Tag: anniversary

Railway 200: Celebrating the Birth of the Modern Railway in 2025

Railway 200: Celebrating the Birth of the Modern Railway in 2025

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2025 marks the bi-centenary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1825 connecting places, people, communities, and ideas, and ultimately transforming the world. To celeberate the birth of the modern railway, three councils, Darlington, Durham, Stockton-on-Tees, and Tees Valley Combined Authority, have joined forces with a range of local, national, and international partners, to deliver a nine month festival of internationally significant projects throughout the bicentenary year.

The ‘Railway 200’ events are designed to showcase how the railway shaped and continues to shape national life, as well as inspiring a new generation of young pioneering talent to choose a career in rail. Events across the year will build to the main celebration on the 27th September, the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway.

A Global ‘whistle-up’ on New Year’s Day 2025, with more than 50 hetritage railwys blowign the ihsiltew son their engiens at the same moment, signalled the start of rail’s 200th anniversary. From January to September a wide variety of activities and events are planned to celebrate rail’s remarkable past, its role today, and its importance to a sustainable future.

For more details on these events follow this link: https://railway200.co.uk/ 

Join the Blists Hill 50th Anniversary Celebration Day

Join the Blists Hill 50th Anniversary Celebration Day

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Join the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust as they celebrate Blists Hill Victorian Town’s 50th Birthday with a day of entertainment, activities and lots of fun! The theme for the day is a traditional Mop (or Hiring) Fair.

Beginning back in the 14th century, Mop Fairs were an annual opportunity to match workers to employers, especially in rural areas. Farm workers, labourers, servants and craftsmen would congregate in their Sunday best displaying a symbol of their trade, so a farmer might display a piece of straw, housemaids held brooms or mops, hence the name mop fair. In Shropshire, young women employed to collect ironstone from the waste tips of local clay mines, known as Shroppies, often travelled to London to work from May until September during the fruit and vegetable season in order to earn extra money.

On Saturday 1 April, try your hand at different trades and decide which occupation you may have been employed in if you had lived in 1900 such as:

  • Tile making
  • Laundry
  • China Flower Making
  • Printing
  • Brick Making
  • Blacksmithing
  • Candle Dipping

Throughout the day you will also be able to join in in the parade to mark the departure of the Shroppies and enjoy the music of the Wellington Brass Band. The Town will be dressed for celebration with flags and bunting and the air will be filled with fun and laughter. Visitors will be able to see casting in the Iron Foundry and will have plenty of opportunity to hear about the town’s humble beginnings back in 1973. Activities are included in the admission fee. See: https://www.ironbridge.org.uk/events/