years on
The BBC had a non-Brexit news story yesterday asking ‘What has happened to Woolworths’ stores 10 years after closure?‘ Checking back on this blog I can see the Woolworths closure was in December 2008.
The article goes on to say ‘Poundland owns the biggest number of ex-Woolworth premises’.
Poundland took over the ex-Woolworths stores in Abingdon, but only after Cargo had run it for a couple of years.
Poundland has been diversifying, and now have £2 sections, and £5 sections, and Pep & Co clothes.
They have many lines such as hardware, and CDs, and pic’n’mix and stationary that are not so very different from what you would have found in Woolworths. The big difference is that in Poundland there is no need for small change.
Radley Lakes – saved ten years ago
I had an interesting walk round Thrupp and Bullfield lakes yesterday, following the well marked circular tour, picturing the scenery and some of the birds on a sunny autumn afternoon.
The lake, once threatened with being filled with ash from Didcot Power Station, was saved thanks to a campaign group called Save Radley Lakes, chaired by Basil Crowley, who sadly is no longer with us. The group’s campaigners were very well known in Abingdon, running their fund raising tombolas on the Market Place. Their campaigning ideas not only got into the Abingdon Herald but also national newspapers in a David v Goliath conflict. Then in 2008, ten years ago, Npower gave Thrupp Lake to the community for nature conservation.
It is now looked after by the Earth Trust.
The hide at the bottom end got burned down, and has now been replaced with a wicker fence with holes though which you can look. Being an out of the way place, with wooden buildings, there have been occasional acts of vandalism.
In 2008 a new organisation, The Friends of Radley Lakes was established to help raise funds and look after the lake, and work with the Earth Trust. The Friends have their AGM on Friday at 7:30 at Peachcroft Christian Centre with an illustrated talk: “The Birds of Radley Lakes” by Ben Carpenter.
This is a picture of another large Radley lake, one that did get filled with ash from Didcot Power Station. For about ten years it was surrounded by a high fence. But now the trees have taken over and the fence is down.