If you are interested in suffragettes this one is for you!

Join us next week for a virtual lecture about the new book 'Drax of Drax Hall: How One British Family Got Rich (and Stayed Rich) from Sugar and Slavery.' Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-d...

Join us next week for a fascinating webinar looking at the history and legacy of votes for women! Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-v... #WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll

‘UK respondents dramatically overestimate how many immigrants there are and how many of them are Muslim. They overestimate what proportion of immigrants are from north Africa by a factor of 10, and from the Middle East by a factor of two, and underestimate how many are from North America.’

Suffrage/prison historians - what is a 'thunder stuffed pillow"? Constance Lytton mentions this a few times as something she experienced in Holloway Prison. Maybe @caitlindavies.bsky.social or @teadevotee.bsky.social know?

LAST CALL: Young Content Creators Wanted! Are you 14–19 and living in Dorset? Got something to say about nature, climate change, mental health, or tech? Participation People are looking for 2 brilliant young people to join their creative crew. 👉 bit.ly/4msJKVR ~ Jack

We are looking for new trustees to join the board @dorsetwildlife.bsky.social - if you or anyone you know might be interested please take a look at the details here www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/jobs/trustee (and please share this!)

A great summary of a fabulous @balhnews.bsky.social event

#OtD 21 Jun 1908 "Women's Sunday" took place in London when 300,000 women descended on Hyde Park to demonstrate in favour of women's suffrage - the largest political gathering to date in the park stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9395...

BALH is hosting a talk this evening about Jane Austen’s Social Networks and the Wider World which will explore the remarkable women in Austen’s Southampton circle, lives shaped by empire, scandal, and global connections. All welcome Find out more: balh.org.uk/NTM209 @balhnews.bsky.social

At the Sewing Machines (making hats), painting by Amy Katherine Browning, 1881-1978 (Stockport Heritage Services). Friend of Sylvia Pankhurst. #WomensArt #NorthernArt

Last chance this weekend to visit this lovely spot in Dorset. Went today - absolutely idyllic in the sunshine www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Insane this isn’t a bigger global story. Climate change is causing glacier collapse in the Alps. The Swiss town of Blatten was destroyed yesterday. The few buildings that survived the 3.5 million cubic metres of landslide are now slowly drowning as the collapsed mountain damns the river. (🎥 AFP)

Pocket parks!

Ann Macbeth (1875 – 1948) embroiderer, designer, painter, teacher and author. Part of the group of the fin de siècle 'Glasgow Girls'. She was also an active suffragette and designed banners for organisations supporting women’s suffrage, such as the Women’s Social and Political Union

Isn’t this lovely?

Chief Operating Officer with @DorsetWildlife.bsky.social full-time, permanent position based in Dorchester, Dorset c-js.uk/43qXREr

First time I heard of the Barmaids’ Political Defence League. Sounds great! These two women got themselves involved in a lot of different things

🌳 📢We have officially launched our Trees for Tomorrow campaign! 📢🌳 We’re excited to kick off our Big Give Green Match Fund campaign to plant more trees across Dorset — creating havens for wildlife, connecting fragmented habitats, and fighting climate change. But we need your help! 💚

Why inequality matters: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Overseas pressure groups targeting civil society in the UK is something that urgently needs more scrutiny. The National Trust has frequently been campaigned against via a group whose directors and funders are thousands of miles away. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

This👇 is how it should be done We need changes to the #PlanningBill to make developments like this the norm rather than the exception www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Wow

#ICYMI I had a brilliant time chatting all things archives and local history with @drmeganekelleher.bsky.social for the latest series of the @balhnews.bsky.social podcast, Local History Matters. Catch up on the BALH website: www.balh.org.uk/podcast.

Quite a transformation

Wonderful!

Super update on @dorsetwildlife.bsky.social rewilding project at Wild Woodbury near Bere Regis youtu.be/m8hSgPhTl5c?...

Absolutely scrumptious. And quite easy too 😀

Kilpeck in Herefordshire. Stunning small church which I visited after hearing a talk fro Andrew Ziminski recently. Well worth a visit and a reminder of how well travelled medieval craftsmanship was with strong Islamic and Viking influences present

This is a wonderful story brought back to life by @hisjlm.bsky.social Do go if you can!

Great to see a review of @hillfortian.bsky.social latest book in @balhnews.bsky.social local history news. Keep up the good work Wendy!

Wonderful day at Brownsea Island yesterday for the official opening of @dorsetwildlife.bsky.social new Lookout with major donors, local politicians and partners. Lucky enough to get inside the John Lewis castle for lunch. This is a beautiful place and a real haven for wildlife

Tonight’s talk from @balhnews.bsky.social is on the history of Bradford. Still time to sign up.

One year on at Lyscombe @dorsetwildlife.bsky.social https:// update from @dwtceo.bsky.social www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/blog/brian-bleese/our-vision-lyscombe-nature-reserve

Chamomile, with its apple-scented flowers, was said to thrive when walked upon—like courage, folklore said, it grows stronger under pressure. It's a fragrant reminder that resilience often comes in the gentlest forms. #FolkyFriday Art: Viktoria Sukhanova

Women’s suffrage campaigners had brilliant PR instincts

Good to see Janette Martin has arrived on Bluesky. Welcome @hisjlm.bsky.social and have added you to suffrage starter pack go.bsky.app/FqTxqQ6

Another huge rockfall www.bridportnews.co.uk/news/2482289...

This really is lovely. Farming as it was in 1938 just before the industrialisation of British agriculture began in the Second World War. Big transition from horses to machines about to happen

#OtD 13 Dec 1960 Dora Marsden, an English anarcha-feminist, suffragette and writer died. Learn more: stories.workingclasshistory.c...

Useful starter pack for historians

This online lecture is this evening if you want to book

Review of @corinnefowler.bsky.social excellent book “Our Island Stories.” She has found such an interesting new way to tell our story. A good one for the Christmas wish list!

If you are an archives user, this is for you

Details of our small grants scheme …

Suffrage-era postcard depicting a surprised Santa Claus, reading the lengthy wish list of a sleeping girl, with text requesting "a flag with Votes for Wimen (sic) on it", 1900. (Photo by Ken Florey Suffrage Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

walklistencreate.org/walkingevent... 10 Dec 7pm

go.bsky.app/FqTxqQ6 Reposting with several updates as so many new people come on here. Let me know if someone needs adding.

A really enjoyable book.