This month we’re turning the clock back 10 years … but in June 2016 we were taking a trip much further back in time.
Our cover story reported celebrations to mark the 750th anniversary of the Battle of Chesterfield – a skirmish in May 1266 between Royalist forces and rebel barons.
We carried a picture-led story of a town centre event, organised by The Friends of Chesterfield 750, to give a taste of medieval life. It included mock combat and a ‘trial’, music, dance and a procession of the town’s ‘guilds’.
Meanwhile, as the selfie trend went viral across social media, our antiques expert Vivienne Milburn reminded us that this was actually nothing new – at least in certain circles!
Portraits, she pointed out, were the selfies of the nobility during the 18th century. As England entered a new era of prosperity, commissioned portraits became a popular symbol of wealth and status.
And, Carol Chandler discovered how Richmal Crompton, the author of the Just William series of books, had been a pupil at the former St Elphin’s boarding school in Darley Dale.
Richmal – who later returned to the school to teach Classics – found fame for the series of 38 books, published over the course of nearly 50 years between 1922 and 1970. Selling more than 12 million copies in the UK alone – and adapted for TV, film, theatre and radio – the books chart the misadventures of a mischievous yet lovable 11-year-old boy and his gang of friends in an idyllic English village.
