The People's Friend Magazine

2 March 2022

The People's Friend - Issue 7917 - The best fiction with seven short stories, including 'Wear It Well', a delightful romance by Fiona Thomson, and 'A Light Between The Oceans', Deborah Siepmann’s thrilling mystery serial set in the 1970s. Pat Coulter visits Farnham, the Surrey town world-famous for its crafts, we commemorate the 175th anniversary of Alexander Graham Bell’s birth, Stephanie Hawthorne has some great advice when it comes to giving to charity, Bill Gibb discovers the future is looking brighter for the humble hazel dormouse, Alexandra Campbell gathers tips on creating a mini meadow lawn, and Kate Thompson finds out about the wartime library at Bethnal Green Tube station... 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.