Celebration Time

If you’ve stuck with this blog since April 2021, you can now celebrate on reaching the halfway point in this series of 101 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About Whitchurch!

Item 1 was all about the oldest (surviving) tree in the village. Along the way we’ve looked at the Chelsea Pensioner families in the 1860s, old pubs, local builders, and some local celebrities of yesteryear

We’ve dipped in an out of local places and names, and of famous families. We’ve even considered what the village might have been like in the past (even the distant past)

So much has been discovered, and I’ve learned an incredible amount from the fantastic feedback that’s been generated over the past year-and-a-bit

And we’re still only halfway there! So much more to discover

It’s beginning to dawn on me about what makes a village? It’s obviously the history, the surviving heritage and all of the bumps and scrapes that the village has had to contend with over the last 1,000 years or so. But so much more than this; it’s the people, the characters and their legacies which provide the building blocks. But history is not ancient or dusty, we’re living through it even now, Covid, the Ukraine conflict, even our current cost-of-living crisis. We are ‘history’. We are Whitchurch

And we need to record it. We owe it to all those who will be following us in the 1,000+ years to come!

Oh! And I’ve just remembered, there’s another celebration this weekend too. The platinum anniversary of Elizabeth II ascending to the throne, 70 years. I’ve still got a China mug given to me when I first started school celebrating the coronation of the queen in June 1953. I’m surprised and delighted that the mug has survived so many house-moves and spring-cleaning sessions! We’ve also got a tinplate cup (slightly chipped) dated 1837 with Queen Victoria’s image on it (not sure where that one came from). This was to celebrate her ascension on 20th June that year, 185 years ago. I wonder how Whitchurch would have celebrated then? And I wonder how the village will celebrate our special events in the future, even more bank holidays?

Anyway, happy celebration!

PS back to normal next week! It’s all downhill from now!

 

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