Just before Easter, having some time free in London, I decided to visit the National Portrait Gallery to take a look at their exhibition on the 1807 abolition of the slave trade.

Actually, it isn’t an exhibition in the normal sense. The portraits relevant to the history of slavery and abolition are almost all hanging in their usual places, surrounded by others with no connection to the subject. However, additional explanatory information is posted next to the relevant portraits, giving an excellent chronologically arranged overview of how many major historical figures related to the trade and its abolition.

I was advised by one of the staff to take the escalator to the top floor and then to work downwards. A folded A4 brochure suggests which portraits to look for in the various rooms. I didn’t time my visit precisely but guess that it took around an hour and a half. It was time well spent.

A far broader spectrum of people was brought into the abolition picture than is often the case, although being in a portrait gallery there was obviously an emphasis on the people of whom the gallery has pictures. It was also refreshing to see that the organisers had not adopted the all too common practice of trying to boost the reputation of people who too often have been unjustifiably ignored by seeking to diminish the fully justified high reputation of Wilberforce.

This visit reminded me that I need to update my Squidoo lens about Wilberforce. Hopefully I’ll get around to doing this in the next few days.

- David Murray -

I first became captivated by fuchsias around fifteen years ago when living in the northwest of England, and gradually got to know which cultivars would survive the local winters, which tended to be damp rather than extremely cold.

Some years back we moved a little further south and, more significantly, across country to the East Midlands – almost in Lincolnshire. Winters are quite different here and I’m currently trying to establish how many plants I’ve lost this year – largely due to my carelessness, I should add! One way or another I’ve quite a restocking exercise to go through, so my reference books are again coming down from the shelf.

This has triggered me into putting up a page on the BrunleaBooks web site listing several of the major fuchsia guides – including those which are out of print but, of course, available through our AbeBooks affiliate arrangement.

You can visit this page at “BrunleaBooks garden pages“.

- David Murray -