Musings from the Merse
Friday, December 15, 2006
The happy event has not evented yet and could possibly drag on until after Christmas but Huttonian, although possibly surplus to requirements, will travel south tomorrow as planned to join the wife etc in north London to join the waiters. Blogging may be a bit intermittent and may not be of much immediate interest to Merse watchers. Lots of baby shots eventually, I fear-Chain Bridge Bloggee-you have been warned.
Someone -an occasional visitor to Musings is intrigued about the connection between the slave trade and the early days of Paxton. Why not flaunt it rather than remain coy? He (or she) suggests. Next year will have a big focus on the Slave Trade, the 200th anniversary of it abolition in British legislation. Surely, She (or he) asks is not time to stop being ashamed of our part in it;a long time ago and nothing to do with modern Britain.
Indeed Paxton House could exploit the connection- mount an exhibition about its links to slavery, commission a statue of Ninian Home.invite back slave descendants from Granada and put them on display in the gallery as honoured guests (free to go t any time), market its own brand of Paxton House sugar with a warning 'Not made by slave labour' (at least not in the Caribbean; Bangladesh?)Build a small sugar plantation on the croquet lawn and charge visitors a small fee for working on it on a PYO basis-minimal costume provided, shackles optional. Perhaps, to add local colour, chain the salmon fishermen together when they do their netting (they are all white, so no offence likely to be taken) Have the occasional manumission celebration for any member of staff contemplating retirement, Build a replica of a slave galley and have it sail up and down the Tweed to the Chain (no pun intended) Bridge; it could be a floating restaurant franchised to MacDonalds thus recreating the original cuisine with a fair degree of authenticity. Come on Paxton House Trust, the
possibilities are endless and only bounded by your imagination.(And a share of the profits to social services in Granada as is only right and proper).
Hutton Think Tank is on the case
Someone -an occasional visitor to Musings is intrigued about the connection between the slave trade and the early days of Paxton. Why not flaunt it rather than remain coy? He (or she) suggests. Next year will have a big focus on the Slave Trade, the 200th anniversary of it abolition in British legislation. Surely, She (or he) asks is not time to stop being ashamed of our part in it;a long time ago and nothing to do with modern Britain.
Indeed Paxton House could exploit the connection- mount an exhibition about its links to slavery, commission a statue of Ninian Home.invite back slave descendants from Granada and put them on display in the gallery as honoured guests (free to go t any time), market its own brand of Paxton House sugar with a warning 'Not made by slave labour' (at least not in the Caribbean; Bangladesh?)Build a small sugar plantation on the croquet lawn and charge visitors a small fee for working on it on a PYO basis-minimal costume provided, shackles optional. Perhaps, to add local colour, chain the salmon fishermen together when they do their netting (they are all white, so no offence likely to be taken) Have the occasional manumission celebration for any member of staff contemplating retirement, Build a replica of a slave galley and have it sail up and down the Tweed to the Chain (no pun intended) Bridge; it could be a floating restaurant franchised to MacDonalds thus recreating the original cuisine with a fair degree of authenticity. Come on Paxton House Trust, the
possibilities are endless and only bounded by your imagination.(And a share of the profits to social services in Granada as is only right and proper).
Hutton Think Tank is on the case
Comments:
Interesting idea. Perhaps you should post the idea into an honesty box. Do they have any of those?
# posted by 
: 8:58 PM
: 8:58 PM
No the honesty boxes are locked away, have been for years.
Thanks to the occasional watcher though, this is a great idea. A public spectacle at P House, a dramatic reconstruction of the 1795 Grenada slave uprising of 1795.
The Grenadian invited guest descendants could play the slaves (assisted by local extras, any volunteers?) and Ninian and co played by guess who? No real hanging, just pretend.
We could even include lots of facts and some expressions of regret?
Post a Comment
Thanks to the occasional watcher though, this is a great idea. A public spectacle at P House, a dramatic reconstruction of the 1795 Grenada slave uprising of 1795.
The Grenadian invited guest descendants could play the slaves (assisted by local extras, any volunteers?) and Ninian and co played by guess who? No real hanging, just pretend.
We could even include lots of facts and some expressions of regret?
# posted by : 11:05 PM
: 11:05 PM