The Easter Garden at St Helen’s Church

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The Easter Garden, in the West Porch of St Helen’s Church, first happened during the pandemic. With church services suspended and indoor gatherings restricted, the garden provided a symbol of hope for passers-by.

Now an annual tradition, it will be on display throughout this Holy Week, from 11am to 3pm. With Easter falling late in 2025, finding spring flowers was a challenge.

The garden features three simple wooden crosses representing the scene of Calvary, with a stone symbolising the tomb. On Easter Sunday, the stone will be removed, and a small tealight will be placed inside the tomb to signify the resurrection.

The display is filled with moss, greenery, and a variety of flowers. Pansies in shades of purple and yellow, pale blue forget-me-nots, along with small white blossoms, came from the garden of Sue, the creator. Despite the Monday Market shifting to summer bedding plants, Sue found pots of Calibrachoa; their tiny purple and white flowers trail at the front. She also found pots of late daffodils, and hopes they’ll last until Easter Sunday.

Beneath Our Feet: Abingdon’s Deep History

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An exhibition at Abingdon County Hall Museum, The Geologist’s Guide to Abingdon, uncovers the hidden history beneath our feet. A series of display boards explains how the land was shaped over millions of years — through ancient seas and shifting rivers.

Abingdon and the River Ock are above Kimmeridge Clay, a type of rock formed in a warm, shallow sea around 150 million years ago during the Jurassic Period. Later, the landscape was shaped by rivers. Much of the gravel beneath Abingdon comes from ancient river terraces. During the Ice Ages, the River Thames and its tributaries cut through the land, carrying away rock and soil and leaving behind layers of gravel and sand where the rivers once flowed.

The exhibition also remembers people who helped us understand this geological story — including Mary Morland, from Abingdon. She was a talented illustrator and geologist. Her drawings helped to spread the knowledge of fossil discoveries.

(Abingdon Museum is run by Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council.)

Infrastructure Updates: Repairs, New Bridge, and Smarter Carpark

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Here is an update on three infrastructure projects that this blog has reported on recently:

The hole in the retaining wall and the bridge uprights at the site of the former Upper Reaches Hotel are being repaired.

The new footbridge at the Kings Gate estate is now in use, although one sign still reads ‘Footpath Ahead Closed.’

The Cattle Market car park, once the poor relation of Abingdon’s car parks, now has brickwork parking bays in place of tarmac.

Palm Sunday

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Following a Palm Sunday service at Trinity Church, sixteen people (some pictured here) processed around Albert Park, Abingdon. The group shared the spirit of Palm Sunday through song and by handing out palm crosses, commemorating Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem at the start of Holy Week.

Here are some pictures from the blog in previous years. Palm Sunday is the Sunday when churches go outdoors and hire donkeys.