The People's Friend Magazine

23 February 2022

The People's Friend - Issue 7916 - Fantastic fiction with seven short stories, including 'You Name It', an entertaining comedy by Alison Carter, and Becca Robin’s spine-tingling mystery set in the 1920s, 'A Chill In The Air'. Neil McAllister takes an enjoyable stroll around the historic Welsh town of Llangollen, Dianne Boardman celebrates the literary legacy of Maeve Binchy, we discover the charity bringing the joy of cinema to hospital patients, TV presenter Steve Backshall shares his passion for the natural world, and Ali Henderson finds out about the charity providing work for refugees... Plus more stories, serials, health, gardening, knitting, recipes, travel, and much more inside. --- 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. 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.