One week down – two to go!

Thank you so much for joining us during this first week of Plymouth History Festival. We’ve loved receiving your comments and questions, and seeing so much participation in quizzes and other activities (you have seen the quiz, haven’t you? There’ll be two next week!) It’s been inspiring to engage with organisations across the city and beyond to bring you topics like Pirates, VE Day 75, local landmarks, Darwin in Plymouth, medicine and much more.

In case you haven’t seen them, here are three highlights from our first week you really shouldn’t miss.

Our opening weekend coincided with Plymouth’s annual Pirates Weekend, so we saw plenty of great pirate facts! Among them were those in this fascinating look at Plymouth’s relationship with piracy, from Elaine Murphy of the University of Plymouth.

On Monday, which marked the 200th anniversary of the launch of HMS Beagle, the experiences of its most celebrated crew member Charles Darwin were discussed by his great granddaughter, Emma Darwin.

To celebrate Florence Nightingale’s birthday on Tuesday we featured a selection of profiles of important historical figures relating to the health profession. These included four wonderful profiles of health professionals buried in Ford Park Cemetery, including Mabel Ramsay, Plymouth’s first female surgeon.

This weekend will be dedicated to river crossings, and next week we’ll be looking at lighthouses, the Hoe, entertainment and art. Don’t forget to keep sending us your #MyPlymouthHistory pictures via Facebook and Twitter, and we’ll see you tomorrow!