Hate it, love it or feel merely ‘meh’ about the whole thing it’s impossible to ignore. I refer of course to Valentine’s Day. So here we are with a brief Valentine’s Day History.
A brief Valentine’s Day History
All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.
It would seem there’s a lot more to it than the bit of the story most of us are familiar with. By which I mean Pope Claudius III giving the thumbs down to two young men both named Valentine – at different points in the 3rd Century.
It was the honouring of their martyrdom by the Catholic Church that gave us the celebration of St Valentine’s Day.
However, the path to the cynical commercialization of the festival that we know and *coughs* – love today probably begins, as does many a good festival or tradition, with Ancient Rome. In this instance it’s the feast of Lupercalia, that ran from Feb 13 to Feb 15 that you have to blame/thank – delete as applicable.
This being the Romans you won’t be at all surprised to know that this feast involved sacrificing animals, nakedness, drunkenness and flagellation. Sounds like fun huh?
The waters became muddied even more in the 5th Century when a Pope with a name that sounds like an ice-cream – Gelasius – combined St Valentine’s Day with Lupercalia in an effort to stamp out the earlier pagan rituals.
Confused? You will be. At around the same time, the Normans celebrated Galantine’s Day. Being as how ‘Galatin’ meant lover of women and sounded similar to Valentine it’s likely the two became intertwined.
Galantine’s Day
On the subject of Galantine: In recent years it’s become popular to celebrate Gelantine’s Day on the 13th February.
According to The Telegraph:‘Television show “Parks & Recreation” popularised the idea of Galentine’s day, which happens the day before Valentine’s day. The reason being that ‘Romantic partners often come and go, but best friends outstay all of them.. ‘ True enough I’d say!
Shakespeare in Love
The romantic notions we now associate with the festival gained traction from Chaucer and Shakespeare both of whom did much to romanticize it. As a result of their literary efforts Valentine’s Day became more popular throughout Britain and the rest of Europe.
At least Shakespeare’s outpourings covered all aspects of love. There was the silver-tongued, honey-glazed stuff yes. But there was also the Lover’s Complaint:
From off a hill whose concave womb reworded A plaintful story from a sist’ring vale, My spirits t’attend this double voice accorded, And down I laid to list the sad-tuned tale, Ere long espied a fickle maid full pale, Tearing of papers, breaking rings atwain, Storming her world with sorrow’s wind and rain. (NB: Found here: http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com)
Along with the English settlers the tradition eventually crossed the Atlantic to the New World. Here the 19th Century industrial revolution made mass-produced cards possible and Hallmark Cards of Kansas City were not slow to spot an opportunity. And the rest you know.
The Willow Pattern story
Unrelated to the mythology of Valentine’s Day, but worthy of mention while we’re on the topic is another story of romance and tragedy – this time from the Far East. Or so I thought. Incorrectly as it turns out.
In actual fact this most romantic of fables is English in origin and is nothing more than a clever advertising gimmick. It was created to promote Thomas Minton’s Willow Pattern china sometime around 1790. Read more about that here.
For a charming telling of the tale behind the Willow Pattern check out this little YouTube film:
63% of Swindon adults and 32% of children who considered themselves ‘inactive’, increased their activity levels after the return of Beat the Street last year
Beat the Street Swindon 2021 impact report
Pupils from Holy Cross School play Beat the Street Swindon – Beat the Street Report 2021
‘[Beat the Street]helped us explore our new area as a family and gave an extra excitement for my children to extend our walks. When stuck for something to do Beat the Street was our default. We adore this game and hope it continues.” – Female, aged 30-39
The effect of Beat the Street
The impact of the third Beat the Street Swindon game shows that the interactive physical activity challenge helped thousands of local people get more active.
Swindon played the game three times and the 2021 game achieved the highest number of miles so far. A total of 29,367 people (14% of the population) took part. They travelled 319,875 active travel miles over the six-week game between 15 September and 27 October 2021.
This time around, 16,790 people were surveyed on their levels of activity before the game. After the game, 12,082 people gave feedback enabling organisers to measure the impact of the game on their behaviour. The results show that Beat the Street helped local people who do little activity become more active.
Funding and partnerships
Swindon Borough Council funded Beat the Street working in partnership with Wiltshire and Swindon Sport (WASP), and Swindon Healthy Schools.
The programme also aimed to promote active and sustainable modes of travel. Taps on Beat Boxes show that the game encouraged people to use active modes of travel to get to school and work. Further, 34% of all activity undertaken was between 8-9am and 3-4pm.
Another aim of Beat the Street is to promote overall mental wellbeing. In particular in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Participants also completed questions about their mental health and wellbeing. The findings demonstrated that the initiative has led to improved mental wellbeing for adults. Participants reported increased feelings of happiness and reduced anxiety.
Quote/unquote
Councillor Brian Ford, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Adults and Health, said: ‘Beat the Street created a real buzz in our community last autumn. It got thousands of people up on their feet and moving.
As well as having positive benefits on residents’ health, the game also encouraged people to ditch the car and find more environmentally-friendly ways to travel around the Borough.
‘To help residents maintain the healthy lifestyle habits they adopted during the game, we’ve launched the Active Swindon Challenge app. ‘This brand new fitness app allows residents to take part in time limited challenges and record their journeys around the Borough. And, above all, stay active during the winter months. The app is free to download on iOS and Android devices in the App Store and through Google Play.
I’d encourage anybody who took part in Beat the Street to give our new app a go and build positive habits that last a lifetime.’
Beat the Street players will get a six-month follow up survey in March 2022. That will help assess long-term behaviour change and raise awareness of local provision to help keep people active.
The previous two games delivered in Swindon were successful in achieving behaviour change amongst players. In 2018, 31,892 participants took part and in 2019, 25,979 people took part.
To find out other ways you can stay active and reduce your effect on the environment, visit the Be the Change webpages:www.swindon.gov.uk/bethechange
Swindon Stories has launched Storytelling Month. It combines National Storytelling Week (30 Jan – 6 Feb) with Mother Tongue Day (21st Feb), for a range of activities, events and FREE resources for families.
This celebration festival highlights the diversity of stories at the heart of Swindon communities. It will also raise awareness of the importance of multilingualism.
Why are we doing it?
We want to spread a love of literacy in all its forms, including story-telling. Storytelling and reading is an important way for people to make sense of the world around them. People think in stories!
BUT one in eleven children don’t own a book of their own and one in six adults struggle with their literacy. Also almost 3 in 5 multilingual children say that they don’t enjoy reading in their free time.
This festival will celebrate both the value and skill of speaking many languages and the ways that these voices and stories shape our community.
Multi-cultural Swindon
Swindon is has a cultural vibrance apropos its residents and their languages.You can hear over 100 languages spoken in Swindon.
Among the town’s most spoken non-English languages and dialects are Konkani, Nepalese, Portugese and Polish. Swindon also has a rich local history, alongside local folktales and fables. We’re hoping that many of those will resurface and encourage the next generation to connect.
We of course know the story of the Moonrakers. But there are some wonderful stories about:
That’s a crucial skill in navigating complex social relationships. We hope the project will introduce children to a diverse range of stories, about characters from all walks of life. The project will also encourage children and parents to become protagonists of their own stories, sharing memories and cultural traditions with others.
How you can get involved
We’re inviting you to tell a story, for the Storytelling Month. We’ll upload it to Swindon Stories and the National Literacy TrustFacebook pages.
You could:
Share a local or international folktale, fable or legend. For example, this could be the local story of the moonrakers, or a folktale from the culture of your first language. Simply send us a clip, your name, a translation and sentence to summarise it!
Keep your eyes peeled for our three scrapbook resources. W’eve tailored these to early years, children 5-7, and 7-11.
Create a poster, activity or video about your local dialect or language. What are your favourite regional words on the topic of food, family, greetings and hobbies, or what do you like about it?
Share a memory of growing up, visiting family in a different country or your favourite thing about where you live.
Create a storytelling video about your first language, childhood stories or legends passed down through your family.
Swindon children and adults will be sharing their stories via both the Facebook page and Wiltshire radio. And from February 21 – 25:Young Arts Leaders, in partnership with Prime Theatre, are to run events on the theme of language, identity and telling your own story.
The Athelstan Museum has acquired an ink and wash drawing of Market Day at Malmesbury Market Cross. It’s thought the work could be by the famous English artist and caricaturist, Thomas Rowlandson.
The acquisition comes almost two years after the team acquired a genuine masterpiece. That being a watercolour over pencil of Malmesbury Abbey, painted by Joseph Mallord William Turner in 1827.
This latest find came when a new volunteer at the Athelstan Museum, Jonathan Tucker, heard that the drawing of Malmesbury Market Cross by ‘a follower of Thomas Rowlandson’ was coming up for auction. On hearing this intelligence the intrepid volunteer decided to investigate further.
Investigations
Jonathan, an experienced art dealer, showed members of the museum council detailed photographs of the drawing. Further, he obtained favourable feedback on the work of art from former contacts in the art market world.
Based on this information, a top price was set on the drawing by the council and Jonathan bid for the work on behalf of the museum.
Jonathan had been a volunteer at the Athelstan Museum for less than a week when he first heard about the drawing coming up for auction.
He said: bidding for this drawing and supporting the museum using my art dealer experience to acquire a local piece of history for Malmesbury was delightful.
Market Cross by Thomas Rowlandson
About the piece
Mounted under glass, the ink and wash work of art, measures 15.5cm x 23.5cm (6” x 9¼”). It’s a lovely ink drawing, in reasonable condition and with some colour highlights,’ said Deborah Clogg, head of collections at the Athelstan Museum. ‘It shows the Cross area with a market in progress. In Rowlandson’s style, the picture is full of life with people, animals, stalls and the general hubbub of a busy market day.
‘The museum would like to undertake further research on its provenance. Some believe the drawing may be by Thomas Rowlandson himself. But there is currently insufficient evidence for this attribution.’
Thomas Rowlandson, born in London in 1756, was an English artist and caricaturist noted for his political satire and social observation. Like other caricaturists of his age, Rowlandson’s caricatures are often robust or bawdy. His caricatures included those of people in power such as:
The Duchess of Devonshire
William Pitt the Younger
Napolean Bonaparte
Rowlandson died in 1827 at the age of 71 at his lodgings in London after a prolonged illness.
Sharon Nolan, museum chair confirmed: ‘Once the necessary restoration work and provence research has been undertaken, we’ll put the piece on show in the museum.
I’d like to thank our new volunteer, Jonathan, for enabling the museum to get this wonderful drawing. And we would love to welcome more new volunteers to our team at the museum.’
Supporting bodies
Thanks to support from:
the National Lottery Heritage Fund
the Art Fund and …
… local Wiltshire donors …
… the Athelstan Museum was able to buy an original Turner watercolour of Malmesbury Abbey and secure the iconic picture for future generations. The Turner now has pride of place at the top of the stairs in the renovated mezzanine floor of the museum.
A Swindon SMAG Friends Update -edited highlights from the most recent newsletter from the Friends.
Forthcoming Zoom talks
Wednesday 23rd February 7.30pm. Michael Gray, conservation architect, will talk about Swindon’s St Marks Church. The church was dedicated in 1845, for the employees of the railway works.
March 23rd: David Dawson,Director of the Wiltshire Museum. David will speak on plans for the relocation of the Wiltshire Museum to the old Assize Courts building in Devizes.
April 27th:Lisa Westcott–Wilkins. Co-founder and Managing Director of Dig Ventures will be telling us about the Mammoth Graveyard uncovered near Swindon.
DigVentures began the excavations after Sally and Neville Hollingworth gave the alert about the site. Non-professional palaeontologists, they’ll also take part in the talk.
May 25th: Sarah Finch-Crisp, Chair of the Friends of Lydiard Park will speak about the Lydiard Archives, a unique on-line collection of objects, portraits, records, manuscripts, photographs, memories, and ephemera related to Lydiard Park.
June 29th Martin Newman of Historic England and also a member of the Friends committee will talk about ‘List Swindon: 75 Years of Protecting England’s Heritage’. Martin is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquities, a Member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists and a Fellow or the Royal Society of Arts.
A year ago, in the first edition of the Friends’ Newsletter we reported that the restoration of the Roman wine strainer, paid for by the Friends, was complete. That said, it remained at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham, where the restoration had taken place. Linda Kasmaty recently made enquiries and found that the strainer is now back in Swindon.
We’re hoping that it will soon be on display in Swindon for all of us to see and enjoy.
From Swindon Museum and Art Gallery (MAG) at Apsley House to an empty building & paintings hanging in a corridor.
How did this happen?
Photo by Stuart Harrison
March 2019 saw the presentation of a report on Swindon’s Art and Museum collections and cultural provision’ to an SBC Cabinet meeting.
The report highlighted the museum and art gallery as housing ‘an outstanding modern art collection of national importance. And of course the largely locally sourced artefacts of historic significance’.
It went on to say, ‘The collections deserve greater visibility, bringing cultural and educational benefits to a wider audience’. It recommended ‘approval for a budget of up to £400,00, to undertake essential improvements at the Swindon MAG at Apsley House.’
This work was to include the installation of a lift to improve accessibility. It also recommended that ‘Every child will be encouraged to visit the Council’s museums. That recommendation included the Swindon museum and art gallery as a learning opportunity while they’re at school’.
To ‘increase visibility’, the report also introduced the idea of ‘Art on Tour’. This initiative to comprise pop up exhibitions in ‘satellite facilities in or around the town centre to house art or artefacts on tour’.
Artworks and artefacts would be available to residents unable to visit Apsley House and the publicity would bring more visitors into the museum and art gallery. So far so good.
Moving forward to June 2021
The council decided that Apsley House would not re-open after the covid lockdown. During lockdown maintenance of Apsley House by the council had lapsed. The council stated that the roof leaked, the boiler had broken and the fire alarm system wasn’t working well. The lift installation had not taken place.
Further, the council considered that Apsley House, which in February 2020 was operating as an accredited, functioning museum and art gallery was, out of the blue, no longer fit for purpose.
SBC had, had it seems, allowed Apsley House, containing the ‘outstanding art collection and artefacts of historical significance’, to fall into disrepair such that the precious collections had become endangered. Since then they’ve removed the collections and stored them elsewhere.
The council has mounted ‘Art on Tour’ displays of artworks in the foyer of the Civic Offices, corridors in Steam museum and the Central Library and at two heritage open weekend sites. These areas aren’t accredited art galleries and conditions for accessing and viewing the works are less than ideal. Posters have not been in evidence to advertise the displays.
The purpose built art gallery in Apsley House, displayed at least forty paintings at a time. Further, the exhibitions changed throughout the year. Yet the council maintain that the ‘Art on Tour’ displays are bringing ‘More art to more people’.
In the space of two years we’ve seen the council shift its position from:
Encouraging more visitors to Apsley House via art on tour to …
… saying that art on tour and (another idea) museums without walls would completely replace SMAG.
Protest action
Protests from Friends and the petition signed by over 5,000 supporters have had some effect. Those actions have persuaded the council to convert the first floor of the civic offices into temporary galleries for the museum and art collections until they can provide new facilities in 10 years’ time in the cultural quarter. That’s the plan anyway.
We’ve learned that the timetable for the temporary galleries has already slipped.
Any questions or comments? Contact Councillor Robert Jandy, email: RJandy@swindon.gov.uk
The Friends on social media
Friends’ Website Click on http://www.friendsofsmag.orgto find details of talks, newsletters, news, videos of talks, a link to the blog and you can also make a donation to FSMAG.
Let’s not forget the museum and art gallery collections now in storage. Here are a few links from the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery website: https://www.swindonmuseumandartgallery.org.uk/
NOTE: The Friends aren’t sure of the contents of the ceramics collection. If you have information or photographs then please let us know so that we can build up a record. email: admin@friendsofsmag.org
You can also view some of Swindon’s Collection of Modern British Painting and Swindon’s local art collection on the ART UK website.
