Severn Valley Railway Steam on the Road

The Severn Valley Railway’s Steam on the Road event takes place  at Kidderminster Station. The event showcases the very best of steam on the road, and steam on the rails! From steamrollers, traction engines and steam wagons and features a variety of full size traction engines, and up to 4 miniature engines including roadgoing steam vehicles, Steam Rollers, traction engines, Showmans Engines and steam wagons which will be on display and in operation in the car park and on the Station forecourt, plus Plimsoll, the Road/Rail Series 1 Land Rover will be on the line.

 

Visiting Steam Vehicles include No. 4093 Dororthy, Burrell Road Locomotive, No. 8064, Wallis & Steevens 8 Ton Advance, No. 17480 Survivor, Fowler DNB Steam Roller, No. 2547 Endurance, Burrell Showmans Road Locomotive, Trotter 1 Ton Steam Roller, No. 7248 Pedler, Wallis & Steevens General Purpose Engine, No. 12770, Foden Tractor, No. 26839, Ransomes Sims & Jefferies General Purpose Engine, No. 1592 Tasker B2 Tractor, No. 1310 Foden Agricultural Tractor

There are also Steam Trains running on the Severn Valley Railway including Brakevan rides on GWR 0-6-0 tank engine No. 1450 at Kidderminster station. Plus A Display of vintage tractors, And a Road run through Kidderminster each day, culminating with a climb up the hill to Kidderminster Station, A Beer Festival on the concourse, with approximately 15 Real Ales and 10 Traditional Ciders & Perries on offer. Miniature steam locomotives will also be opperating on the Coalyard Miniature Railway. Plus Live entertaintment fromlocal band Blind Lemon at Kidderminster on Saturday evening, in association with Kidderminster Arts Festival

Plimsoll, the road-rail Land Rover will also be running along the whole length of the line. Plimsoll is a 1957 Series 1 Land Rover which has a 1997cc four-cylinder petrol engine, a four-speed main gearbox and a two-speed transfer box with selectable four-wheel-drive and can run on rails. At Hampton Loade there will be a display of more Land rovers. Meanwhile At Bridgnorth station there will be a Display of commercial vehicles and Mechanical Horses.

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International Day of the world’s indigenous people

The International Day of the World’s Indigenous People’s is observed annually on 9 August. The purpose of International Day of the World’s Indigenous People is to promote and protect the rights of the world’s indigenous population and to recognize the achievements and contributions that indigenous people make to improve world issues such as environmental protection. The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples was first pronounced by the General Assembly of the United Nations in December 1994, via Resolution 49/214 to be celebrated annually on 9 August. This date marks the day of the first meeting, in 1982, of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

The event was to be celebrated every year during the first International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People (1995–2004). In 2004, the Assembly proclaimed a Second International Decade, from 2005–2015, with the theme of “A Decade for Action and Dignity”.People from different nations are encouraged to participate in observing the day to spread the UN’s message on indigenous peoples. Activities may include educational forums and classroom activities to gain an appreciation and a better understanding of indigenous peoples.

Artwork by Rebang Dewan, a Chakma boy from Bangladesh, was chosen as the visual identifier of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. It has also been seen on material to promote the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. It features two ears of green leaves facing each other and cradling a globe resembling planet earth. Within the globe is a picture of a handshake (two different hands) in the middle and above the handshake is a landscape background. The handshake and the landscape background are encapsulated by blue at the top and bottom within the globe.

In Canada the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is celebrated as an all nations community celebration with artists, speakers, poets, performers, and a wide range of vendors and community service booths in Kingston, Ontario, by Yessica Rivera Belsham, Creative Director of Ollin.

Happiness Happens Day

August 8 Is Happiness Happens Day. Happiness Happens Day was created In 1999 by the Secret Society of Happy people. The purpose of Happiness Happens Day is to share happiness and encourage people to talk and think about happiness and wellbeing and stimulate people’s right to express their happiness “as loud as they want”. The Secret Society of Happy People supports people who want to share their happiness despite the ones who don’t want to hear happy news. Their mottos include “Happiness Happens” and “Don’t Even Think of Raining on My Parade”.

The Secret Society of Happy people was founded in August 1998 in Irving, Texas, by Pamela Gail Johnson. In December 1998 with the main idea of creating a “safe place” where people can share their happy moments, without being discouraged by the parade rainers. Since 1998 she has been managing the Society by writing posts, writing the newsletter, updating social media information and answering fan’s questions on her blog Ask Pamela Gail: Where Happiness Meets Reality. Each blog post is formed as an answer to the member’s questions submitted through the website. The purpose is to give people advice for handling their unhappy moments and learning the lesson out of each and every one of them. The column is posted weekly. Pamela is also the author of The Secret Society of Happy People’s Thirty-One Types of Happiness Guide released in November 2012 and Don’t Even Think of Raining on My Parade: Adventures of the Secret Society of Happy People. It gained international reception, when it challenged advice columnist Ann Landers for discouraging people from writing happy holiday newsletters enclosed with their holiday cards. In a letter to Landers, Johnson demanded an apology “to the millions of people you made feel bad for wanting to share their happy news.” The Society’s campaign persuaded Landers to change her advice on holiday letters, one of the rare occasions the columnist had a change of heart. Within the next few years the Society grew bigger being supported by thousands of fans from more than 34 countries.

In 1999 the Society declared August 8 as Admit You’re Happy Day (now Happiness Happens Day). The idea was inspired by the event that happened the previous year on the same date- the first member joined the Society. In 1998 the Society asked the governors in all 50 states for a proclamation. Nineteen of them sent proclamations. In 2000 the Celebration of happiness was expanded Into Happiness Happens Month, and thanks to the support of not-so-secretly-happy members from around the world, the Society declared August as Happiness Happens Month. Every year, the Society organizes an online social media event known as HappyThon, on Happiness Happens Day. The aim of this event is to send inspirational messages via social networks, emails or texts, share happy moments, philosophy, quotes, etc. HappyThon is the first online social media event that promotes happiness around the world. Since 1998 the Society have been organizing voting and announcing the Happiest Events and Moments of the Year. Before the end of the century, a vote for 100 of the Happiest Events, Inventions and Social Changes of the Century was organized. In the third week of January the Society hosted Hunt for Happiness Week.

International Cat Day

International Cat Day is a celebration which takes place on 8 August, every year. It was created in 2002 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

The domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus or Felis catus) is a small, typically furry, carnivorous mammal. They are often called house cats when kept as indoor pets or simply cats when there is no need to distinguish them from other felids and felines. They are often valued by humans for companionship and for their ability to hunt vermin. There are more than seventy cat breeds recognized by various cat registries.

Cats are similar in anatomy to the other felids, with a strong flexible body, quick reflexes, sharp retractable claws and teeth adapted to killing small prey. Cat senses fit a crepuscular and predatory ecological niche. Cats can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by mice and other small animals. They can see in near darkness. Like most other mammals, cats have poorer color vision and a better sense of smell than humans. Cats, despite being solitary hunters, are a social species, and cat communication includes the use of a variety of vocalizations (mewing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling and grunting) as well as cat pheromones and types of cat-specific body language.

Cats have a high breeding rate. Under controlled breeding, they can be bred and shown as registered pedigree pets. Failure to control the breeding of pet cats by spaying and neutering, as well as the abandonment of former household pets, has resulted in large numbers of feral cats worldwide, requiring population control. In certain areas outside cats’ native range, this has contributed, along with habitat destruction and other factors, to the extinction of many bird species. Cats have been known to extirpate a bird species within specific regions and may have contributed to the extinction of isolated island populations.Cats are thought to be primarily responsible for the extinction of 87 species of birds, and the presence of feral and free-ranging cats makes some otherwise suitable locations unsuitable for attempted species reintroduction.

Because cats were venerated in ancient Egypt, they were commonly believed to have been domesticated there, but there may have been instances of domestication as early as the Neolithic from around 9,500 years ago (7500 BC). A genetic study in 2007 concluded that all domestic cats are descended from Near Eastern wildcats, having diverged around 8000 BC in the Middle East. A 2016 study found that leopard cats were undergoing domestication independently in China around 5500 BC, though this line of partially domesticated cats leaves no trace in the domesticated populations of today. A2017 study confirmed that domestic cats are descendants of those first domesticated by farmers in the Near East around 9,000 years ago. According to a 2007 study, cats are the second-most popular pet in the U.S. by number of pets owned, behind freshwater fish. In a 2010 study, they were ranked the third-most popular pet in the UK, after fish and dogs, with around 8 million being owned. (Cats own you).

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) was founded in 1969, in initial efforts to stop the commercial hunt for seal pups on the east coast of Canada. The International Fund for Animal Welfare has offices in 15 countries, and projects in more than 40 IFAW is one of the largest animal welfare organisations in the world.

Activities of the IFAW include

• collaborating with elephant and rhino orphanages in Zambia, Zimbabwe and India, where the focus is on rescue, rehabilitation, release, and post-release monitoring and protection.
  tenBoma is IFAW’s counter-poaching initiative in Kenya, as featured on NBC’s Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly and PBS NewsHour.
• IFAW’s Wildlife Crime program works to reduce demand for wildlife products, wildlife cybercrime and live animal exploitation and trafficking around the world.
• IFAW’s Marine Mammal Rescue and Research group (MMRR) is a team of scientists, veterinarians and other individuals committed to promoting the conservation of marine mammal species (dolphins, whales, porpoises, and seals) and their habitats. Cape Cod is a hot spot for mass stranding activity, and the team is called on for expertise in global events as well.
• IFAW introduced The Meet Us Don’t Eat Us campaign to promote whale watching, as an alternative to whale hunting in Iceland.
• IFAW aims to protect the last 400 critically endangered North Atlantic right whales and has developed acoustic detection systems, collaborated with lobstermen, commercial fishers and shipping industries to prevent collisions with ships and gear entanglements; and advocated for greater legislation to protect the species.
• IFAW trains customs officers, game wardens and law enforcers in many countries to prevent the killing of endangered species, Through its DISRUPT wildlife crime prevention program,
• IFAW protects elephants by protecting critical elephant habitats, managing human-elephant conflict, preventing poaching, ending illegal ivory trade and rescuing orphan and injured elephants.
• IFAW Carries out legislative and educational campaigns across the globe. This is an effort to try to prevent cruelty to animals, preserve endangered species, and protect wildlife habitats.
• IFAW has a leading role in the campaigns to end the commercial seal hunt in Canada and end commercial whaling, as well as its work to help dogs and cats in impoverished communities, protect elephants, end illegal ivory trade,rescue and release of wild animals such orphan rhinos and rescue of animals in the wake of disasters such as hurricane Katrina in the US.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare attracted Controversy and criticism after A financial manager of the Brian Davies Foundation, IFAW invested IFAW’s money in organizations that carried out animal experiments, such as Bausch & Lomb, US Surgicals, Glaxo, Merck, Abbot, Upjohn, Philip Morris and McDonald’s. When the investment was drawn to the attention of IFAW’s trustees, the shares were sold immediately and the financial manager dismissed. When Davies retired from IFAW in 1997 to start Network For Animals, IFAW established a payment schedule to use his name and image for fundraising and campaigns. The contract was important for the continued level of success that IFAW achieved with Davies’ leadership, according to research on successful animal welfare organizations”. Davies had the following to say about it: “I signed an agreement with IFAW which was conceived by the trustees. I was opposed to the idea of receiving remuneration from two animal welfare organisations; this solution allowed me to run Network For Animals without pay for seven years.”

Loton Park speed Hill climb

The latest rounds the National B class Loton Park Speed hill climb take place 4th/5th August at Loton Park, Alburbury. This weekend sees the latest rounds in the Triumph TR SPrint and Hill climb series, the Association of North Wales Motor Club, the Historic Rally car register, Midland Automobile Club Sunrise Championship, and the British and Midland Hill climb championship. The final two rounds of the British and Midland championship take place on September 22nd/23rd ar Loton Park.

Loton Park Hill Climb is a hillclimb held in part of the Loton Park deer park in Shropshire, England. Loton Park Speed Hill Climb course is set in the beautiful surroundings of a deer park owned by Sir Michael Leighton, and is situated 9 miles west of Shrewsbury on the B4393 road in the village of Alberbury. The course is 1475 yards (1349 metres) long with an average gradient of 1 in 25 (4%) and the steepest of 1 in 7 (14%) and is rated as one of the country’s most demanding hills by competitors

The track was originally constructed by the members of The Severn Valley Motor Club based in Shrewsbury, in the mid-1950s. The first ever winner was Peter Foulkes in a Cooper Climax. The track was threatened with closure in 1969  and since then events have been organised by the Hagley & District Light Car Club, who obtained the lease on the land from owner Sir Michael Leighton in 1970, in which year the first National A hillclimb was staged. The course is 1475 yards (1349 metres) in length, making it the third longest course used in the British Hill Climb Championship. It contains an unusual downhill section fairly early in its layout. As of June 2009, the hill record of 44.42 seconds stands to Scott Moran, who set the mark in the second run-off of the 13 April 2009 meeting. Martin Groves had previously beaten his own previous record (44.53s) with 44.46s in the first run-off.

 

International Beer Day

International Beer Day (IBD) takes place on the first Friday of every August. The event was founded in 2007 in Santa Cruz, California by Jesse Avshalomov. The purpose of international Beer Day is To gather with friends and enjoy the taste of beer. To celebrate those responsible for brewing and serving beer. To unite the world under the banner of beer, by celebrating the beers of all nations together on a single day.

Beer is one of the oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drinks in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. Beer is brewed from cereal grains—most commonly from malted barley, though wheat, maize (corn), and rice are also used. During the brewing process, fermentation of the starch sugars in the wort produces ethanol and carbonation in the resulting beer. Most modern beer is brewed with hops, which add bitterness and other flavours and act as a natural preservative and stabilizing agent. Other flavouring agents such as gruit, herbs, or fruits may be included or used instead of hops. In commercial brewing, the natural carbonation effect is often removed during processing and replaced with forced carbonation.

Some of humanity’s earliest known writings refer to the production and distribution of beer: the Code of Hammurabi included laws regulating beer and beer parlours, and “The Hymn to Ninkasi”, a prayer to the Mesopotamian goddess of beer, served as both a prayer and as a method of remembering the recipe for beer in a culture with few literate people. Beer is distributed in bottles and cans and is also commonly available on draught, particularly in pubs and bars. The brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. The strength of modern beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume (ABV), although it may vary between 0.5% and 20%, with some breweries creating examples of 40% ABV and above.

Participants of International Beer Day are encouraged to give one another the ‘gift of beer’ by buying each other drinks, and to express gratitude to brewers, bartenders, and other beer technicians. In the international spirit of the holiday, it is also suggested that participants step out of their domestic/locally brewed comfort zone and sample a beer from another culture. International Beer Day began as a celebration at the founders’ local bar, but has since expanded to become a worldwide event. Celebrations are planned throughout the United States as well as in Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, England, France, Greece, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, the Philippines, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Vanuatu, and Venezuela.

Beer forms part of the culture of many nations and is associated with social traditions such as beer festivals, as well as a rich pub culture involving activities like pub crawling and pub games. International Beer Day Events include: Tapping of new or rare beers, all-day happy hours, beer flights, trivia nights, binge drinking and other games (such as beer pong), beer/food pairings and beer gear giveaways. From 2007 through 2012, International Beer Day was celebrated on August 5. After International Beer Day 2012, the founders took a poll of fans and chose to move the holiday to the first Friday in August. Since its inception, International Beer Day has grown from a small localized event in the western United States into a worldwide celebration spanning 207 cities, 80 countries and 6 continents.

Bridgnorth Art Statue Trail 2018

Bridgnorth Art Trail is a community project which is on display from April to October, involving a statue walking trail which showcases local artists’ work and create a family attraction for residents and tourists alike. Bridgnorth Art Tail also aims to promote the heritage, art and natural beauty of Bridgnorth.

 

There are 10-15 fibreglass statues based on Catch-me-Who-can dotted around Bridgnorth. These have been created from a single mould, and are all based on a locally-relevant theme which represents an important aspect of Bridgnorth. The Statues have all been decorated by Local artists and community groups. They will be on display from April to October, and then stored over the winter, repaired and maintained for their re-emergence in 2019. further statues/themes may be added in future years if demand grows.