Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at your Community

All in the month of August Carnage in Omagh Sir Terry Wogan – a national treasure The spawning of al-Qaeda – from militant Sunni Islamists Diary of a Momentous Year August 1918 – the Battle of Amiens</strong THE WAY I SEE IT – Rating the ‘experience’ Beware foreign plants Millennials see a bleak future August wars...

It was: 100 years ago, from 8th August to 11th November that the Hundred Days Offensive in France and Belgium, took place. Allied Victory leading to the end of the 1st World War and the collapse of the German empire. 90 years ago, on 6th August 1928 that Andy Warhol, iconic American Pop artist, photographer...

It was a busy Saturday afternoon in August, in the market town of Omagh, Northern Ireland.  A maroon Vauxhall Cavalier with false number plates was parked outside the outfitters’ shop, S.D. Kells.  Just after a quarter past two it blew up, killing 29 people including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured 220 others.  It...

Sir Terry Wogan, the Irish radio and TV presenter, was born 80 years ago, on 3rd August 1938. He was the epitome of a much-loved broadcaster – unthreatening, amiable and with a tendency to laugh at himself. Born in Limerick, Ireland’s third largest town, Terry showed no initial signs of immortality. His father was a grocer,...

The terrorist organisation al-Qaeda was founded by Osama bin Laden 30 years ago, on 11th August 1988, though there is still dispute about the precise nature and purpose – and indeed spelling – of it. Translatable into English as “The Base”, al-Qaeda was formed initially to fight the influx of the Soviet Union into Afghanistan, but...

Many historians of the First World War consider that two battles in the summer of 1918 were the final turning points in the eventual outcome of the war and of the settlement which followed it. The second Battle of Marne was in July, and the even more significant Battle of Amiens was in August, exactly...

‘How did we do?’ (on a scale of one to ten, where ‘ten’ is excellent and ‘one’ is poor?’) ‘Would you recommend us to your friends?’ You can hardly buy anything now, or make use of a service, without an email popping up asking such questions. Some go further into detail about delivery, courtesy or...

Gardeners have been told by government ministers not to bring back plants from holiday, in order to stop them inadvertently introducing an invasive species into the UK. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs officials are becoming increasingly concerned about water-borne threats such as the Dikerogammarus villosus, or killer shrimp; Didemnum vexillum, the carpet sea...

Millennials have the most negative outlook on the future.  A quarter of them believe that depression is normal in older age, and two in five of them believe that dementia is inevitable. A survey by the Royal Society for Public Heath (RSPH) has also found that half of women and a quarter of men say...

August is a month when wars tend to start. For example, both the First and Second World Wars erupted in the month of August. Also, on 13th August 1961, East Germany’s Communist regime built the Berlin Wall, separating the city’s eastern and western sectors.   Then on 20th August 1968, tanks invaded and crushed Czechoslovakia, ending...

Looking at Your Community – July 2018 (all articles) All in the month of JULY 50 years on from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty 70 years of the National Health Service In praise of Emily Bronte Waterloo!  What’s in a Name?  Diary of a Momentous Year: July 1918 – WHEN FRIENDS COME TO HELP Poverty in...

All in the month of JULY It was: 200 years ago, on 30th July, that Emily Bronte, the British writer, was born. She was best known for her novel, Wuthering Heights. 175 years ago, on 19th July that the British steamship SS Great Britain, was launched.  Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it was the longest...