Things are beginning to look a bit more autumnal. These berries in the Abbey Meadows…

and the Virginia Creeper on the Citizens advice Bureau tell their own story… Schools are all back. And it’s Heritage Open Day tomorrow in Abingdon. That always keeps me busy. This year I’ll be going round dressed as a monk…

This is one thing you won’t be able to see. St Michael’s should be open and their new labyrinth, but you won’t be able to see behind the alter. That only gets opened on special religious occasions not Heritage Open Days. I’m not totally sure of my facts, and am hoping to be corrected, but I understand one of their ex vicars quite some time ago took a hammer to it.

At Reynolds Way Shops prominence is given ‘No Overnight Parking Of Heavy Good Vehicles.’ It may have once been a problem, but the sign must have worked because I can’t see any lorries parked here.

Thanks to John … some pictures from the Albert Park area’s annual Party in the Park last Sunday,

with Mike Green doing his conjuring and “Strings Attached” entertainment

For the the rest of us there is Fun in The Parks this Sunday… “from 2.00pm in the rival Abbey Grounds, Abingdon. The event will be opened by the Mayor of Abingdon, Councillor Patricia Hobby, and will include a climbing wall, children’s roundabouts, cartoon workshops by local cartoonist Scooter McKenzie (see his blog in local blogs), arena displays, brass bands, winners from Abingdon’s Got Talent, tug of war, stalls, games, barbecue, refreshments plus lots more. ADMISSION IS FREE.” As a taster here is the blog post from last year.

I have been doing a quiz put together by Abingdon Vale Cricket Club. One question it asks is what object is St Helen holding. By a process of elimination I think this statue is St Helen on the wall of St Helen’s Church.

What I do read on wikipedia is that Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine, went to the Holy Land and during excavation work for a new church discovered three crosses. In a clever move, Helen had a sick woman brought in and the woman was asked to touch each cross in turn. The first two crosses had no effect on her illness, but touching the third effected a sudden cure, and so Helen declared that they had unearthed the True Cross.

St Helen should be holding a cross, but it is difficult to tell. That could be a broken cross or it could be a book.