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Saturday Snapshots of a Gateway to the Past
Polesworth Abbey Gatehouse This gatehouse is virtually all that remains of Polesworth Abbey, and I can never pass it without thinking of the nuns who walked beneath it when the were forced to leave during the dissolution of the monasteries. For some of the women it would have been the only home they had ever…
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An Awfully Big Adventure
Sixteen-year-old Stella has a job as an assistant stage manager with a repertory company in Liverpool. As far as work goes, her options are limited – it’s the theatre or Woolworth’s, because she failed her mock school certificate and her school won’t let her stay on because she has the brains, but not the application.…
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Johnson According To Bainbridge
When I worked on the local paper in Lichfield I attended the Johnson Supper a couple of times, and covered the Birthday Celebrations, which involved a procession and service by his statue in the Market Square. Now I’m a volunteer in the city’s Oxfam Book Shop, which is next door but one to the Johnson…
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Beauty Tips From An Old Penguin
Looking beautiful in the 1950s must have been a full-time job for a woman. Even at night there was no let-up. You were advised to sleep with an elasticated band tied ‘fairly tightly’ under your chin and knotted on top of the head (to prevent a double chin), to don bed socks and cotton gloves…
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Saturday Snapshots of a Warrior Queen
I took this picture of Tamworth Castle a couple of years ago,and some of the trees have been cut back, but it shows themound (said to have been built by Ethelfleda) fairly clearly. I am feeling sad today, because my elder daughter left this morning to set up a home of her own with her…
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The Book Trunk 