Posted on Tuesday 1st September 2020
Victoria Wilson, Cabinet Member for Communities and Culture at Staffordshire County Council
Families from across Staffordshire are being invited to join in a two month celebration of the county’s history and heritage.
Historic buildings and landscapes, famous people, unique discoveries like the Staffordshire Hoard and the Battle of Britain are amongst the themes being explored during the Staffordshire History Festival.
The festival will run throughout September and October and is being organised by Staffordshire County Council’s libraries, arts and museum services.
This year because of Covid-19 the festival will take place online and on social media only with a host of activities, videos, photo exhibitions, quizzes, crafts and activities for children.
Other themes will include the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, and life on the Home Front and the 1940s house in the Second World War, as well as regular posts to highlight famous people from Staffordshire and little known facts about the county’s past.
Victoria Wilson, Cabinet Member for Communities and Culture at Staffordshire County Council said:
“Staffordshire is an amazing county, blessed with a rich heritage and history and our annual festival is a great opportunity to celebrate and share it.
“Covid-19 has changed so many plans and affected so many events this year, but it’s great to see how adaptable our library staff and volunteers have been in pulling together a brilliant programme of engaging online content.
“For many of us, our local library remains our best gateway to learning more about family or local history and the virtual library continues to promote learning and reading for pleasure.
“So whether it’s the Staffordshire Hoard and the Mercian kings, or our wonderful buildings like Lichfield Cathedral, I would urge everyone to join in and share the content on social media.”
Free access to the Ancestry Library Edition website will be available for Library members to access at home during September along with the online newspaper resource NewsBank, with some newspapers dating back to the 1980s.
Recommendations for history e-books, e-audio and e-magazines including the Blitz, Black History Month, historical novels and history for children from the libraries service will also be offered.
People can follow the festival on Staffordshire Libraries Facebook and Twitter pages, by searching for #StaffsHistFest.