20 April 2022: Given our recent observation of what happens in the lead up to an invasion, an interesting series of blogs from Kew have served as a reminder that they usually come as a surprise. Forty years on from the Falklands – that timespan alone …
9 March 2022: The prolonged silence since the last of these posts cannot be attributable to any absence of interesting glimmers sighted at Kew. The air has been somewhat dominated, however, by the release in January of the 1921 Census for England and Wales – a …
1 October 2021: During the years I have spent poring over documents at the reading rooms at Kew, I have often paused to marvel at the efficiency of the operation as yet more bulky – and weighty – cardboard boxes were smoothly delivered to my allotted …
24 August 2021: I knew from the outset that the task was impossible. Keeping up with all the treasures which continue to pour from that modernist pile standing beside a pond in Kew was never going to be feasible. But given that buried within it lies …
11 April 2021: It is true, life can be like London buses. Nothing happens for a while, and then everything comes along at once. And so it has been with the Friends. It all started with our first AGM for the new CIO charity. We would …
1 March 2021: We all survived and no living organism was in any way endangered during our endeavours to produce, manage and host our first online events. Doing something completely new for the first time does bring a sense of trepidation, and that is without involving …
15 November 2020: You could almost feel the rush of air. There was a big collective sigh of relief when we finally completed the incorporation process with the members’ agreement to dissolve the current unincorporated association charity and transfer to a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO). It …
5 October 2020: It looked terrifying – the pile of books behind the learned professor seemed alarmingly too high for safety. It rather distracted the viewer, fearful that at any moment some calamity could befall the professor as he earnestly set forth on his Zoom lecture. …
28 July 2020: Another month has slipped by and our extraordinary times continue with no end seemingly in sight at the moment. The Friends have remained busy behind the scenes, putting finishing touches to the print version of the magazine, dealing with policy matters and recently …
18 June 2020: It is hard to believe where the time has gone since my previous blog. Unfortunately that little thing called ‘life’ intervened and the last 18 months or so have been a bit bumpy for me with other priorities taking precedence over volunteering time …
