Springtime felicitations picture people! It certainly IS as pretty as a picture as we look out from the library over Blackheath on this May Day. As usual, there are plenty of news and views in this latest monthly missive including a nudge about VE80, swimwear style, some gorgeous gardening photographs and a fond cheerio to a key staff member. Read on for more, THEN you can go and lie in the sun.

VE Day Reminder

A couple of months ago, we dedicated a newsletter to the upcoming 80th anniversary of VE Day, but, with this event now only a week away, felt it was definitely worth a last minute reminder. We have some excellent material on this subject, combining contemporary newspaper and magazine coverage, nostalgic photographs of street parties, as well as interesting examples of ephemera and front covers. You can read the full round-up on VE80 here.

Exit Code

This month we're waving a fond farewell to our long-serving IT director, Mark, who is retiring after giving Mary Evans a solid twenty-five years of coding, web-building and all things technically beyond us mere mortals. If you're a regular user of our website, then that is entirely Mark's handiwork, and besides that, he's been a fixer and sorter for all manner of matters at Mary Evans mansions, whether that's being the barman at our summer soirees or, since he is the closest member of staff to the library, coming in out of hours to sort out a rogue fire alarm!

Mark isn't exactly retiring. While being our tech guru, he's also continued a writing career, which he now plans to focus on more fully. You can follow him on his (excellent) substack here. We may be biased but it really is worth a read. We also hope we'll be seeing him regularly, especially when he's out for a dog walk on the heath, as we're going to miss Lottie's office antics too. Do join us in thanking Mark for doing a sterling job over the years, and in wishing him the very best for the future.

News about Mark's replacement in our next newsletter!

Green Fingers

With Chelsea Flower Show just around the corner and the nation's gardeners all weeding and digging in unison this month, we wanted to share this small set of delightful photographs recently added to the collection of Annabel Watts. Annabel is head gardener at Munstead Wood so her interest in the history of gardening is ingrained, and we absolutely love these latest pictures which include a handsome Edwardian couple grinning in their greenhouse, and a photo of Beatrice Hindley, who made the plants for Queen Mary's doll's house, shown painting some tiny hydrangea.

It's All Going Swimmingly

Have you been to see the excellent 'Swim' exhibition at the Design Museum yet? Curated by fashion historian Amber Butchart, in our view it's one of the best of the capital's hot cultural tickets and with the current balmy weather we're enjoying, feels particularly topical. We thought we'd take the plunge and share some of our own excellent material on all things swimwear, from the voluminous bathing suits of the 19th century to the streamlined Jantzen costumes of the 1930s, when swimming was an intrinsic part of the cult of health, fitness and the body beautiful. From Captain Webb to Annette Kellerman, we've also floated a few swimming personalities too. You can take a deep dive here

People to See, Places to Go

We have represented the excellent collection of Historic England for a number of years now and are always pleased to get a new submission. The latest batch includes more work by the great John Gay, whose pictures of the UK from the 1950s to 1970s are always an evocative conduit to the past. In addition to this there are some recent aerial shots of heritage sites by Damian Grady and some fascinating stuff from the archive of the Ministry of Works from exquisite watercolours of timbers from the Westminster Hall to 1960s shopping precincts.

A Grrrrrrr-eat Picture

The wonderful John Hinde postcard archive, now on-site here at the library, continues to throw up some rare treats. The latest find is this quite spectacular photograph of the 6^th Marquess of Bath, casually reading a copy of Country Life magazine, while his pet, er, lion snuggles up with him on the sofa, less King of the Jungle, more Prince of the Couch Potatoes. The only thing that has escaped us is an exact date and if any of our readers can identify the date of the Country Life issue he's reading, then there's a free Lion Bar in it for you.