Page 49 - Hindsight Issue 26 April 2020

BooKs
to encourage public concerts, and with the local gentry in more sophisticated performances. He organised elaborate harvest festivals which involved the whole community in preparation, decorating the road and church, singing, bell ringing, processions, dancing and feasting. Randolph’s love of brass bands, plentiful food, accompanied by toasts, often hosted in the Rectory grounds, made him popular within the parish and district communities. the fact that later Whilton people threw out the carved stone and left it in the Rectory pond for over a century is part of its rich history.
It is 350 years since 1670, when sir Fulwar skipwith was created a Baronet by Charles II. Whilton Local History society is marking this in 2020 by publishing The Mystery of the Whilton Stone by Anthea Hiscock.
The book will be available from 20 March 2020 and may be ordered in advance. For details please see Whilton Local History Society website: https://whiltonlhs.org
EIGHTY YEARS ON
Michael Hermann
Michael Hermann was born in Brixworth and his self-published book is a labour of love dedicated to his parents and a tribute to their families. He feels strongly that people’s stories need to be told, read, shared and remembered. His father came from the town of Plzen in Czechoslovakia and his mother was from Sunderland. They met in the village of Brixworth, Northamptonshire, while his father was serving with the Czech Independent Armed Brigade in 1943-44 and his mother arrived as an evacuee. Consequently they had different backgrounds, religions and cultures.
His parents’ story makes fascinating reading,
but the most gripping section deals with his strong Czech grandmother Hede Hermann, who was able to arrange for her 18 year old son, Kurt Robert, to escape to england in 1939 and to get her 13 year old daughter, edith, onto one of the last Kindertransports to england later the same year. she herself was sent to the concentration camp at terezin (theresienstadt) in 1942 and to Auschwitz in 1944 where she was murdered in the gas chambers. the book also gives details of Hede’s
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