Monthly Archives: October 2011

Thorntons have closed but there is still Sweet Chocolate

Sweet Chocolate
Thorntons may have closed and the shop is looking a ghost of its former self….
Sweet Chocolate
but there is still an independent sweet and chocolate shop in Abingdon, on Stert Street, who do have chocolates to fill some of the space in the market left by Thorntons.
Sweet Chocolate
Sweet Chocolate are best known for their retro / traditional sweets and more recently American candy bars.  Find out more of their recent innovations on their facebook page.

I hope they have a successful run up to Christmas … once they have managed to get over the Halloweenies.  We don’t want any more ghost shops.

Vineyard on the Green

Vineyard on the Green
On Saturday the Abingdon Vineyard Church tried something different at Reynolds Way shops. They erected a tent to invite people to come in for a cup of tea, or a chat. Vineyard on the Green
The Vineyard Church meet at Preston Road Community Centre every Sunday. You can arrive any time between 10:30 and 11 when they are sharing coffee and cakes – or fruit as a healthy option.

It is quite informal. There follows a time of modern worship songs – which seem quite calm and peaceful, and those you don’t know are quite easy to pick up by the 2nd or 3rd rendition. Then somebody shares a message, and finally people can either pray in groups, or just chat and share stories, or watch a video. Or that is what happened today. This was the 5th Sunday in the month and it sounds like the 1st-3rd Sundays are more planned, and the 4th even more informal. They want to make it welcoming to people who are not used to church.

Local Excellence Market

local excellence Market
It was an excellent day for the Local Excellence Market. The town crier was out and about letting people know what else was going on: one more day of the craft fair, and Scout fireworks on November 5th behind Long Furlong Community Centre ( Gates Open 6:30pm. Park at Tilsley Park.)
local excellence Market
The Carbon Cutters had a clever device to see how hot things are. As you can see Helen, who sent me the picture of the fallow deer recently, is cool where she is insulated but hot where she is not.
local excellence Market
Here they are discussing my thermal image. There is also a picture of Harry’s Thermal image on the Harry dog blog.
local excellence Market
Lots of good stalls as always. There were cakes from Jane’s Kitchen…
local excellence Market
Jill Carver had two suppliers showing their wares. Jill is seen here holding a picture of the Moroccan Argan Tree. The Olive Oil and Argan Oil, in the picture, come from Morocco. The Argan oil is very good but takes a lot of extracting from unyielding nuts and so is not cheap.
local excellence Market
There were also a couple of vegetable stalls, an apple stall, meat stall, craft stalls, and local beers, which if the town council have their way we will be able to drink on the Market Place on special occasions (front page story in the Abingdon Herald last week).

Autumn Leaves

The clocks go back tonight and we have a very welcome extra hour in bed. It also means no daylight after work and so getting pictures for the blog gets a little bit harder.
Autumn Leaves
These liquid amber trees were not here in the spring.  They add autumn colour to The Square and war memorial.
Autumn Leaves
Only half the autumn glory on this particular building remains this year. A ‘To Let’ sign was put up earlier in the year – cutting half the vine off from its roots.
Autumn Leaves
This youth shelter at Box Hill was not there in the spring. It replaces another shelter that had seen better days.
Autumn Leaves
In the Albert Park the extensive Leylandi have been replaced by more sensitive deciduous trees. This is the second or third autumn for this very well designed project.