The People's Friend Special Magazine

10 November 2021

The People's Friend Special - Issue 217 - We’ve 14 seasonal short stories and an eight-page mystery by Pamela Kavanagh to enjoy, plus recipes for traditional German treats and some cute crochet tree decorations to make. Polly Pullar discovers why the partridge is associated with this time of year, Dianne Boardman tries her hand at glass-blowing to make baubles, and Gillian Harvey chats to the people who create snowy backdrops for our favourite films and TV shows. Solange Hando remembers childhood Christmases in France, Pat Coulter admires the yuletide displays in Bournemouth’s Russell-Cotes Museum and Richard Webber takes a look back at Christmas in wartime... plus recipes, nature, travel, puzzles, crafts, and lots more. --- Back in 1869, when the recently widowed Victoria was on the throne and Gladstone was Prime Minister, when Alexander Graham Bell was yet to make the first telephone call and Darwin's "Origin Of Species" had been published just ten years earlier, a brand-new magazine - "The People's Friend" - hit the shelves for the very first time. This is The People's Friend Special. Right from the start, the "Friend's" mission statement was clear: "We intend that fully one half of the 'Friend' shall be devoted to fiction... the 'Friend' being intended for fireside reading, nothing will be admitted into its columns having the slightest tendency to corrupt the morals either of old or young." As the years passed, the "Friend" grew and thrived. Through massive social upheaval, wars, strikes, financial crashes and natural disasters, the magazine continued, dispensing entertainment, instruction, comfort and good cheer to its readers. It became a constant in readers' lives; a true friend to turn to in times of trouble.