Masters Mayhem and Fire Fighting

Profound apologies for being absent for so long, but I do have a few necessary excuses: firstly my masters has taken up a lot of my time, writing presentations, giving presentations, writing essays, debating vigorously feminism in seminars and so forth. Additionally, I wrote a post for The Golovine, the University of Birmingham blog about my experiences volunteering for Wightwick manor-

 http://thegolovine.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/postgraduate-student-hannah-squire-discusses-her-experience-volunteering-for-the-national-trust/
I even got a tweet from the Wightwick Manor twitter account and re-tweeted by the national trust account, how very exciting!

On the website there is also a post regarding my involvement in a group of five art historians, endeavouring to, enthuse, educate and excite art history novices in five great works at the Barber Institute - http://thegolovine.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/five-paintings-ten-minutes-each-300-years-of-art-history/





Furthermore, I have also become involved with  a Heritage Lottery Funded project- Digbeth Speaks- an amazing, interesting and important group recording the history of Digbeth,  http://digbethspeaks.blogspot.co.uk/ - on which I wrote a blog post about my time voxpopping.

Finally, I just wanted to briefly touch on the misfortune I encountered recently, which has left me with with great pain, irritation and embarrassment.   I accidentally caught fire in March, it was quite a harrowing experience, recovery included a lot of bandages, E45 cream and a concoction of pain medication. My mom was an invaluable help, she changed my bandages and washed my hair when my hand was bandaged.
 I have been spending time trying to distract myself- listening to audiobooks: Mansfield park, Persuasion, sense and sensibility and North and South, followed by viewings of the films. Anne Elliot, Margaret Hale, and Fanny Price are great confidants and comfort, providing great escapism from my burn induced confinement and I am much obliged to Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell for their help in easing my mind. I also received a beautiful letter and glossy Pre-Raphaelite book from Wightwick to help ease my recovery, which was a welcome distraction and allowed me to indulge my love of the brotherhood and have beautiful reproductions of their amazing paintings that have inspired me for decades, since I first saw Millais' Ophelia at a young age.

Copyright of http://www.bethsquirephotography.com/

This is a picture my sister took five weeks ago of my fingers, she did take some pictures of my back, sans bandages but its very gross, so I will spare you that image.


Finally, I need to include in this post a cause very dear to my heart which needs funding,-https://www.justgiving.com/WightwickManor

'The National Trust has launched a campaign to bring four beautiful Philip Webb sketches home to Wolverhampton for display at Wightwick Manor.This acquisition appeal has been launched by the Trust to ensure that the four beautiful Webb drawings are returned home to Wolverhampton and displayed alongside Wightwick’s other important Pre-Raphaelite pieces. The drawings were initially owned by Laurence Hodson, another of Wolverhampton’s Victorian industrialists who lived at nearby Compton Hall, now Compton Hospice. Like the Manders, Hodson was also a local philanthropist and collector with Compton Hall originally containing Morris & Co. furnishings in the 1890s.'

I have included images of the four drawings below to showcase the majesty, exquisite handling of the medium and beauty of the detail of the drawings which will fit in and enhance the interior of the manor.










Yours, still slightly singed,

Evalily Harlow (yes my real name is Hannah but humour me!)