THE TALISMAN WATCH
In 2009, Bell & Ross made a lasting impression by breaking with traditional watchmaking codes for its very first BR 01 «Skull». A remarkable version was unveiled in 2015, in the form of the BR 01 SKULL BRONZE. And the story of the now famous Bell & Ross skull has taken yet another twist with the revelation of an extraordinary new face. This brand new version is a celebration of military symbolism and the art of tattooing.
A KEY MILITARY SYMBOL
Each of the BR 01 Skull collections pays its own unique tribute to the legendary parachutists of the Second World War. Emerging from the skies at dawn on 6th June 1944, the troops of the 82nd and 101st American airborne divisions played a vital role in the Normandy landings. On their jumpsuits, these elite fighters proudly wore an insignia bearing a skull and the words: “Death from Above”, both to intimidate their opponents and to ward off ill fortune. Today, the legendary Jolly Rogers still figures on military equipment, such as uniforms, emblems and aeroplanes as a decorative element that is used as a talisman or a rebel
symbol. And what could be more symbolic than a tattoo, particularly one that depicts an image as striking as the fires of hell? So was born the BR 01 BURNING SKULL. Faithful to the spirit of the 1944 parachutists and their emblem, which resembled the pirate flags of the past, the BR 01 BURNING SKULL displays the skull and crossbones, perfectly placed within the lines of the iconic square case of the Bell & Ross brand. Sporting the colour of steel with a black background serving as a showcase, the relief dial features hour and minute hands that reveal other traditional motifs from the military world: the dagger and the sword. The matt appearance of the metal and the muted reflections from the alligator strap enhance the watch’s adventurous and combative image.
intaglio for the tattoo
Despite its provocative aspect, the skull is not the only unusual decoration on the watch. The entire case
surrounding the dial is fully engraved and decorated in the style of a tattoo. Evoking some of the most striking designs used to decorate the skin, the watch is emblazoned with sparks flying in all directions, on both the front and back, with an array of details covering every surface and recess. Turn the watch over, and even the visible inscriptions on the case-back seem to be taken from a real tattoo, with the curved letters appearing to follow the contours of an arm. Its bold, edgy graphics recall the mythical fires of hell, and include numerous motifs symbolising destiny and mortality: a heart, a rose, a scythe and an hourglass, lurking within the decoration. To create this effect, each line engraved into the steel is filled manually, using a stylus, with a black ink/varnish, just like a tattoo artist decorating the skin. During the process, the piece is fired several times in an oven to fix the lacquer. It is a long and painstaking job, and it takes the engraver/ lacquerer several hours to finish each case. Once these stages are complete, the black lacquer underscores the watch’s graphic identity through the interplay of balance and contrast between light and dark tones. The steady hand, expertise, experience and artistic mastery required for this work on the steel of the BR 01 BURNING SKULL closely match the skills of the tattoo artist…
Relief engraving for the skull
The realism of the skull in the centre of the «tattoo» is reinforced by the design of the dial on two levels, which
brings a depth to the visual effect. The skull is created from stamped metal, a process traditionally used for producing coins and medals, and which creates a true relief. The black SuperLuminova covering the dial face further accentuates the skull, intensifying its defiant stare. The military symbolism and exceptional craftsmanship of this watch make it truly one of a kind. The bellicose character and exquisite workmanship of the BR 01 BURNING SKULL add a fiery aura to the talismanic spirit of the original Skull model. The watch is available in a limited edition of 500 pieces, and will delight collectors and fans of idiosyncratic timepieces.


|Preserving the foundation of knowledge.|
History of the American Negro and his institutions (Georgia edition)
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Our Legion was named in honour of a local war hero Wallace Lloyd Algie.
Lt. Algie was born in Alton June 10, 1891. He was son of James and Rachel Algie. He attended Alton Public School. Later, he enrolled in the Royal Military College of Canada and graduated as a lieutenant. He served in The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada and then the 40th Regiment.
He was the recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award that can be given to an enlisted soldier. He was given it for his actions on October 11, 1918, during the Hundred Days Offensive.
Lt. Algie died during battle on October 11, 1918 at the age of 27 in Iwuy, France. He was buried at Niagara Cemetery in France.
His father was presented with his Victoria Cross on March 28, 1919.
Our Legion, Branch 449 Lt Algie VC is the last remaining Legion in the Town of Caledon. It has been in operation at its current location since 1969, providing a gathering place for veterans, members and community groups.
In 2022, marked the 75th Anniversary of the Legion in Alton. For 75 years, Branch 449 has been an integral part of the Alton and Caledon communities.
The Legion received its letters patent on January 27th, 1947.
We have many Veterans in our area that served in the Boar War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Cyprus and Afghanistan.
All members of the Executive can be reached by email at firstname.lastname@example.org
1st Vice President
2nd Vice President


Stone Wall Freedom
Part I - The Pirate
A small rugged Northeastern Island, Pirates, kidnapping, buried treasure, slave ships, and freedom for stone walls. Author David Lee Tucker masterfully weaves each element into one compelling tapestry beginning with Part I: Stone Wall Freedom - The Pirate.
The year is 1749. A sleek Spanish ship gently rocks in the morning Caribbean sun. The cool breeze belies the horrors being exacted both on deck and below. She is a slave ship, and her crew has just been overwhelmed by Captain Giddy Gilcox and the pirate crew of the Rogue Flattery. It is the first slave ship the pirates have ever scuttled. The crew bristles—there's a sense of foreboding about the ship that makes them anxious; they've heard stories of the pirate Black Sam Bellamy meeting his death after overtaking a slave ship. But Gilcox, a student of the great pirates before him, berates his men: "Many a superstitious pirate has attributed the ship's demise to the slave trade she had once carried. Don't be fools, soldiers. A ship is no more than wood and iron and tar and canvas. And these animals on this ship will soon be resting at the bottom of the sea."
Part II - The Islander
Sea captain Alexander Hawkins has returned to his Block Island, Rhode Island home after an extended merchant voyage. Although eagerly anticipating his time back home after so long at sea, he soon learns that little has gone well in his absence. His father has struggled with the family farm and Alexander's sweetheart, Rebekah, greets him with cool contempt. In addition, the political atmosphere in this spring of 1776 is highly charged, as the American colonies scramble to defend their rights against the British. Alexander himself awaits news of his own commission into the fledgling American Navy.
But there is more to the prevailing attitudes on Block Island than freedom from British oppression-many Sons of Liberty insist that freedom from British rule means freedom for all men, black as well as white. Yet many patriots wonder about losing their profits-even some of their property-if they can no longer own slaves. Alexander stands firmly on the side of freedom for all, even as he has to maintain "social order" with his companion and "brother", Nathan - a slave. This conundrum looms large in Alexander's mind and colors his decisions and behavior.
Part III – The Slave
In the spring of 1786, the slave Hannibal, property of the dour and gruff Sam Williams, sat silently in the wagon that carried him and his master into Harbor Bay of Block Island. Hannibal was a bondservant here on the island, with few rights of his own, but in his homeland of West Africa, he was the son of an Asantehene king, and his posture and countenance always bespoke his heritage.
For years, the slaves toiled on Block Island by clearing the rocky soil, making it suitable for planting crops, and they were promised their freedom if they used the rock to erect stone walls. Now, however, the requirements have changed: slaves cannot build without their masters’ permission, and if the wall were to fall down—something that could easily be arranged—it would mean endlessly starting over again.
A calling to lead the other island slaves to freedom overwhelms Hannibal’s personal determination to escape. In spite of the many forces working against him, there are forces, unseen, working in his favor. Will the final stone Hannibal lays upon his wall be the flint to ignite the fire that will culminate in the triumph of freedom, not only for Hannibal and the island slaves, but for Islanders as well?
Facebook - Stone Wall Freedom
Block Island Home page - www.blockisland.com
Block Island Chamber of Commerce - www.blockislandchamber.com
Block Island Tourism Council - www.blockislandinfo.com
Island Bound Bookstore - www.islandboundbookstore.com


As people celebrate 34th year of Akwa Ibom state creation, the former member, Cross River State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. (Otuekong) T. O. Akpan JP has appealed to Akwa Ibom State government and the Oku Ibom Ibibio, Nteyin (Dr.) Solomon Daniel Etuk to immortalise His Highness, Obong E. O. Eyo popularly called Eyo Uyo.
In a release signed by the elder statesman and made available to journalists, Chief T.O. Akpan recalled the numerous sacrifices Eyo Uyo made for the creation of Akwa Ibom state, noting like his counterparts in other regions he should be well recognized.
“Obong E. O. Eyo, like his political contemporaries, namely; Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Michael Okpara, Chief K. O. Mbadiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sir Abubakar Tafewa balewa, Mrs. Margaret Ekpo, Chief Ibanga Udo Akpabio, suffered severe travails and persecution in the course of fighting for a State for Ibibio people.
“ He was more concerned about the break up of the Cross River State than any other person in the Cross River State.
“For the purpose of fighting for the creation of State, he was imprisoned and detained in Jos and Kaduna Prisons for 25 months from September 17, 1969 to October 9, 1971.
“After his release from Prison, Obong Eyo was given a mandate by Ibibio and Annang to present their case to the Military Government of General Yakubu Gowon in Lagos, (the then capital of Nigeria) for the creation of States in Nigeria. Because of his ability to speak for Ibibio and Annang, and in recognition and appreciation of his services to his people, Obong E. O. Eyo was installed “OBONG IKPAISONG IBIBIO YE ANNANG on the 25th May, 1968.
“ Obong Eyo suffered in the hands of Igbos before and during the Biafran War, yet up till date, no Street, Road or Structure is named after him in Uyo as he was popularly called “EYO UYO”.
Chief T.O.Akpan said his concern in making this appeal for Obong Eyo’s immortalization is based on the fact that unless this is done, Ibibio people will not take its rightful place in the Committee of Nations in Nigeria.
He recalled that Ibibio was regarded as the fourth(4) largest Tribe in Nigeria, adding that presently Ibibio people have been relegated to the background because of disunity, lack of love for one another and lack of cohesion.
“ Indeed, we are an automatic society perpetually at war with ourselves. This may be caused by the failure of Ibibio people to remember, recognize and/or immortalize the person of Obong Eyo, who suffered and sacrificed his life for the creation of Akwa Ibom State, which we all are beneficiaries today.
As an apostle of Obong Eyo, who joined him to fight steadfastly for the creation of MAINLAND STATE now AKWA IBOM STATE, I can testify that Obong Eyo died like a pauper and was not given a befitting burial.
“The then Government of the Cross River State, headed by Chief Dr. Clement Nyong Isong, did not show any interest nor made any financial contribution towards his burial, notwithstanding the fact that Obong Eyo was an erstwhile Member of the then Eastern Region House of Assembly, Chief Whip, Elder Statesman and Obong Ikpaisong Ibibio ye Annang.”
He appealed to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Oku Ibom Ibibio and Ifim Ibom Ibibio respectively, to use their good offices to immortalize Obong E. O. Eyo, in order to remove all barriers that may hunt Ibibio people because of our failure to remember, recognize and/or immortalize a man who made so much sacrifices, suffered severe persecution for the creation of Akwa Ibom State.


Anime at a Glance: Heroic Age
|Game Name:||Heroic Age|
A long time ago, as the universe began, there was a great tribe of beings that were known as being the Golden Tribe. They existed within space and time itself, governing all other tribes of species. They sent out a beacon to all other tribes to join them amongst the stars, and any that could join them were welcome. The first to respond was the Silver Tribe, a human-like race of people of advanced intelligence and technology, and the second was the Bronze Tribe, a nearly feral race of insect like beings with average intelligence, and third was the Heroic Tribe, a race of monstrous warriors that were incredibly advanced but would fight with every other race. The Heroic Tribe would eventually be punished for their warlike nature and be imprisoned in the bodies of the a few people belonging to different tribes. The Golden Tribe would pass their knowledge on to these races and planned to leave the universe once their beacon had ended, but near the end of the beacon’s duration a small craft arrived at the Golden Tribe’s planet containing a single human infant boy. The Golden Tribe, impressed by the tenacity of the race to send someone so young so far into space, named them the Iron Tribe, bestowed some of their knowledge onto this infant boy before leaving.
The Silver tribe looked at the Iron Tribe with disdain and jealousy for their acts, and sought to destroy them, but humanity was able to scatter to the stars as Earth was destroyed. Now Humanity searches for their new home, as well as the lost infant taken in by the Golden Tribe to hopefully help bring them to a new planet they can call home.
When Humanity finds the ruined planet that the Golden Tribe used to live on before they left they find the boy, named Age, and he defends them from an attack on the Bronze Tribe, who are being controlled by the Silver Tribe to help exterminate the Iron Tribe. Age makes a clear display of power when he changes into one of the Heroic Tribe, Bellcross, and defends them against the Bronze Tribe. He explains that he had been waiting all this time and that his family, the Golden Tribe, had given him many tasks to undergo to help protect the Iron Tribe and bring together all of the Tribes.
Heroic Age is definitely an old show, dating back to 2007, and also draws inspiration to the Twelve Labors of
Hercules as Age is given 12 labors to overcome to help humanity survive. The show was made by Studio XEBEC and licensed by FUNimation.


Goneril and Regan give extravagant answers, but Cordelia answers simply and sincerely; angered, he gives Cordelia no land. Goneril and Regan are to share half the island with their husbands, the Dukes of Albany and Cornwall.
Geoffrey of Monmouth and his History of the Kings of Britain - The Literature of King Arthur
Cordelia marries Aganippus, King of the Franks, and departs for Gaul. Soon Goneril and Regan and their husbands rebel and take the whole kingdom. After Leir has had all his attendants taken from him, he begins to regret his actions towards Cordelia and travels to Gaul. Cordelia receives him compassionately and restores his royal robes and retinue. Aganippus raises a Gaulish army for Leir, who returns to Britain, defeats his sons-in-law and regains the kingdom. Leir rules for three years and then dies; Cordelia inherits the throne and rules for five years before Marganus and Cunedagius, her sisters' sons, rebel against her.
They imprison Cordelia; grief-stricken, she kills herself. Marganus and Cunedagius divide the kingdom between themselves, but soon quarrel and go to war with each other.
Cunedagius eventually kills Marganus in Wales and retains the whole kingdom, ruling for thirty-three years. He is succeeded by his son. They quarrel and both are eventually killed, sparking a civil war. This leads to Britain being ruled by five kings, who keep attacking each other. Dunvallo Molmutius , the son of the King of Cornwall, becomes pre-eminent. He eventually defeats the other kings and establishes his rule over the whole island. He is said to have "established the so-called Molmutine Laws which are still famous today among the English". Dunvallo's sons, Belinus and Brennius , fight a civil war before being reconciled, and proceed to sack Rome.
Victorious, Brennius remains in Italy, while Belinus returns to rule Britain. Numerous brief accounts of successive kings follow. These include Lud , who renames Trinovantum " Kaerlud " after himself; this later becomes corrupted to Lon don. Lud is succeeded by his brother, Cassibelanus. After his conquest of Gaul, Julius Caesar looks over the sea and resolves to order Britain to swear obedience and pay tribute to Rome. His commands are answered by a letter of refusal from Cassivellaunus. Caesar sails a fleet to Britain, but he is overwhelmed by Cassivellaunus's army and forced to retreat to Gaul.
Two years later he makes another attempt, but is again pushed back. Then Cassivellaunus quarrels with one of his dukes, Androgeus, who sends a letter to Caesar asking him to help avenge the duke's honour.
Caesar invades once more and besieges Cassivellaunus on a hill. After several days Cassivellaunus offers to make peace with Caesar, and Androgeus, filled with remorse, goes to Caesar to plead with him for mercy. Cassivellaunus pays tribute and makes peace with Caesar, who then returns to Gaul. Cassivelaunus dies and is succeeded by Androgeus's son Tenvantius, who is succeeded in turn by his son Kymbelinus , and then Kymbelinus's son Guiderius.
Guiderius refuses to pay tribute to emperor Claudius , who then invades Britain. After Guiderius is killed in battle with the Romans, his brother Arvirargus continues the defence, but eventually agrees to submit to Rome, and is given the hand of Claudius's daughter Genvissa in marriage. Claudius returns to Rome, leaving the province under Arviragus's governorship. The line of British kings continues under Roman rule, and includes Lucius , Britain's first Christian king, and several Roman figures, including the emperor Constantine I , the usurper Allectus and the military commander Asclepiodotus.
After a long period of Roman rule, the Romans decide they no longer wish to defend the island and depart. By breaking with Rome in when the pope refused to annul his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, Henry created the sovereign English nation, living under its own laws and guarded by its own ships. Parliament became his junior partner in this venture, and in the dissolution of the monasteries. Catherine of Aragon gave birth to a girl, Mary.
Historia Regum Britanniae
She was replaced by the much younger and prettier Anne Boleyn , who likewise gave birth to a girl, Elizabeth, before Henry wearied of her and had her beheaded on trumped-up charges. In it reached its ecstatic climax when together they defied the Armada sent by Philip of Spain to subdue them. France descended at this time into the horrors of religious civil war.
England did not, because Elizabeth steered a successful course between Roman Catholicism and puritanism. She promoted the Church of England as a compromise between religious extremes, and she was herself tolerant of private differences of belief. Elizabeth had amorous friendships, but never married.
She employed outstanding ministers, but never allowed herself to be dominated. Charles II is, in my view, the wittiest monarch in English history.
He was courageous, tolerant, lazy, duplicitous and pleasure-loving: his return from exile in inaugurated the most conspicuous change in manners — from extreme puritanism to unbridled licentiousness — this country has seen. But he conducted the restoration of the Stuart dynasty with such tact, and rode every later crisis with such skill, that he was never in serious danger of being unseated.
His father, Charles I, was executed after refusing to reach a compromise with his opponents. William III is one of the greatest kings of England and yet one of the least remembered. No one could have been more skilful at deposing James II, or at negotiating the terms for a monarchy more acceptable to parliament. But even in his lifetime, this bold, cold, asthmatic Dutchman was not popular. William had timed to perfection his arrival in England in , landing in Devon with a printing press as well as an army.
But for him, the Glorious Revolution, as the constitutional settlement reached in —89 came to be known, might not have been very glorious at all. Queen Victoria reigned for longer than any of her predecessors. She rescued the monarchy from the contempt in which it was held for several decades before , and became the grand unifying figure, at once majestic and domestic, in a Britain that dominated the globe.
Here was an empress who had a startling affinity with the middle class: the class to which even the aristocracy felt it must now defer.
- The Mosquito Coast.
- Cuore di tenebra 2006: Metafore conradiane: media, corpi e immaginari a cura di Fabio Tarzia (Italian Edition).
- The History of the Kings of Britain Geoffrey of Monmouth Folio Society !
- The History of the Kings of Britain Summary & Study Guide.
Her views about politics, and especially about foreign affairs, were so strong, and expressed with such partisan sincerity, that it was impossible to kick her upstairs, to the less exciting region above politics that her successors came to occupy. But though Victoria was passionate, she possessed also a devout desire for self-improvement, fully shared by her husband, Prince Albert, who was from Coburg.
His early death on 14 December led her to retire for many years from public life.
Victoria proceeded to rout incipient republicanism by establishing an emotional link with her subjects that no anti-monarchist could rival. During the reign of George V, an alarming number of royal families, including the Romanovs, the Hohenzollerns and the Hapsburgs, were overthrown. George helped to avert that fate by welcoming the Labour party into power. In January the first, short-lived Labour government was formed.
Its members proved as anxious to demonstrate respectability as George was to confer it. They have different ideas to ours as they are all socialists, but they ought to be given a chance and ought to be treated fairly. After Guiderius is killed in battle with the Romans, his brother Arvirargus continues the defence, but eventually agrees to submit to Rome, and is given the hand of Claudius's daughter Genvissa in marriage. Claudius returns to Rome, leaving the province under Arviragus's governorship.
The line of British kings continues under Roman rule, and includes Lucius , Britain's first Christian king, and several Roman figures, including the emperor Constantine I , the usurper Allectus and the military commander Asclepiodotus. After a long period of Roman rule, the Romans decide they no longer wish to defend the island and depart.
The Britons are immediately besieged by attacks from Picts, Scots and Danes. In desperation the Britons send letters to the general of the Roman forces, asking for help, but receive no reply this passage borrows heavily from the corresponding section in Gildas' De Excidio Britanniae. After the Romans leave, Vortigern comes to power, and invites the Saxons under Hengist and Horsa to fight for him as mercenaries, but they rise against him. At this point Geoffrey abruptly pauses his narrative by inserting a series of prophecies attributed to Merlin.
Some of the prophecies act as an epitome of upcoming chapters of the Historia , while others are veiled allusions to historical people and events of the Norman world in the 11thth centuries. The remainder are obscure. After Aurelius Ambrosius defeats and kills Vortigern, becoming king, Britain remains in a state of war under him and his brother Uther , assisted by the wizard Merlin. At one point during the continuous string of battles, Ambrosius takes ill and Uther must lead the army for him. This allows an enemy assassin to pose as a physician and poison Ambrosius.
When the king dies, a comet taking the form of a dragon's head pendragon appears in the night sky, which Merlin interprets as a sign that Ambrosius is dead and that Uther will be victorious and succeed him. So after defeating his latest enemies, Uther adds "Pendragon" to his name and is crowned king.
But another enemy strikes, forcing Uther to make war again. This time he is temporarily defeated, gaining final victory only with the help of Duke Gorlois of Cornwall. But while celebrating this victory with Gorlois, he falls in love with the duke's wife, Igerna. This leads to war between Uther Pendragon and Gorlois of Cornwall, during which Uther clandestinely lies with Igerna through the magic of Merlin.
Arthur is conceived that night. Then Gorlois is killed and Uther marries Igerna. But he must war against the Saxons again. Although Uther ultimately triumphs, he dies after drinking water from a spring the Saxons had poisoned. Uther's son Arthur assumes the throne and defeats the Saxons so severely that they cease to be a threat until after his death.
In the meantime, Arthur conquers most of northern Europe and ushers in a period of peace and prosperity that lasts until the Roman emperor Lucius Hiberius demands that Britain once again pay tribute to Rome. Arthur defeats Lucius in Gaul, but in his absence, his nephew Mordred seduces and marries Guinevere and seizes the throne. Arthur returns and kills Mordred at the Battle of Camlann, but, mortally wounded, he is carried off to the isle of Avalon , and hands the kingdom to his cousin Constantine , son of Cador and Duke of Cornwall.
The Saxons returned after Arthur's death, but would not end the line of British kings until the death of Cadwallader. Geoffrey claimed to have translated the Historia into Latin from "a very ancient book in the British tongue", given to him by Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford.


Thirteen years ago Adam Dunkels was trying to hook up a hockey team in Lulea, Sweden with sensors and cameras so coaches and fans could track helmet cams and players’ vital signs. It was an academic project but it was also an early example of the internet of things. The project was doomed to fail for a variety of reasons, but out of that experience came a lightweight code for connecting devices called Lightweight IP.
A later version of that code became the base for LEGO Mindstorms and a variety of other connected projects. But Dunkels realized that to truly build a platform for connected devices he needed even lighter weight code. So he built Contiki, an operating system of sorts of the internet of things. And now he’s commercializing all that he’s learned in a startup called ThingSquare. In the podcast we discuss the history of the internet of things and when we reached the tipping point that made the internet of things inevitable.
Listen to the podcast here.


A large formerly industrial site near the canal of Brussels. Tour & Taxis has the charm of the industrial era. The immensity of the main building, the Royal Warehouse and its incredible architecture are worth a glance. Built at the beginning of the 20th century, this former industrial site was then a key place of the Brussels thriving economy. Since 2001, it welcomes companies, shops, restaurants, trade fairs and cultural events - providing a unique urban experience, all under one roof.
The Tour & Taxis Sheds were built between 1903 and 1904 and cover more than 17,410 square meters. From the platforms alongside, where trains deposited their goods, you can admire the astonishing self-supporting steel framework, displaying a technical prowess unique in the world. Thanks to the glazing with which it is covered, the sawtooth roof evenly spreads natural light.
Tour & Taxis is located at Avenue du Port 86c / Havenlaan 86c, Brussels. An access map, providing more detailed information on how Tour & Taxis can easily be reached using different transportation systems, can be found on the Tour & Taxis website.


What is Juneteenth?
Known also as African American Independence Day, Jubilee Day, or Freedom Day, Juneteenth is a celebration of the emancipation of enslaved Black people in America.
On June 19, 1865, nearly two years after President Abraham Lincoln emancipated enslaved Africans in America, Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, with news of freedom. More than 250,000 African Americans embraced freedom by executive decree in what became known as Juneteenth or Freedom Day. With the principles of self-determination, citizenship, and democracy magnifying their hopes and dreams, those Texans held fast to the promise of true liberty for all. Today, Juneteenth celebrates African American resilience and achievement, while aiding in the preservation of those historical narratives that promoted racial and personal advancement since Freedom Day. In 2021, Juneteenth was established as a federal holiday, opening it to symbolic and global interpretation and providing a better understanding of the evolution of our nation and its people.
Lighthouse recognized the significance of Juneteenth and added it as a paid holiday in the U.S. As a newer holiday for some of our U.S. and global employees and clients, it was important to leverage one of our employee resource groups, Bridging eDiscovery and Minorities (BEAM) to help celebrate this historically significant holiday. As an employee-led group, BEAM is committed to supporting our communities with charitable giving and also hosts employee events where individuals can share their personal journeys as a way to build empathy, make stronger connections, and learn together. For Juneteenth, BEAM is excited to be featured in upcoming Law & Candor episodes.
Juneteenth and Legal
A Legacy, Celebration, and Future
In 2021, Juneteenth became the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was recognized in 1983. It was a significant acknowledgement at the national level, but Juneteenth has had a long and rich history in the African American community as a day of celebration and remembrance—of both the history of emancipation, and the past, present, and future fight for freedom.
In a special release of Law & Candor, we commemorate Juneteenth with guest hosts Duval Miller and Reem Saffouri as they speak to African Americans in the legal space. In episode one, we explore the history of Juneteenth, discuss its significance today, and celebrate the success of African Americans in the legal and legal technology industries. Episode two will highlight the continued work needed to improve equity for African Americans at work, including practical steps organizations and allies can take to advance the cause.
Check Out the Episodes
Episode 1: Juneteenth and Legal: A Legacy, Celebration, and Future
What is the significance of Juneteenth in 2023? Join guest co-hosts Duval Miller and Reem Saffouri as they speak with Ronique Richburg, Manager, Review Management, Review & Advanced Analytics at Lighthouse, about Juneteenth and its importance in 2023. Together they unpack the history of Juneteenth, explore what it means for today’s society, and celebrate the successes of African Americans in the legal and legal technology industries.
Guest: Ronique Richburg, Manager, Review Management, Review & Advanced Analytics
Episode 2: Juneteenth and Legal: The Work for Advancing Equity
June 19 is a day for celebration and a recognition of the continued fight for freedom and equity for African Americans. While progress has been made in recent years, there is still more that organizations in the legal and legal technology industries can invest in to meaningfully affect greater equity. Law & Candor welcomes Oral Pottinger, Partner at Mayer Brown and Stacy Ybarra, Chief Marketing Officer at Lighthouse to discuss how grassroots campaigns, allyship, equitable pay policies, and executive visibility and sponsorship can contribute to greater equity in the workplace.
Guests: Oral Pottinger, Partner, Mayer Brown; Stacy Ybarra, Chief Marketing Officer, Lighthouse


In the south of the Netherlands, nestled between Eindhoven and Weert lies Budel, the home base of shirt creator John Miller. Shirt specialist Van Winkel Fashion who was already established in Budel since 1949, launched the brand in 1989.
Sjef van Winkel, founder of the family business Van Winkel Fashion, was always bothered by the untidy collars on his shirts. Curling collar points, weak edges, and impractical buttons were a source of great frustration to him. “I can do better than that!” he must have thought back in 1949 when he founded the family business Van Winkel Fashion.
In the 50s Van Winkel Fashion produced shirts mainly for the Dutch army. In the early 60s thousands of shirts per week were made for the large Dutch retailers such as C&A and HIJ. In 1963 Van Winkel Fashion took the huge step of launching Ledûb, their first shirt brand for the middle market. In 1989 the John Miller brand was added for the higher end market.
The brand John Miller was created from the Van Winkel Fashion label Cotonissimo, that guaranteed luxury shirts made from 100% pure cotton provided by a European supplier. In 1989 the name John Miller was introduced with the additional words 'Original Cotonissimo'. From the spring of 1995 the additional words were dropped and the brand name became John Miller.


The History of Osteopathy
The History of Osteopathy:
Osteopathy began as the creation of Dr Andrew Taylor Still, in America, in 1874. From his long study of anatomy and physiology, he found that the musculo -skeletal system was a framework for the well-being of the whole individual – he expressed this as ‘Structure governs Function’.
A ‘hands on’ manipulative therapy was born, intended to ease areas of imbalance, to restore function and optimise constitutional health.
Dr Still founded the first osteopathic school in 1892. One of his first students, Dr William Garner Sutherland, made the discovery that the delicate joints of the skull were designed for movement, which led to finding a rhythmic involuntary motion, expressed through the cranial bones and nervous system – in fact the whole body – as an expression of health.
This motion can be felt by trained hands and if supported, frees the intelligent health within, to reduce stresses and strains that have accumulated over time and with the demands of everyday repetitive living.
Sutherland went on to discover more about the supportive role of the fluid motion – which has a tidal quality, inter-spaced with quiet pauses, to allow re-balancing and re-organisation.
The Biodynamic Cranial approach was built on the foundation of Sutherland’s cranial concept, but Dr James Jealous (1994), who, by looking at the formative forces in early growth and development of the embryo, saw the blueprint for health.
These guiding forces are still at work – continuing to support us towards optimal health.
Dr Jealous is now teaching this work globally and carrying Osteopathy towards its’ next discovery.
I have had the privilege to train with him for over a decade.
Copyright Lynne Aitken 2019


Enjoy a private tour at the famous historical monuments and also the “must-see” places in Athens and all over Greece. Choose from one of our packages or feel free to ask for a programme that is best suited to your desire. Our experienced drivers will take you to visit all the major historical and contemporary attractions and make sure you will receive a memorable experience. We can also arrange a professional tour guide to escort you, upon request.
Get to know the living history of the capital of Greece. During our Athens tour, you will visit the Acropolis and the famous sites of Parthenon, the temple of Athena and the Erechtheion. You will also see the Syntagma (Constitution) Square, the Parliament and the Memorial of the Unknown Soldier with the traditional change of Guards. We will pass by the Academy, the University and the National Library and also visit the Temple of Zeus, the Hadrian’s Arch and the Panathinaic (Kalimarmaro) Stadium where the first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896.
We can extend our tour in order to visit the Acropolis Museum as well as the old town and flea market of Plaka, upon request.
4 hours tour price from: 120 euro (1-3 persons), 180 euro (4-8 persons).
8 hours tour price from: 240 euro (1-3 persons), 320 euro (4-8 persons).
Experience a scenic drive along the coastal road of Athens Riviera. We will pass by the beaches of Glyfada-Voula – Vouliagmeni and stop at the famous Vouliagmeni Lake, well known for its curative water at a constant temperature of 24 degrees Celsius all year-round. Afterwards, we will continue the coastal drive and pass by Varkiza and the village of Anavyssos with the fish taverns. Our final destination is Cape Sounio, where the Temple of Poseidon is located. The existing Temple was built between 444 and 440 BC on the ancient remains of a temple dedicated to Poseidon, which was destroyed during the Greek – Persian war in 490 BC. We recommend taking the tour in the afternoon so you can enjoy the beautiful sunset and capture the moment as the sun is dive in the blue waters of the Saronic Gulf.
Tour price from: 160 euro (1-3 persons), 220 euro (4-8 persons).
Take a trip to one of the most important cities of ancient Greece. As part of the tour, we will drive along the west coastal road of the Saronic Gulf and firstly visit and admire the view from the Corinth Canal Bridge. Shortly after, we reach the ancient town of Corinth where you can pay a visit to the archaeological site which includes the Agora (market place) and Apollo’s Temple. We can extend the tour and visit the seaside city of Loutraki, well known for its thermal baths, upon request.
4 hours tour price from: 220 euro (1-3 persons), 280 euro (4-8 persons).
8 hours tour price from: 340 euro (1-3 persons), 420 euro (4-8 persons).
Take a tour at some of the most famous sites of Peloponnese. Firstly, we will drive along the west coastal road of the Saronic Gulf to the Corinth Canal and then towards Mycenae were you can pay a visit to the remains of the ancient city, including the Lionesses Gate, the Tomb of Agamemnon, the Palace, the Cyclopean Walls, etc.
Then, we leave for Epidaurus in order to visit the famous Ancient Theatre (4th century B.C.) with its remarkable acoustics. We can extend, upon request, the tour and visit Nafplio, one of the most beautiful and picturesque towns in the area of Argolis (Eastern Peloponnese) as well as one of the most romantic cities all over Greece. Nafplio was the first capital of the newly born Greek State between 1823 and 1834 and is nestling at the foot of a cliff crowned by the mighty ramparts of the Palamidi Fortress.
4 hours tour price from: 280 euro (1-3 persons), 340 euro (4-8 persons).
8 hours tour price from: 400 euro (1-3 persons), 460 euro (4-8 persons).
Two days tour over the beauties of Peloponnese. During the first day, we follow the extended tour of Mycenae – Epidaurus – Nafplio and we end-up for overnight at Olympia, the Cradle of the Olympic Games. In the second day, we pay a morning visit to the archaeological site with the sanctuary of Olympian Zeus, the Ancient Stadium & the museum of Olympia.
Tour price from: 750 euro (1-3 persons), 1000 euro (4-8 persons),
(hotel not included).
Delphi was considered as the navel or centre of the world by the ancient Greeks and nowadays it is recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Upon arrival, we will visit the archaeological sites, the Temple of Apollo, the Castalia Spring and the Museum, where among other archaeological treasures you can see the unique Bronze Charioteer, and then proceed through the Sacred Way to the Athenian Treasury. After visiting the site, we can head either to the modern village of Delphi or to the picturesque village of Arachova for lunch and free time.
Tour price from: 450 euro (1-3 persons), 600 euro (4-8 persons).
Take a tour at some of the most scenic sites of Greece. We begin our first day with the Delphi tour and then depart for Kalambaka, by crossing the Thessaly plain which is the core of the Greek agriculture. We have an overnight stay and dinner in Kalambaka and the next morning we pay a visit to the breathtaking Meteora and its ageless Monasteries built on the top of the stunning granite rocks. Drive back to Athens passing through the battle site of Thermopylae the monument of Leonidas and Kamena Vourla.
Tour price from: 850 euro (1-3 persons), 1200 euro (4-8 persons),
(hotel not included).


75 Years of Curling in Schenectady
French, Indians, and Dutchmen
How did the sport of curling ever take root in Schenectady? The late mayor Mills Ten Eyck, a some time president of the Schenectady Curling Club, once observed that he understood curling was invented in his ancestral Holland and exported to Schenectady when the Dutch found they needed all their canals for a faster sport---skating. The facts belie this claim, however, since the Dutch lost The Colony of New Netherlands to Great Britain in 1664 and curling did not make its way to Schenectady until 1907.
Perhaps curling arrived in Schenectady from Quebec along with the French and Indians who perpetrated the massacre of 1690, but, if so, the seed took a long time to sprout. Or maybe the sport spread from nearby Albany or Utica, where clubs were chartered in 1867 and 1875 respectively.
Facts seem to point to the midwest as the home soil of Schenectady curling. For it was in Illinois and Wisconsin that R.S. (Dick) Emmet learned to curl, and he is generally credited with introducing the sport to Schenectady. There were four Emmets involved with the Mohawk Golf Club in the early days of this century and Dick began by explaining curling to the other three. By 1906, Dick was chairman of the greens committee at Mohawk, and while his brother Bill, was on his way to being elected president of the club. Then there was a third brother, Bob, and cousin Herman. All four Emmets were charter members when the Mohawk Golf Club launched a curling club with Dick as chairman.
Where did the new club gets its equipment? Normally, the acquisition of stones is one of the great obstacles in the formation of a new curling club. Stones are quarried only in Scotland and they are expensive. The Golf Club was in its infancy and was unlikely to invest cash in an untried sport. Perhaps Albany was a source of help, after all, for the Albany City Curling Club had disbanded in 1898 and there is a story, perhaps apocryphal, that the first sixteen stones used at the Mohawk Golf Club were discovered in a capital city warehouse. Still another stone was found many years later in Albany's Washington Park Lake and donated to the Union College Curling Club by Leslie F. Couch, a member of the revived Albany Curling Club.
There was one sheet of ice and a makeshift warm room during the first season at Mohawk. A second sheet was added before the 1908-9 season and both were covered by a roof to protect the natural ice from the sun. By this time there were twenty-four curlers paying $5 per year for the privilege. This subscription was reduced to $3 in 1911 and covered curling, skating and skiing. There were sixty-five men curling this year and seventy-five in 1914. By 1915 annual reports of the Golf Club began to mention the need for improvements to the warm room and rink. These eventually were made in 1919 and membership climbed to 96.
Golf Club Years
There are practically no records of early curling activity at the Mohawk Golf Club, but two interesting antiques turned up at a garage sale a few years ago. They were the "Mohawk Golf Club Curling Cups" for 1907 and 1909, both of which were won by Skip B. B. Hull. These and a 1916 Mohawk Cup won by Skip Frank G. Vaughen are now in the possession of the Schenectady Curling Club.
Frank Vaughen must have enjoyed a super season in 1915-16, for he not only won the Mohawk Golf Club Cup, but skipped a Schenectady rink to its first Gordon Medal, emblematic of the championship of the Grand National Curling Club of America. Shortly after his victory Vaughen was elected president of the Grand National.
One of the first actions of the Mohawk golf Club curlers was to petition for membership in the GNCC. This was granted in 1907 and has been continuous ever since, through the Schenectady Curling Club which now ranks as the third oldest member in New York State behind New York Caledonian and Utica.
Membership in the Grand National opens opportunities not only for inter-club competition but comradeship with curlers from other American clubs and with Canadian members of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. We know little of the Mohawk Golf Club's involvement until Frank Vaughen's Gordon victory and election to the presidency in 1916. We do have this recollection from Frank himself as he presented it in a talk to the Schenectady Curling Club's annual meeting of 1934:
"Grand National matches were as much endurance contests as tests of skill," he declared. "Keep in mind that no Grand National Club had artificial ice before 1927 and then realize the our our matches were seventeen ends and those in the Gordon international twenty-one ends. Some of the time there was water on the ice and frequently there was snow and always there was frost. In 1917 when I played third for Dick Emmet, we played fifty-one ends in the Gordon the first day and lost to Utica in the finals. Then we took our stones aboard the Lake Shore Limited and went on the ice the following morning at Utica. We played another fifty-one ends and won the Mitchell medal. Next morning we played just six more ends and were eliminated from the Allen, but we had survived one hundred eight ends in two and one half days."
Curling itself was almost eliminated from Schenectady by a fire which totally destroyed the Mohawk Golf Club on April 26, 1923. About the only structures still standing were the curling shed and warm room, and these were taken over on a long-term basis as locker rooms for men and women golfers. This was the end of curling at Mohawk, although efforts to revive the sport there continued until 1935.
Curling Moves to Front Street
When it became apparent that the fire of 1923 was going to result in the suspension of curling at the golf club, the ardent curlers (perhaps two dozen) began to investigate new sites and the possibility of independent status .Suddenly "Uncle Bill" Emmet came up with what he believed to be a solution.
Emmett reported to a group of sixteen charter members of the Schenectady Curling Club in August that he had purchased a piece of property just off Front Street in the Stockade, along the river near the present pump house, as a possible location for curling. He had paid $2,500 for the land, and his brothers, Dick and Bob, were prepared to put up $800 toward a three-sheet rink with a two-story clubhouse. Perhaps there could be curling by January, 1924, if a sufficient number of men could be persuaded to join. At this point another Emmet, Herman (The Professor) was named membership chairman and one hundred three negotiable memberships were sold at $75 each, plus $15 annual dues. Thus, a construction of the Front Street facility commenced in mid-October and the new club was dedicated January 21, 1924. The eventual cost was $15,000, according to Roland D. Thomson, chairman of the building committee. Some individuals and some banks held notes for several years, but again there was curling in Schenectady.
"The Old Club"
Membership never fell below the limit of one hundred during the twenty-eight seasons of curling at the Front Street location, so there must have been a wonderful spirit of comradeship. Facilities were a bit spartan and artifical ice was not introduced until 1928, just one year after Utica installed the first ice-making plant in the Grand National. Curlers who were transferred elsewhere or who hung up their brooms frequently were able to sell their $75 negotiable memberships to new members for as much as $110. This practice ceased when the club moved to Balltown Road and set a membership limit of one hundred eighty-nine, which has been closely approached several times.
Curling never began before early January downtown and frequently was suspended during periods of thaw or flood. The club usually closed before the end of February, since the feeble ice plant could not cope with warm weather. Grand National bonspiel schedules were compressed into a ten-day period in early February when curlers boarded trains for one or two-day stands at St. Andrew's, Schenectady, Utica, Saranac and---finally---Montreal for the Gordon International.
The Old Club had its special charm and challenge. It had no parking lot and, since it was built during prohibition, there was no bar. After tea and toast, curling started at 5:30 p.m. and 12 ends was a normal game. There was an up-stairs kitchen where Italian and Polish women served wholesome dinners of stew, thick soup and sometimes venison two evenings a week at fifty cents per person. Also, after matches, curlers tended to drift over to the Mohawk Club for a glass or two of something.
"Aunt Mabel", Mrs. "Ro" Thompson, complained about cold feet as she watched her husband "Papa Bear", curl. Hot water pipes, for the spectators to put their feet on, were installed.
Anyone who ever curled at Front Street is apt to remember the ice man, George Hawkins ('awkins) who had a talent for sniffing out alcohol in members' lockers. Almost no lock could stop George who would exhaust the contents or just sample and replace with other liquids of similar hue. As a rule, George would then disappear for several hours or days, and skips would send their leads on scouting parties to bars on Ferry, Front, Liberty and State Streets in quest of the key to the club premises.
'awkins and members of his family set up housekeeping in the warm room during the off season of 1925 and were there off and on for years at a fee of $20 per month. One summer 'awkins was discovered maintaining bachelor quarters in the warm room by C. L. (Chic) Hequembourg, a member of the board of management. Chic wrote a letter to the board members remarking that he had been promised a bed from the Mohawk Club, which was then being renovated, and that he proposed to install it in the warm room for 'awkins. "He has been sleeping on a dirty mattress on a floor which is even dirtier," Hequembourg observed.
When he started work as an ice man, 'awkins was paid $20 per week for a four-month stint. By his last season in 1950, George had worked his way up to $36 per week for seventeen weeks and prohibition was over. If he was even more difficult to locate, it seems understandable. The fact that there was ice is almost miraculous.
Dues, which started at $5 at the Golf Club in 1907 were up to $18 per year by 1924, and $28 by 1951, when the move to new quarters on Balltown Road necessitated more cash income. At this time, Roland D. Thomson advocated an increase to $75 per year and argued that: "We will have one extra sheet of ice, the length of the season will be doubled, we will have our first matched stones and better lighting. For this reason no one should oppose a dues increase from $28 to $75. After all, that amounts to just $3.45 per month or the price of a good dinner, a tank of gas or a bottle of scotch.
Schenectady did not install an ice-making plant until 1928 and it was designed to maintain natural ice rather than to freeze new ice. Thus the plant was just a booster and the club was still very much subject to th elements. Even a strong ice plant, however could not have prevented several shut downs caused by Mohawk River floods during the late forties. The biggest problem was mud which was left on the curling ice after flood waters receded. This had to be flushed off and drained away through holes cut in the ice.
The club treasurer still has in his file an insurance policy for $20,000 protecting the curling club against loss from bomb damage during World War II. Perhaps the future of curling might have been smoother in Schenectady if bombs had fallen and there and been $20,000 available to start over.
Money was tight and the War Production Board was discouraging new building, but the Front Street curling property was muddy and rusty and people were moving uptown to Niskayuna. The Board of Management appointed James Kilander chairman of a committee to find a new site for curling in Schenectady. That was in 1944 and the committee began by studying the feasibility of modernizing the Front Street property. Two severe floods curtailed curling in 1945 and brought this study to an end.
Curlers had been buying bonds at Christmas for several years and donating them to the club building fund. In November, 1945, President "Chic" Hequembourg reported that this fund now stood at $20,231. Soon thereafter Kilander's committee discovered that the Mohawk Golf Club might be willing to sell a plot of land on Balltown Road for $2,500. This site was studied and the property purchased in August, 1946. Two years later nothing had happened ad the Golf Club graciously offered to repurchase the land. At that time, the Board of Governors of the Golf Club reminded the curlers that their deed contained two important restrictions: (1) malt beverages and other intoxicants could not be manufactured or sold on the premises and (2) The Board of Governors must be consulted on all future plans for buildings on the property or subsequent alterations thereof.
Roy C. Muir was president of the Curling Club in 1951. He also happened to be a vice president of General Electric temporarily assigned to Washington. Suddenly he called a meeting for April 27, 1951 at the Edison Club where he announced that the War Production Board had given permission to build a new curling club. This was good news to the membership, but Len Reid, the treasurer of the building committee, had more good news. He reported that the club's series F & C Bonds were worth $17,725, that the club's treasury bonds were worth $14,807 and that cash in the building fund amounted to $12,815. When Laurence Achilles, chairman of the building fund, reported gifts of an additional $4,750. Mr. Reid stated that the Mohawk National Bank stood ready to loan the curling club up to $35,000 at 5% interest. Simultaneously, President Muir announced that the firm of James E. Lowe & Sons had offered to build the new club for $74,000, a bid he was prepared to accept. The membership agreed unanimously and construction began on May 1, 1951.
There was feverish activity all through the summer and fall of 1951 as the club readied itself for the move to Balltown. Needing cash, the club officers set a price of $12,000 on the Front Street plant, but wound up begging the city to buy it for $2,500 as an addition to Riverside Park. The club secretary was busy with dozens of details, not the least of which was the disposition of the old stones. A new set of thirty-four matched stones was on its way from Scotland, the gift of H. Laurence Achilles.
Members had acquired their own stones from various sources over the years, and the secretary tried to persuade those who wished to keep their rocks to remove them from the clubhouse. Among those who did so were Jack Cunningham, Jim Kilander and Howard Maxwell. Eventually some of the remaining stones were sold to the Snowbirds at Lake Placid and to the Highland Curling Club in Rhode Island. The balance went to the Lacolle, Quebec, club for $12 a pair. These were carried aboard a D & H train by a group of Schenectady curlers heading north. They were met at Rouses Point by horse-drawn wagons which transported stones and curlers to the Lacolle Club where an impromptu bonspiel ensued before the Schenectadians took another train back home.
There were problems making ice at the new club because of condensation and unfamiliar equipment, so the opening was delayed until Saturday, December 2 when members and their families were welcomed at a dedication and open houses. Among the three hundred persons who attended were Charles R. Betts, the architect, and Egbert C. Lowe, the builder .The ceremonies were given prominent place in local newspapers and "The North American Curling News" devoted much of its January, 1952 issue to the new club.
Actual construction costs amounted to $114,825, according to "Ro" Thomson, who was chairman of the building committee again as he had been in 1923 and 1928. In an effort to close the financial gap, dues reduction notes in the amount of $125 and $250 were sold to the members. Ten per cent of the face value of notes were to be used to reduce members' dues over a ten year period. Actually, most members wrote them off.
It was mid-January, 1952 before any real curling occurred. This was because the long-awaited shipment of stones had been delayed by storms on the North Atlantic. Eventually the twelve cases reached St. John's B.B., and they arrived in Schenectady via the New York Central Railroad on January 16th.
After a week or two of curling, the Board of Management realized that something was missing from the sport. Notwithstanding the deed restriction against intoxicants, the board voted to apply for a liquor license. This was granted and the bar posted prices of 40¢ for blended whisky, 50¢ for scotch and 25¢ for beer. Early Hambidge ran the bar the first year, financing the operation himself. Bartenders were Tim Ryan, John Cary, C. C. Hutton and Arch Salvini.
After four years, buckling and heaving brought great ice problems. The rear of the ice room was removed, equipment brought in, two feet of clay scooped off the surface, and a new topping of sand was spread to replace it.
Membership now stood at one hundred twenty-six and climbed steadily in the next four years to one hundred eighty-four, the high-water mark. Competition also intensified and the club enjoyed great success in the bonspiel circuit. Schenectady entered four rinks in the 1959 Gordon bonspiel and there was talk of sweeping all three medals. Pride goeth before a fall. The bonspiel got under way on Thursday, February 6, as two local favorites bit the dust. Worse was to follow. Ice Man Bob Hagerty arrived at 4 a.m. to scrape and pebble but found the club ablaze. Firemen later blamed a cigarette in a trash barrel behind the bar, but they credited a hose which burst under the dishwasher with limiting the damage. The bonspiel went on amidst the smell of smoke, and a dearth of spectators, and at the end "Lefty" Huttons's local rink had salvaged the Emmet. Utica and Caledonian won the Gordon and Mohawk.
The insurance provided immediate relief from the damage caused by the fire and there were even some improvements. But the club had to wait for the regime of President Walter Brzoza for $60,000 worth of needed improvements, including a modern kitchen, centrally-located bar, women's locker room and expanded and redecorated warm room. These architectural changes were made possible by removal of the concrete block wall which had split the warm room and spectators' area since the club was opened. This occasioned removal of the bleachers given to the club at the Front Street location by Jim Parker.
No further changes were made in the interior of the club until the 1979-80 season when the club benefitted from the ideas of the "atmosphere committee," self appointed during a bonspiel in Boston. A huge Italianate fireplace, new carpeting and bordello lighting were among the improvements.
Schenectady has the unique distinction of having hosted the U.S. Women's Curling championships twice (1958 and 1966) and the U.S. Men's Championship in 1974. All three events drew many spectators and gave Capital District sports fans an awareness of curling at its best.
The women's championships at Schenectady were open to any rinks which cared to enter. Admission to the modern women's title event must be gained through district playdowns. Whatever the system, Schenectady women made an amazing showing in 1958. Marny Snell's rink finished second and Jean Ryan's fourth in a field of 21 teams. Isabel Pollen's mink-clad Chicago rink took the title. St. Paul, Minn., won the 1966 crown and Schenectady teams failed to place.
"Bud" Sommerville's Superior, Wisconsin, rink curled flawlessly to win the 1974 men's title ant Schenectady. North Dakota finished second and Washington third. There were more than 100 spectators in the warm room at all times, but never was it overcrowded as some has feared. The Grand Boulevard firemen eased the problem by permitting visiting curlers to use their dining and recreational facilities during the six-day period.
When the U.S. Men's was over, visiting skips told Hal Buell of the Gazette that Schenectady's hospitality and ice were the best most of them had encountered anywhere. Also toasted was A. Merle Bonthuis of Schenectady who edited the beautiful commemorative program on just a few weeks notice.
W. L. R. Emmet must rank as #1 among people who made curling strong in Schenectady. He provided leadership from the very beginning and gave money at crucial times. His name does not appear in the pantheon of skips who won local or Grand National bonspiels, but he made it all possible. "Uncle Bill" was elected president of the Schenectady Curling Club in 1923 and re-elected each year through 1938, even though he resided in New York City for many of these years and seldom competed in club events. He even submitted a resignation in 1928 which was ignored by the membership.
It is doubtful that either the Front Street or Balltown Road clubhouses could have been built without the planning and fundraising efforts of Roland D. Thomson. Fittingly, he succeeded Emmet as President at the close of the former's fifteen-year term. "Ro" once made the observation that "the presidential office is more or less an honorary position. Although he generally attends meetings, the president has no vote and should not be considered a member of the Board of Management." "Ro" also was a premier skip, leading Schenectady to victory four times in the Gordon, still a record.
Two men seemed to run the Schenectady Curling Club in the absence of "Uncle Bill" Emmet. They were Frank G. Vaughen, who was curling chairman at the Golf Club and served as vice president from 1923 to 1933. In 1945 he established the Vaughen Trophey which is still played for within the club. The other key man was John Anderson, who served as secretary from 1927 to 1932 and vice president from 1934 to 1939. Like Frank Vaughen, he also served a term as president of the Grand National.
Theodore L. (Boney) Lydgate, another Grand National president, was considered by his contemporaries to be the greatest Schenectady skip of his times. He led rinks to victory twice in the Gordon, once in the District Medal and once in the Allen. Jim Kilander characterizes Lydgate as "the best sport I ever knew."
Dick Emmet died suddenly in 1929, nearly three decades after he had introduced curling to Schenectady. During the intervening years, he had served as president of the Grand National and chairman of curling at the Mohawk Golf Club. Fittingly, at his death, the Schenectady Curling Club subscribed to a medal in Dick's memory. The acceptance of this medal by the Grand National was opposed by the Country Club for reasons which are now clouded in history. Ultimately St. Andrew's and Utica sided with Schenectady and the Emmet was first played for in 1932.
The Achilles Medal was established in the fall of 1980 by the Schenectady Curling Club in honor of H. Laurance Achilles, long time supporter and benefactor of curling. Laurence skipped many Schenectady rinks in Grand National Competition. He served the club as vice president, member of the Board of Management and building fund chairman. Later he curled at the Westchester clubs and at Nutmeg in Darien, Connecticut, of which he was a founder. Dr. Achilles provided the funds for the Achilles Rink, home of curling and hockey at Union College, where he taught for many years.
Another Schenectady curler deserving of special notice was Ralston B. Reid who was president of the Schenectady Club in 1956-7 of the Grand National in 1959-60 and president of the U.S. Men's Curling Association in 1972. Oldtimers still talk of the wonderful parties he used to host in the penthouse of the Windsor Hotel in Montreal, while Schenectady curlers are grateful to him for his gifts of plaques and the electric scoreboards to the curling shed, and for the establishment of the harriet Reid Chalice for mixed competition. Rally was also the founder of the Chabawabs, largely (he always said) because of his own ineptitude at the game. Upon his death in 1979, the Grand National established the Reid Trophy in his memory.
Starting in the mid-forties, the Schenectady Curling Club always had a friend at the bank. He was A. Leonard Reid, currently Chairman of the Board of the Mohawk National bank. Then he was treasurer of the building fund which made the Balltown Road clubhouse possible and his confidence in the future of curling resulted in several key loans from the Mohawk Bank to the curling club. Len also gave the club one of its most handsome medals, the prize for Monday night leaguers. Back in his curling days, Len and the other curlers always gave up drinking in the United States during Lent. They then left for Canada, and this accounts, in part, for the twenty-five Quebec City International bonspeiels which Len attended. Once he also took a Schenectady rink, including Clarence Bradshaw, Tiny Leighton and Vaughan Ferguson, on a three week barnstorming tour of Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, returning on Whitsunday.
One of the true blithe spirits of Schenectady curling was Frank W. Cermak, a celebrated wit and talented athlete. He is generally credited with pushing the 1966 rebuilding which doubled the size of the warm room and resulted in a new bar, ladies' locker room and kitchen. Frank also founded the Sunday morning breakfast club, and some curlers still imagine that they hear his cherry voice calling "what weight do you want?" when asked by John Cary for a draw to the button.
There is a plaque in the warm room crediting John Link as the donor of the "Link Trophy." This is not true, for John prided himself on his complete lack of generosity. The only thing he gave freely was advice, and this was what made John an institution at the Schenectady Curling Club. "Don't throw hard up the middle," John would shout. Or he would bellow, "Come on, let's play the game! There's only one good shot and it is obvious. Quit stalling!" John was still very much alive when some of his admirers decided that there should be a third event for Muir-Vaughen so that more good people might survive until Sunday. Within three hours, $850 had been collected and designated as "Link Trophy Money." The fund swelled to $1,400 before it closed five days later. John was not the type who would seek or be elected to the club presidency, but he knew more about curling than most skips and he did lead a Schenectady rink to the U.S. Men's championships.
Women were introduced to curling by their husbands and fathers at the curling club on Front Street in the late 1940's. From the records it appears that the following women curled there: Mary Brown, Betty Corrigan, Sally Ferguson, Ann Lydgate Kaiser, Betty Lotridge, Eleanor Waller Pearson, Harriet Red, Felicity Rummery and Florence Weinberg.
As a result of a letter written in 1950 by "Rally" Read, President E.G. Lowe appointed Campbell MacRae "to investigate women's curling in Schenectady" in October, 1951. Campbell painted himself into a corner with his report, which went as follows:
"Women's curling is a problem we must face without prejudice," he said. "One of our local newspapers observed the other day that curling is a remarkable sport, but that women's curling is even more so.
"Everyone including the newspapers is entitled to an opinion on women's curling, "Campbell continued. "I will not give you my opinion because the wives of some of our members are putting pressure on us to prevent women's curling in Schenectady. I have been urged to report that some of our members are strongly opposed to the idea of women curling at our club. On the other hand, I suspect that many of our members secretly have no objection to this kind of activity and I suspect myself that there is a need for it.
"I believe this matter must be settled without further delay and I, therefore ask for the unanimous support of the membership in voting the women a place in our curling program...perhaps one afternoon a week. I am confident that we may not regret it and that within a year we will be proud of this additional use of our club.
"Let's give this a fair trial!"
Women were granted privileges in the new Schenectady Curling Club building on Balltown Road. Their first organizing meeting was held October 27, 1951 when Campbell Macrae, liaison to the women, introduced Sally Ferguson as Chairman and Betty Lotridge as secretary of the women's group. Present at this meeting were Mrs. Frank Boucher, Mado Brukett, Sally Ferguson, Martha Hamilton, Ann Lesser, Betty Lotridge, Gladys Pruessman, Harriet Reid, Lois Nitchman Vessels and Alice Walsh.
The first order of business discussed was a suggestion by Mr. Lowe that each women member contribute ten dollars to cover the expense of the Women's curling activities. The time selected for women to use the ice was Monday afternoon and Thursday morning. Mixed curling was to be held on Saturday evening, and Jean Ryan, Chairman, was to collect a 25¢ pin fee from each curler. All use of the ice had to be cleared with the schedule chairman, James Howgate.
The women were invited to become members of the United States Women's Curling Association in 1953 and still enjoy this association. Mrs. W. Ashton (Laura) Swick, an early Schenectady curler, was elected President of the United States Women's Curling Association in 1965. At a later date, she became the Schenectady Women's only Honorary Life member.
As membership increased it became necessary to change schedule curling to a round robin and challenge or ladder matches. The schedule committee at that time asked Messrs. Cunningham, Coulson and H.P. Broderson to observe the remaining schedule curling and rate the individual curlers to assist the next year's schedule committee.
The first Invitational Bonspiel was held in February 1953 giving the ladies an opportunity to meet and curl with sister clubs. Teams were invited from Nashua, Brookline, Utica and the Westchester Wicks from St. Andrews. Introduced for competition was the Ferguson Trophy, with individual pins for the winning team, sponsored by C. Vaughan Ferguson. A second trophy with individual pins was also introduced for the consolation event, to be known as the Schenectady Cup and given by a group of men curlers, namely, Ralston Reid, Timothy Ryan, Clyde Hutton, Tex Reidinger, James Lotridge, Alex Ross and James Howgate. The first bonspiel attracted ten teams and the Ferguson Trophy was won by a Schenectady team skipped by Betty Lotridge. Jean Ryan, Peg Leader and Phyllis Wilson were the other team members. The Schenectady Cup was won by a Utica team skipped by Mary Brunner.
The Empire State Bonspiel was instituted in 1954. Mrs. John Fitzgerald of Utica contacted the chairmen of Chenectady Women Curlers and Westchester Wicks to inquire if their clubs would be interested in considering a combined bonspiel to rotate among these three New York State clubs. She felt that this would interest enough outside teams to have one well attended successful bonspeil a year. The name "Empire State" was suggested by Dr. Robert Hurd of Utica. The plan agreed upon was to compete in 1955 at St. Andrews, in 1956 at Utica and in 1957 at Schenectady. Winners were to receive Empire State Medals and the trophy of the host club. The trophies were to rotate with the Bonspiel, whichever club was hostess would have its trophy as the first event, the following club the second and the last club the third. The size of the bonspiel should be at the discretion of the host club, determined by the number of sheets of ice available. The Empire State pin was designed by Renee Clark of St. Andrews with part of the New York State Seal on a background of blue enamel for St. Andrews, green for Utica and red for Schenectady. Each of the three New York State Clubs was to be represented by two teams each year.
The first Empire in Schenectady was in 1957, with the Chicago Heathers as the winner of the Ferguson Trophy. Nashau was the winner of the Schenectady Cupi. The Hovey Trophy was won by Schenectady, Peggy Parker, skip. Her team members were Lib Kanne, Helen Foreman and Dot Trimmer.
Schenectady women were host in February 1958 to two teams of Scottish Women Curlers who were making an American Tour.
In 1958 Schenectady also hosted the 10th annual National United States Women's Curling Association Bonspiel. Thirty-two teams were entered despite blizzard conditions, 15 from the West and 17 from the East. Four teams from Schenectady were skipped by Lois Faulkner, Jean Ryan, Marny Snell and Laura Swick. The Chicago Heathers gained the championship, with the Schenectady rink skipped by Marny Snell and team members Velma Means, Jewell Bradshaw and Lora Marting, winner of the Exmoore Trophy, the third event. Schenectady was the first Eastern club ever to win the Exmoore Trophy. Jean Ryan's rink captured the Skokie Trophy, the fourth event. Her team members were Lib Kanne, Peg Parker and Gladys Hambidge.
In 1961, when Utica hosted the United States Women's Curling Association Bonspiel, once again Marny Snell's Schenectady team, with the same down rink, won the second event, the Indian Hill Trophy. To date these three are the only United States Women's trophies won by the Schenectady Club.
In 1966 Schenectady again hosted the U.S. Women's Bonspiel.
Schedule curling, with 33 members, has progressed from a Round Robin, Ladder Matches, A & B League, Junior and Senior Competition to three divisions namely, Heathers, Thistles and Bairns. Added to the schedule are five special events; The Lydgate, Dr. Ack, All American, Coulson-Duguid, annually, as well as the Empire State Bonspiel every third year. There are "Friendlys" with Albany and Utica each year and in 1976 evening curling was introduced for business women.
Close on the heels of women's curling came mixed curling on Friday, Saturday or Sunday nights. Even today, a perfect solution is elusive and the current season will have mixed curling on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
By 1956 John F. Cunningham, father of Peggy Parker, sponsored a medal for the winners of an intra-club mixed bonspiel to promote competitive mixed curling. The following year it was expanded to two events and in 1980 became a four-event competition.
Visiting other clubs for mixed bonspiels and inviting teams from other clubs to Schenectady for friendly games also had become the practice.
Soon these friendlies were not sufficient. In 1959 the Board of Management was petitioned for approval of a mixed invitational bonspiel. It is reported that approval was given provided the club would sustain no expense. Consequently, eight couples organized and guaranteed the financial success of the First ch Curling Club Mixed Invitational Bonspiel, played by 24 rinks in March 1960. The competition was an immediate success, initially with three events and expanded to four in 1964. Today all events have trophies and medals in memory of early proponents of mixed curling.
Great friendships and rivalries developed at the Invitational. Ivan and Isobel Guilboard, from the Motreal Heathers, claimed they "didn't miss a year curling in Schenectady from 1953 to 1980". They were missed in 1981 when ill health prevented their attending. Bob and Helen Hurd, of the Utica Curling Club, are strong contenders for attendance honors, as well as curling prowess.
For many years, the closing party after the Invitational was held at the home of "Rally" Reid. In a great fun ceremony, citing "oustanding efforts in a losing cause," Rally and other Chabawabs would award the Chabawab Cup to the runner-up of the fourth event. Because of the popularity of the medals, they became more sought after, by some, than the winners' trophies and, consequently, the Chabawab Cup was retired in 1972.
Prior to 1955, teenage curlers largely resembled a stealthy group of individuals bent upon mastering the game of curling without benefit of adult direction. It is a small wonder, then, that a clandestine group as this exhibited any prowess at the game when they finally erupted upon the scene in 1956 under the direction of Lib Kanne, Peggy Parker, and Marnie Snell. In addition to the female expertise offered, a few dauntless men, Jack Cunningham and John Link, proffered their skills as well. The teens brought out the "roar" in the roaring game from their adult mentors, and interesting things began to happen. (Some say the foggy glass behind sheet two was caused by smoke --- but those who know better recall the heated debate of '58 between "Coach" Cunningham, John Link and Rally Reid over the final shot in the title match of the Teen's Heisler Trophy playdowns.)
Most agree that the greatest impression of the game made on all was undoubtedly the fine memories of friendships, and the comraderie felt between themselves and so many other teens in the Grand National. This was also promoted by the establishment of a highly competitive bonspiel early on in Schenectady, and carried by its young ambassadors to Utica, Norfolk and Albany. Schenectady Teenagers quickly gained the reputation as the "team to beat". This is evident in the history of winners of the Teen 'Spiel, which, started in 1962 as the Gazette Trophy, and rededicated as the John G. Green Trophy in '63, names Schenectady as the winning club for four straight years. Other clubs caught on to the game, and it wasn't until 1975 that the Green was brought home again.
Even more created than the deliveries of some teens were the methods used by participants in the teen 'spiels to "bolt" from the curling club during the weekend's festivities, and roam the snow-laden fairways of the Mohawk. The Fourth hold she was, and still is, a favorite among most.
The first few years of the bonspiel were played on a points basis, with competing clubs sending two teams, and the combined totals of each determining the winning club. In 1968 the 'spiel was increased in size, and the format changed to knock-out. Also in 1968 was the addition of second and third events to the tournament. The bonspiel grew in popularity to the point where, in 1978 with an all-time high of 24 teams competing, a fourth event for semi-finalists of the Green Trophy was added.
In 1974 the Teens dedicated a second event plaque in honor of Eugene Fink, and in 1978 a third event medal to Richard Leonard --- both men having been long-time teenage enthusiasts and former teenage chairman.
Sons and daughters of adult members have been in the majority of teen curlers. Family or not, many teens carry on later as adult curlers and prove through their records the value of skills learned early.


Statement by Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt on the passing of Nelson Mandela:
“It is with great sadness that I have received the news of the passing of Nelson Mandela. My thoughts and deepest sympathy go to Nelson Mandela’s family and to the people of South Africa.
Throughout his life, Nelson Mandela was a beacon of hope in the fight against oppression and injustice in the world. He transformed South Africa from a deeply divided and repressive society into a peaceful democratic state.
Even in the harshest of circumstances and facing an inhumane apartheid regime, Mandela continued his belief in the humanity of all people and sought peace and reconciliation. Mandela’s ideals and actions will forever serve as an inspiration to us all in the fight for global justice and human rights for all. His legacy will endure for generations to come.”


J&B cares for the Rare by supporting Tusk Trust.
Justerini & Brooks was established in 1749 and have supplied wines and spirits to the British Royal Family during nine successive reigns.
When Scotch whisky began to establish itself as a serious alternative to brandy during the 1880s, Justerini & Brooks was quick to acquire stocks of whisky in Scotland. Once Prohibition in the US ended in the early 1930s, J&B Rare was developed as a lighter, smoother whisky to replace the harsh products of illicit stills.
Promoted as the wine merchants’ whisky, J&B Rare was an act of blending mastery, bringing together the big bold flavours of single malts with lighter grain whiskies to give a fresh and vibrant finish to the blend.


Source:Erasmus Nuniversity Rotterdam, Erasmus University, Volume PhD, Rotterdam, p.206 p. (2014)
Although little is known about the ways in which pupils learn history during museum visits, people have many expectations of it. Museum visits would bring the past alive for pupils through the presentation of historical objects and audio- and video fragments and pupils’ valuation of a particular heritage would increase. However, do such processes actually occur? And in which ways do pupils’ identities and backgrounds play a role in these processes? This mixed methods multiple case study examined the ways in which pupils imagine a particular history and attribute significance to this history while engaged in heritage projects including a museum visit. A case study was conducted on the history of slavery and a case study on the history of the Second World War.
How do pupils in Dutch urban classrooms learn about sensitive histories, such as the history of slavery and WWII, while engaged in heritage projects that present historical traces as Dutch heritage? To answer this question, the following sub questions were examined:
1. In what ways do pupils attribute significance to history and heritage during the heritage project, and how is this related to their self-reported ethnic identity?
2. In what ways do pupils imagine the past, and in what ways is this supported during the heritage project?
3. To what extent do pupils encounter and acknowledge multiple perspectives on the (significance of) history and heritage during the heritage project?
Data were collected using questionnaires, individual interviews and observations of pupil group work and museum educators. Both case studies involved a school, a heritage institution, pupils, teachers and museum educators associated with the heritage project. In the first study, regarding the history and heritage of slavery, a total of 55 pupils, aged 13 to 14 participated. The second study, regarding the history and heritage of WWII, included a total of 22 pupils aged 15 to 19. In general, each case study spanned a total of six weeks. Students’ work on the heritage project itself spanned one to two weeks (three lessons, including the museum visit).
In both cases, the pupil population reflected the wide variety of social, cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds in the urban areas in which the school was located. The classes were culturally and ethnically diverse (e.g., pupils’ backgrounds included Dutch, Moroccan, Surinamese, Turkish and Antillean).
Several pupils were selected to be followed more closely during the two heritage projects, respectively 13 and 12 pupils. For this selection, Savenije focused on differences in the pupils’ responses on the questionnaire, their gender and the birth country of their pupils’ parents. With this process, she aimed to obtain insight into the variety of perspectives that pupils potentially bring to the classroom and to determine whether she could relate differences to the pupils’ self-reported ethnic identities.
Four whole-class questionnaires were conducted in each case: at the beginning of the project, after the introductory lesson in school, after the museum visit, and after the closing lesson in school. In addition to the questionnaires, the 25 pupils selected for detailed study were interviewed individually before and after the project and were observed working in their triads on the heritage project lessons. The museum educators were also observed.
The study revealed that the heritage projects enriched the pupils’ images of the past and made them more concrete. Also, many pupils were stimulated to empathise with the people from the past. However, they had little attention for the historical context of these people and they had difficulty to take other perspectives than their own present-day perspective.
The heritage projects provided insight in the different ways in which significance is attributed to the past in current Dutch society. The projects enabled the pupils to explore their own ideas regarding significance and how these were related to their identity.
Question 1: Ethnic identity and attribution of significance
At the beginning of the project, the 13- to 14-year-old pupils in the first case study attributed present significance to the history and heritage of slavery. One main argument that they used was that it was significant for a particular group of people, such as the descendants of enslaved people, the Dutch, the undefined group ‘people’ and the pupil himself. In the second main argument, the pupils used slavery as an example of inequality. Slavery became a phenomenon that did not need to be understood but rather had to be rejected or judged. Many of the pupils lacked perspective regarding the historical context of the phenomenon, particularly those pupils who believed that slavery or inequality still existed in modern times. The heritage project sent a strong message regarding the significance of the history and heritage of slavery that was easily adopted by the pupils. Furthermore, the pupils’ understanding of the ways in which the history of slavery is attributed significance in current Dutch society increased. The first case study identified three ways in which the pupils’ ethnic identity related to their attribution of present significance. The pupils (1) felt there was no relationship (sub-categories: no family involved, no explicit idea about it, does not want to name it), (2) felt part of a group related to the topic or (3) displayed a flexible relationship. Some of the pupils identified with ‘the Dutch’ or ‘the descendants of enslaved people’, often setting themselves apart from these identities at the same time. These distancing techniques demonstrated the ways in which the history and heritage of slavery may be sensitive in Dutch classrooms. The interplay between the pupils’ understandings of significance and their identity differed within groups defined by outer characteristics such as the pupils’ parents’ birth countries or their skin colour. Nevertheless, some of the pupils used these categories when discussing their own and other people’s understandings of significance and the relationship to their identity.
Compared with the first case study, pupils in the second case study were more pronounced and united in their identification of groups that would not attribute significance, or would attribute less significance, to the history and heritage of WWII, namely, persons of immigrant descent and adolescents. At the beginning of the project, some pupils did not regard the history and historical traces of WWII as their heritage but realised that a majority of Dutch citizens did. The interplay between the pupils’ understandings of significance and their identity surfaced notably in the second case study because the pupils were capable of nuanced reflection on this issue.
Three pupils displayed a flexible relationship. They felt part of several groups that they related to, although in different ways. For example, one pupil felt like part of ‘the Muslims’, which he grouped in a larger category of religious victims together with the Jews persecuted in WWII. Another pupil viewed her Muslim association as a reason for not feeling involved in the history of WWII because she believed the war was about Jews. All three pupils said that there was no relationship between their family and the topic of WWII. In contrast to the first study, two of the pupils regarded this distance as a way in which their identity influenced their ideas. During the project, these differences in the ways in which the pupils’ identity played a role in their attribution of significance surfaced in their discussions. The exchange of ideas stimulated reflection on this interplay and on the question of what constitutes good criteria for the attribution of significance to a particular heritage.
Question 2: Imagining the past
At the beginning of the heritage project, the pupils in the first case study imagined slavery rather unanimously as enslaved persons working hard on plantations in America and as enslaved people being maltreated. The perspective of the enslaved dominated their images. The heritage project confirmed these images and enriched them with concrete stories, primarily from the enslaved perspective. Many of the pupils’ images of slavery were changed when they learned about the role of the Dutch Republic in the slave trade.
In the second case study, the pupils’ imagination regarding WWII at the beginning of the heritage project also showed the dominance of particular images, namely, the persecution of Jews and the concentration camps. In the heritage project, the pupils encountered numerous other images and perspectives of the war, some of which were new to them. Overall, the stories and the personal belongings in the museum revealed a daily-life perspective of the war.
Question 3: Multiple perspectives
In the first case study, the pupils did not encounter many different perspectives on the history of slavery, either from each other or in the museum. At the beginning of the project, many of the pupils had similar images of and perspectives on the history of slavery and shared their attributions of significance to the history. However, the museum visit raised questions about other perspectives. During the guided tour, several of the pupils’ questions and remarks addressed different perspectives that were not discussed by the guides. The questionnaire and interviews after the closing lesson revealed the pupils’ curiosity about the perspectives of slave owners, slave traders and ‘bystanders’. Only a few pupils combined different perspectives in their images of slavery. With regard to the significance of the history and heritage of slavery, the pupils adopted and combined different perspectives during the heritage project.
In the second case study, the pupils were very aware of and comfortable with the idea of multiple perspectives on the history of WWII. The pupils explored various perspectives that they had encountered in the museum.


Elgin District is an integral part of Jamaican history, dating back prior to the days of slavery. It was named after James Bruce, who was the 8th Earl of Elgin. Mr Bruce was a British Colonial Administrator and Diplomat, and was appointed Governor of Jamaica in 1842.
The entire Elgin District, prior to slavery being abolished, was a slave estate. Mikarabee Villa was built on land that forms the centre of the gates that held the slaves captive. The estate’s main business was pimento, horse and cattle farming. To this day, Elgin contains the remains of homes, graves and other artefacts dating back to the 1700’s.
Elgin and the surrounding area has earned world recognition for its fresh climate and clean air. Elgin is considered to have one of the purest environments in the world and as such, is home to many rare species of plants and birds. Such fantastic conditions have led many scientists to this area in search of new discoveries.
Both scientists and layman recognise that Elgin holds a multitude of holistic and natural remedies, used and passed down by locals for centuries, which aid in the cure of a variety of illnesses.
Most importantly, Elgin is home to a warm and welcoming local community that are the descendants of a remarkable history. The Elders of Elgin have many stories and traditions of their childhood that they are happy to share with you!


A proud history
Scotland has led the way in tree cultivation for hundreds of years - from the early pioneers of the 16th and 17th centuries, to the great planters of the 18th and 19th century - who scoured the globe for new species. There is a long and proud history and culture of tree collecting, which places Scotland today at the forefront of international forest conservation.
The drive for agricultural ‘improvement’ in 18th century Scotland, the time of the Enlightenment, led to the first great wave of tree planting here, designed to put large areas of ‘unimproved’ land to productive use.
Specimen trees, arboreta and pineta (collections of conifers) were planted around the great country houses - like those at Taymouth Castle, Blair Adam and Inveraray Castle - to enhance the landscape. If they thrived, specimen trees like the larch were then planted out on an unprecedented scale: the first ever attempts to create large-scale plantations of conifers ‘from scratch’ in the world.
The first pinetum was at Taymouth Castle, at the east end of Loch Tay in Highland Perthshire, started with a white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) planted in 1786. The oldest surviving tree at Taymouth Castle is an eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) planted in 1794, making it now 217 years old. At Dawyck Botanic Garden near Peebles, a silver fir (Abies alba) planted in 1680 still stands, an incredible 331 years later.