These bales of hay, stacked near the Tythe Farm estate in Abingdon, could be seen earlier in the month with the spire of St Helen’s Church in the distance.
Harvest Festivals are not as traditional looking as they used to be.
Canned fruit – not this year’s harvest of apples and pears – are more practical.
Last Sunday, St Helen’s Church, had their Harvest Festival. There were autumnal decorations round the church windows.
People also brought the harvest from local shops to be donated to the Abingdon Food Bank.
Abingdon Baptist church also had a Harvest service, with goods donated to the Abingdon Food Bank.
At Trinity, where I am a member, the Harvest will be this coming Sunday. Donations will go to the Asylum Welcome Food Cupboard in Oxford.
Last week’s church notices said … “The needs of refugees fleeing conflict and oppression and seeking asylum are as great as ever. Items specially needed are:- UHT milk; long-life fruit juice; tea and coffee; cooking oil; tins of vegetables, fruit, soup, fish, meat (preferably not pork); couscous; noodles; lentils; jam; honey; sugar; biscuits; crackers. As the Cupboard tends to receive much of its stock at Harvest, please see that items have a “use-by” date about six months on.”
All Saints Methodist is this Sunday. Tomorrow they are having an Open Day, to prepare. Selling produce and a soup lunch, chance to bring in ‘offerings’ or greenery, and assist to decorate the church. As usual the Uniformed Organisations will be involved. proceeds and harvest, For the Oxford Soup kitchen. May also put something in the Food Bank box in foyer..
It is a lovely time of the year. I am astounded at the number of fruit trees on the side of roads, no doubt seeds deposited there by birds. It is nice to support our local food bank. I was in Oxford recently and a man, looked to be in his late 30’s was foraging in litter bins for food. He found an apple in the bin near me. It is so sad.
I saw that man too Janet and offered him my lunch. He was telling me about how he had fled from war zone in the middle east and was now living rough in our beautiful town of Oxford. How beautiful that we share the same compassion for a fellow man, the same fellow man.
The one I saw was English.
It is interesting what other countries think about us. Al Jazeera reports on the Social Cleansing that is going on in the UK. Namely the Sweet Estate in London. Council tenants are being evicted so that a new private estate can be built with ‘affordable homes’. In London that means that people have to put up £300,000 to buy into the home. Many poor and council tenants are being evicted and made homeless. The Government is urging the building of thousands of homes but the poor will not be able to afford one.