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A People’s History Chapter 7

A MISCELLANY OF HISTORY A TEXTUAL WEAVING OF A CABINET OF CURIOSITIES A TEXTUAL SAMPLER Chapter Seven The 1825 Riots   These are my memories of what I saw and did, together with others in the Stroudwater Valleys in 1825. I know I am supposed to show remorse but I cannot dissemble. I have no remorse.   My name is Alice Ayliffe Bingham and I am 25 years old. It was after Eastertide, at the end of April, when we had enough of not having enough. Me and my sisters Charlotte, Sarah and Elisabeth and my mother are spinners. My brothers, Tom and Sam, and my father are weavers. We had been working ever longer time for ever cankered pennies all the year. Something needed doing.   So we laid our shuttles and looms to rest and joined the Stroud Valleys Weavers Union. I straightway joined...

Rev Awdry 80th Anniversary

Rev W. Awdry 1911-97 (Jottings made from a reading of The Thomas the Tank Engine Man Brian Sibley The Story of the Reverend W. Awdry and his Really Useful Engines 1995) In the Beginning was the Word, But there was also a tunnel at Box, Where a young child christened...

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Ringo and the Rev in Rodborough

Ringo and the Rev   Song to be sung roughly to the tune of Octopus’ Garden   It’s strange but true In Rodborough Avenue A big car arrived with Ringo Starr (Big car arrived with Ringo Starr), Church tower and steeple Gazed upon the Beatle As he had a drag...

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The Style of the Rev Awdry Books

What is about the Style of the Awdry Books?   Here is Brian Sibley in his biography The Thomas the Tank Engine Man: ‘So what is the reason for the success of these books? Is it their text: sharp and tightly written with sly little jokes and rhythmic sounds but,...

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Sir Topham Hatt (aka The Fat Controller)

Sir Topham Hatt (aka The Fat Controller) Apparently, Master T. Hatt started his railway career in 1894 at the GWR Works in Swindon as an apprentice. I imagine he was quite slim then. I also imagine that his father probably worked ‘inside’ in the factory and that...

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Morris and Awdry

The Reverend Awdry and Desert Island Discs and the Johnny Morris Recording   The Rev appeared on Desert Island Discs in 1964 in ‘The Swinging Sixties’, choosing Robinson Crusoe as his book (‘apart from the Bible and Shakespeare’). Three of his chosen records...

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The Rev Awdry Books Revisited

The Books As I said before, I didn’t come across any of the series until I read the Ladybird books to my children at bedtime. I have, however, just read a boxset in the past month of January, 2025. The books in this boxset were published in 2021 by Farshore, an...

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