EACH Mugs

Emma Bridgewater designed this Ladybirds pattern especially for East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, which supports families and cares for children and young people with life threatening conditions across Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. For every one of these sets of two mugs sold, £10 will be donated to build a new children’s hospice for Norfolk.

Source: EACH Special Set of 2 Mugs

This Baby Mug makes a lovely present for a child, and for every one sold, £5 will be donated to build a new children’s hospice for Norfolk.

Source: EACH Special Ladybirds Baby Mug

Easter Tree

A new tree in the palace gardens of Saalfeld has been chosen to continue the tradition. On the weekend before Easter the new tree will be decorated and visitors can also bring own personalized Easter eggs.

In 1965 Volker Kraft decorated a young apple tree in the garden with 18 colorful easter eggs for his children. As the apple tree grew, the number of eggs grew. The family in Saalfeld adorned the apple tree with beautifully painted, crocheted and decorated eggs.

The tradition of decorating trees and bushes with Easter eggs is known as the Ostereierbaum.

Source: Bürger und Vereine wollen Ostereierbaum-Tradition in Saalfeld fortführen

88589443

HenPower

Bringing together older people and hen keeping to combat loneliness and improve wellbeing.

“At any age you need to feel like you are contributing and feel valued.”

HenPower aims to:

◾Empower older people to build positive relationships through hen-keeping with improved wellbeing, reduced loneliness and reduced depression
◾Help care settings offer relationship centred care meeting older people’s needs and embrace ‘living with care’ as opposed to ‘caring for’
◾Create lasting change by supporting older people in care settings to get involved with schools, festivals and community events
◾Support Resident and Relative Committees within care settings to be aspirational and provide meaningful activities which embrace creative ageing
◾Provide social care staff with excellent skill transfer and professional development opportunities.

Equal Arts, a leading creative ageing charity providing arts and creative activities for older people.

Equal Arts was founded 30 years ago to bring music, painting and other art forms into the lives of elderly people.

bistro chair

A design classic, which earned a gold medal at the 1867 World Exposition in Paris. Le Corbusier said “Never was a better and more elegant design and a more precisely crafted and practical item created.”

The first piece of furniture to be both attractive and inexpensive enough to appeal to everyone from aristocrats to schoolteachers. Brahms sat on one to play his piano, and millions of us have perched comfortably on them in cafés.

“One of the most beautiful chairs. It has exactly the right weight. When you pick it up, it feels perfect, an important aspect of chair design that is often overlooked.”

One of the most successful products in the history of industrial mass production, it established the international reputation of the Thonet Company. By 1930 over 50 million chairs had been sold.

“It has the freshness of a new product, because it has never been bettered.”

Michael Thonet is recognized as the founder of industrial bentwood processing. Efficient methods of manufacturing, a reduction in the individual parts of a chair, and finally the development of its own distribution network via sales offices in all major cities around the globe enabled Thonet to develop into an international company.

Michael Thonet developed a procedure of bending solid wood with steam, replacing the glued peg jointing with screws. Model No. 14 was the first product utilizing this new bentwood technique. The screwed connections meant it was now possible to ship the chairs in their individual parts for final assembly at their destination. Thirty six dismantled No. 14 chairs could be packed into a crate with a volume of only one cubic meter. Since the connections could be retightened as necessary, the lifespan of the chair was also enhanced as an added benefit.

It improves with age.

“As the screws and glue loosen, the structure becomes softer. It seems safer and more comfortable to sit in as it ages.”

Tercentenary

Edinburgh introduced Britain to the university centenary, an established form of celebration in continental Europe.

The ceremonies in 1884 can be seen in the framework of the late nineteenth century ‘invention of tradition’. Such events usually asserted the links of the university with national and local communities and with the state.

The Edinburgh celebrations marked the opening of a new medical school, after a public appeal which itself strengthened relations with graduates and wealthy donors.

The city council, local professional bodies, and the student community all played a prominent part in the events of 1884, which were a significant episode in the development of student representation. Analysis of the speeches given on the occasion suggests that the university sought to promote the image of a great medical and scientific university, with the emphasis on teaching and professional training rather than research, for the ideal of the ‘Humboldtian’ research university was still a novelty in Britain.

Tercentenary rhetoric also expressed such themes as international academic cooperation, embodied in the presence of leading scientists and scholars, the harmony of religion and science, and a liberal protestant view of the rise of freedom of thought.

The tercentenary coincided with impending legislation on Scottish universities, which encouraged assertions of the public character of these institutions, and of the nation’s distinct cultural identity. One striking aspect, however, was the absence of women from the formal proceedings, and failure to acknowledge the then current issue of women’s admission to higher education.

Edinburgh University: A Sketch Of Its Life For 300 Years (1884)

87.1.anderson

Teachers

Originally founded as the Society of Teachers in 1846 and incorporated by royal charter as The College of Preceptors in 1849, the name changed to The College of Teachers in 1998. The College published The Educational Times from 1847 to 1923 and now publish the quarterly academic journal Education Today.

The College moved into a new purpose built building erected on a plot on the south side of Bloomsbury Square adjoining Southampton Street in 1887 and remained there for the whole of the twentieth century.

As its activities and influence increased, the College needed larger quarters. The architect Frederick Pinches designed a new building in red brick with dressings of Portland stone, and carved stone panels above the ground and first floor windows decorated with medallions of famous educators from John Locke and John Milton to Pestalozzi and Froebel.
Former home of the College of Preceptors designed by the architect Frederick Pinches, a new building in red brick with dressings of Portland stone, and carved stone panels above the ground and first floor windows decorated with medallions of famous educators from John Locke and John Milton to Pestalozzi and Froebel. Photograph by Robert Freidus.
Royal Charter of 1849

The first professional body for teachers. Women were admitted to the College from 1849. In 1873 the first Professorship of Education in the country was established here, with the appointment of Joseph Payne (Fifty Years of Progress in Education: A Review of the Work of the College of Preceptors from its Foundation in 1846 to its Jubilee in 1896)

Forestry

Edinburgh was chosen as the site for the first International Forestry Exhibition in 1884.

The Scottish Arboriculture Society and planned the exhibition on 7 to 8 acres of land on which was erected a handsome wooden building in the park, designed by architect William H Playfair.

The opening of the Exhibition was performed by the Marquis of Lothian on 1st July 1884 at around one o’clock. There were over 50 and colonial and foreign countries from China to Peru, rare and beautiful trees and shrubs from around the world, displays of wood working machinery, and 500 private exhibitors.

Illustrated London News 19 July1884.

“Everything connected with forestry is especially attractive just now when so much attention is being drawn to the subject in its very varied aspects by the Exhibition at Edinburgh.” Nature 30, 309-310 (31 July 1884)

Gladstone’s Party with the locally built coach of the electric train in the grounds of the Exhibition site in 1884.

“This morning as we go to press, there is being conducted on the lines of the Edinburgh Street Tramway Company opposite the Forestry Exhibition, an interesting experiment with the view of testing application of electricity as a motive power in the working of ordinary street tramway traffic.” Scotsman Newspaper on 11th October 1884

The growth of the railways was a major threat to forests. A mile of rail line needed 1760 wooden sleepers which would have a life of eight years. In addition to the sleepers, wood was needed to run the steam engines of the railways. There was no way to maintain the supply of wood without destroying the forests unless some special management was undertaken.

Forestry And Forest Products: Prize Essays Of The Edinburgh International Forestry Exhibition, 1884 (1885)

Arboriculture in 1850s included the raising and establishment of young trees in open ground by the gardener or estate forester, many estates creating an arboretum to observe the performance of these new species. More familiar species were planted for the improvement of estates as landscape groups, or as shelter belts for stock, or as plantations for timber.

Early records of the Scottish Arboricultural Society, show that in 1868-1872, members were concerned about ‘The effects of forests on climate’ and approached the British Council for the Advancement of Science to discuss a project on this topic.

Queen Victoria became Patron of the Society in 1869 and granted a Royal Charter to the Society in 1887 so that it became the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society.

Education and training of foresters was formally discussed in 1881. Dr Cleghorn, President in 1873 and 1874, was familiar with contemporary developments in forestry in India and described the practices to Society members. Between 1875 and 1886 pressure for forestry training was maintained, leading to a petition to Parliament. In 1882, plans were mooted to hold an International Forestry Exhibition, jointly with the Highland and Agricultural Society. Profits from the exhibition were to be put towards funding a forestry school at Edinburgh University. The Exhibition opened in 1884 in Edinburgh. During the three months it was open half a million people attended. Although there was a surplus, it was not enough to fund a forestry school at Edinburgh.

In the inaugural lecture of the ‘School of Forestry’ at Edinburgh in 1889, Dr William Somerville differentiated between forestry as including formal management of land for sustained timber production and arboriculture as relating to more general management of individual trees.

The change in perceptions and needs brought about by the 1914-18 war, eventually led to University Chairs of Forestry being created, one at Edinburgh in 1919 and one at Aberdeen in 1926.

Ibstock Place

This School sees its responsibility as ensuring that the accomplishments of each child reflects their talents and interests so they leave Ibstock Place School as creative, resilient and empathetic adults.

Each child is able to find their strengths whether it is becoming the promising musician, the meticulous scholar, the outstanding sportsman or the talented artist.
Enthusiastic and ambitious staff attach great importance to the development of the individuality of each child and everyone having regard for tolerance, courtesy and respect.

At the end of the nineteenth century, the learning experiences of Friedrich Froebel for the very young were seen as the key to social progress and to the health of society. The educational benefactor Mrs Julia Salis Schwabe (1819–1896) decided to establish a teacher training college with a Demonstration School in England based on his teaching principles. She asked Claude Montefiore (1858–1938) to be Secretary of the inaugural Froebel Society, which would support the College and the School. They, as joint benefactors, agreed to meet any financial deficits.

In 1896 the College and School were opened by the Empress Frederick (Daughter of Queen Victoria). The first headmistress was Esther Lawrence.

Australian art

A mural by Indigenous Australian artist Emily Kngwarreye has been hung in the dining room at The Lodge.

A huge mural by Indigenous artist Emily Kngwarreye dominates the formal room, and is sure to be a talking point at many official dinners. Bright pink and orange brushstrokes steal the scene upon entry to the room.

Mrs Turnbull has broken with tradition in the dining room, hanging many bold contemporary artworks selected from the National Gallery’s collection.

Mrs Turnbull said it was important for the art in The Lodge to “express Australia through its whole history”.

“I was very keen that it expressed lots of different thoughts and strains and aspirations and different ways of showing what a great country we are.”

Pieces by Indigenous artists Paddy Bedford and Rover Thomas grace the formal sitting rooms.

The work of many female Australian artists adorn the walls, including Margaret Preston, Ethel Carrick and Rosalie Gascoigne.

There are plenty of iconic pieces including an Arthur Streeton landscape of Queensland’s Magnetic Island, which has been on display in The Lodge for many years.

Russell Drysdale and Arthur Boyd works make an appearance in rooms used to entertain guests and there is a Sidney Nolan in the Prime Minister’s study.

Lucy Turnbull brings brought bold, contemporary Australian art into The Lodge, brightening up the Prime Ministerial residence.

Source: Contemporary Australian art finds new home at The Lodge

The Lodge was built in 1927.
The Lodge was built in 1927. The 40 room residence has housed Prime Ministers and their families for 89 years. It is not grand, but is a beautiful house with a rich history.

The Lodge in Canberra is situated within 1.8 hectares of grounds and is traditionally the principal residence of the Prime Minister of Australia.

The Lodge was built by Australian craftsmen using local materials to a design by architect J S Taylor of Glebe, Sydney. The plan incorporated a site with lawns, flowers, fruit and vegetable gardens, orchards, a tennis court and a croquet lawn. The decoration and furnishing was under the supervision of interior designer Ruth Lane-Poole.

The Australiana Fund recognizes the importance of representing not only Australia’s historic traditions, but also our modern culture. Examples of this can be seen in several commissions by contemporary artists and craftspeople. Among the artworks on loan to The Lodge by The Australiana Fund, there are objects with Prime Ministerial and historic provenance such as an earthenware jug resembling Prime Minister Joseph Lyons and Sir Henry Parkes’ campaign secretaire.

Moray Place

Private garden of 3½ acres in Georgian New Town, Edinburgh. Shrubs, trees and beds offer an atmosphere of tranquillity for residents, subject to payment of an annual subscription.

Scotland’s Gardens is a registered charity. Created in 1931, we raise funds for other worthy charities by facilitating the opening of large and small gardens of horticultural interest throughout Scotland to the public.

Source: Moray Place and Bank Gardens – Scotland’s Gardens

Moray Place is perhaps Edinburgh’s most sought after New Town address and a fine example of Georgian architecture. Situated within easy walking distance of the city centre, Moray Place is a beautiful, quiet, circular terrace arranged around tranquil private central gardens. There are further terraced gardens on the banks of the Water of Leith. Residents can apply for access to both of these.

The Earl of Moray, had plans drawn up in 1822 to develop his estates, Northwest of the New Town sloping down to the Water of Leith. The terrace houses around Moray Place were built between 1822 and 1830 to the design of James Gillespie Graham.

uk-2224

The original character of the Georgian era New Town, with its cobbled roads, pillars, and sandstone block facades is preserved today by building codes that stipulate even the wrought iron railings must be painted a specific colour – black. New Town residences were built along an integrated and harmonious plan, with residences set near pleasant communal gardens and attractive views. Edinburgh’s New Town is a marvel of urban planning, combining elegant architecture with spacious and comfortable housing.

Karl Froebel lived at 20 Moray Place
Karl Froebel lived at 20 Moray Place, Edinburgh. Karl Froebel was one of the five nephews of Friedrich Froebel, who were educated at the school founded in 1816 at Griesham.

morayplacetoken

Karl Froebel was in Manchester for a while before moving to Edinburgh to open a school with his wife Johanna Kustner Froebel. Clementine (wife of Sir Winston Churchill and a life peeress in her own right) was educated first at home, then briefly at the Edinburgh school run by Karl Froebel. (Soames, M. (2002). Clementine Churchill: The Biography of a Marriage London, Doubleday)