The Town Crier came today to announce the opening of the new sweet shop in Stert Street, where Poldeli used to be.

They sell traditional sweets in jars, and packets, and if they have not got the one you want, they will try to order it. They also have locally made chocolates (from Henley), and today were giving away hot chocolate drinks.

Thanks to John for sending this picture of St Michael’s, Park Road. It shows the interior recently cleared of old pews before extensive works to modernise. The pews are to be replaced by chairs – as has already happened in many other churches.

Last Sunday as I passed the Conduit Centre, next to Trinity Church, I heard St Michael’s congregation and cantor singing their mass – the Conduit Centre is their temporary home.

Each Sunday, there are two churches meeting on opposite sides of the Trinity Church lawn. The two congregations will finally join up together as one for the Harvest Festival. As the not so eminent theologian Father Jack Hackett was taught to say: “Yes!” and “That would be an ecumenical matter!“

At Long Alley Almshouses the old tiles and batons are being stripped off to leave bare rafters which are then kept dry with plastic sheeting.

At the bottom of West Saint Helen Street the hole has been filled over. Just a darker square of tarmac shows where it once was. That is not to say there are not other problems down there as Victorian storm drains decay beneath our feet, but at least the smell of sewage that has been apparent down that way for a while has been explained and cleared up.

At the Abingdon County Hall Museum from 6th Sep to 9th Nov is an exhibition of the haute couture of Annabelinda.

Belinda O’Hanlon and Anita Woodhead opened Annabelinda in Oxford in 1971, designing and making clothes, and have carried on and built up a huge archive of designs.

The Annabelinda website says: “35 years on it is their reputation for the lavish time, care and attention paid to the line and finish of each garment that still makes an Annabelinda creation so highly and irresistibly desirable.”