Annual Traditional Craft Fair, Autumn Concert, and new local history book

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The Abingdon Craft Fair was started in the 1970s to provide funds for the Abbey Buildings and is still going in the 2020s. See Abingdon Traditional Craft Fair for prices and a list of crafts at the annual craft fair.

Abingdon and District Musical Society have their autumn concert at St Helen’s Church on 12th November. It includes Fauré’s Requiem. See Abingdon & District Musical Society.

Judy Thomas has produced a new local history book about the Hamlet of Northcourt.

Nourthcourt Lane still looks like a hamlet despite being surrounded by Abingdon houses and Abingdon United FC.

County Hall abseil

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Abingdon County Hall was taped off this afternoon as a worker abseiled about the outside.

A van, parked nearby, was the property of  Chiltern Lifts Company. And so this could have been part of a survey to see about installing a lift, something the town council have started to investigate. Town council officers met recently with Historic England Planning and architects to consider three options for the lift. (But that is a complete guess. Somebody out there may know better. Perhaps it was the Mayor’s Charity Abseil.)

UPDATE: Actually, my guess was wrong. The lift engineers were looking at the current lift and will be back once they have consulted with the manufacturers. It could be out of action for a while. The abseil was English Heritage workers repairing the balustrade and cupola. They also cleaned the windows.

Abingdon Clouds (Theme Day: Soft)

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These clouds were photographed over West St Helen Street in Abingdon.

Close-up clouds look like mist and feel moist. Further away, they look soft like cotton wool, but if clouds were like cotton wool, aeroplanes would have problems climbing to 35,000 or 36,000 feet. Clouds must be softer than cotton wool, softer than marshmallows – as soft as moist air.

Part of the City Daily Photo theme day: Soft.

Halloween – getting creative with wool, wood, and pumpkins

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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.