Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at your Community

If you use the services of the National Health Service this autumn, spare a thought for the ‘presiding spirit’ which led to its founding. Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan was born 125 years ago this month, on 15th November 1897, the sixth of ten children. The family lived in Tredegar, Monmouthshire, where his father was a miner,...

It was 100 years ago this month, on 4th November 1922, that Howard Carter, a British archaeologist, discovered the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen. Howard Carter had shown an artistic streak from a young age, and when his father, a successful artist, painted a portrait of a well-known Egyptologist, the young Howard’s imagination had...

Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) married Philip Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey 75 years ago this month, on 20th November 1947. Elizabeth and Philip of Greece, who were third cousins, met in 1939, when the future Queen was only 13 and Philip 18. The match was promoted by Philip’s uncle, Earl Mountbatten, whose...

The United Nations General Assembly voted 75 years ago this month, on 29th November 1947, to partition Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. This decision, although supported by Western powers and the Soviet Union (Great Britain abstained), was not accepted by the Arab countries, whose UN representatives walked out.  Six months later, on 14th...

Will Aid, www.willaid.org.uk, the UK’s most enduring and successful charity Will-making scheme, runs again this month, throughout November.  If you haven’t yet written your Will, now is the time to think about it! This is how the system works: Will Aid solicitors all over the UK agree to write basic Wills during November, without charging...

All in the month of OCTOBER Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap George Cadbury – the chocolate man with a heart for welfare One hundred years of the BBC Remembering Coleridge 6th October – National Poetry Day  ** Editor:  We continue our column that looks at memorable dates in the month (this time, October) down the years. Here...

It was: 250 years ago, on 21st October 1772 that Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born. He co-founded (with William Wordsworth) the Romantic Movement of poetry. Best known for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan. 200 years ago, on 20th October 1822 that the Sunday Times newspaper was first published in the UK....

It was 70 years ago, on 6th October 1952, that the world premiere of Agatha Christie’s play, The Mousetrap, opened in Nottingham. It then opened in London on 25th November, and is still going, making it the world’s longest-running play. Originally a short radio play written as a birthday present for Queen Mary, it was broadcast...

One hundred years ago, on 24th October 1922, George Cadbury died. He had transformed his father’s failing chocolate and cocoa business into one of the world’s most successful companies and provided low-cost housing and improved working conditions for his employees. George was the third son of John Cadbury, a Quaker who founded Cadbury’s cocoa and...

One hundred years ago, on 18th October 1922, the BBC was officially founded as the British Broadcasting Company (now the British Broadcasting Corporation). It was originally a private company, in which only British manufacturers were permitted to hold shares. But three years later it was liquidated and in 1927 replaced by a public corporation –...

Who needs a poem? Apparently, many people feel much better for them – either in writing them or in reading them. That is the reason for the National Day of Poetry, which wants to see “an explosion of activity nationwide,” from kitchen tables to gardens and public spaces, “all celebrating poetry’s power to bring people...

All in the month of SEPTEMBER Hadrian’s Wall now 1900 years old When the Church first agreed that the Earth went around the Sun Highest temperatures ever recorded Remembering Mother Teresa, 25 years on Join in the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning for MacMillan Cancer Support ** Editor:  We continue our column that looks at memorable...