Illustration from 1958 edition of The Story of Holly and Ivy – Adrienne Adams A new display about Aylesbury and a famous Christmas story – at Discover Bucks Museum in the Buckinghamshire town. The Story of Holly and Ivy, by Rumer Godden, is set in an English market town full of seasonal atmosphere. This warmhearted Christmas fantasy… Continue reading
Posts tagged Aylesbury
Writing Aylesbury out of a children’s classic: how important are real places in literature?
When The Story of Holly and Ivy was first published, it was set in the Buckinghamshire market town of Aylesbury. In later editions the location was switched to somewhere called Appleton. (There is a village of Appleton in Oxfordshire, but the descriptions in the book don’t fit it.) Has the book lost something as a result? “And where does your grandmother… Continue reading →
Sleek and silent killer returns to the skies of an English market town
A pair of peregrine falcons is raising a single chick on a nesting platform at the top of the 200 feet high County Hall in the centre of the Buckinghamshire town of Aylesbury. The falcons have been nesting here since 2011, and I don’t think our sense of wonder should diminish. All round the world, totemic… Continue reading →
Aylesbury’s peregrines hatch a new champion of the skies
Since I wrote the following, the single egg hatched, on Monday, April 28th. The young bird is being fed by its parents now. http://www.aylesburyperegrine.org.uk/pcam.html — Aylesbury’s pair of peregrine falcons are tending their first egg on their purpose built nesting platform at the top of the 200 feet high County Hall in… Continue reading →
Peregrine falcons from English town fly in to international conference
The family of peregrine falcons that successfully fledged in central Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, this year has shot to International (well European) stardom. Two officers from the two local councils involved in the scheme addressed the first international conference on the protection of birds and bats in buildings in Zvolen, Slovakia in November (2012). You can see… Continue reading →
Should the Paralympic flame be lit at Stoke Mandeville for every games?
The case for choosing Stoke Mandeville in Aylesbury as the place to light the Paralympic flame every four years. What do the following locations have to do with the Paralympic tradition? Parliament House, Canberra. The Hephaestus Temple in Athens. And the Temple of Heaven, Beijing. All of them suitably solemn and dignified locations, I’m sure,… Continue reading →