News
Anniversary fever? History and the culture of NHS celebration
Congratulations to Roberta Bivins and Mathew Thomson who have had their article about NHS anniversaries published in Modern British History.
This was drawn from reflections from The Cultural History of the NHS research project.
Abstract
Delivered a day after Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) reached its 75th year since its opening on the Appointed Day of 5 July 1948, the Pimlott Lecture for 2023 explored the culture of NHS anniversary-making. What can the marking of these anniversaries tell us about changing attitudes towards the service, and indeed, the British state? Here, examining evidence from the media, government archives, and Mass Observation, we argue that NHS anniversaries have long functioned as points of reflection but that their role as moments of national celebration and even communion has come to the fore only recently and culminated in the apparent ‘anniversary fever’ of 2018. We will explore the reasons behind the growing public fervour, what it can tell us, and the lessons offered by our work on this (still) best-loved of British institutions for historians working on highly politicized objects in ‘fevered’ times.
Let's End Period Poverty Ghana
Former Centre for the History of Medicine MA student, Meg Boatemaa Asare undertook a research project in Ghana in June 2024 funded by Wellcome with the aim of combating period poverty by: providing sustainable menstrual products; educating girls in school on menstrual hygiene and creating an open dialogue about menstruation; and seeking to advocate for policy changes at local government levels to ensure menstrual health support in schools and public spaces.
The project was carried out over two weeks in two different regions in Ghana: 3 community schools in Kumasi and 2 schools in Accra. Notable successes were the establishment of emergency pad banks in schools ensuring no girl misses school due to the unavailability of menstrual products; and the inclusion of men and boys in menstrual health education sessions helping foster a broader cultural change toward a more inclusive perspective on menstrual health.
A full write-up of the project is available here, and Meg has recorded a short documentary about her time in Ghana.
"Low Risk Doesn't Mean No Risk": The Making of Lesbian Safer-Sex and the Creation of New (S)experts in the Late Twentieth Century
We are happy to announce that 'The Cultural History of the NHS' project continues to bear fruit!
Dr Hannah Elizabeth, one of our postdoctoral Fellows, has just published their chapter, '“Low Risk Doesn’t Mean No Risk”: The Making of Lesbian Safer-Sex and the Creation of New (S)experts in the Late Twentieth Century' (open access here), an exciting piece of work informed by and begun during their time with us here at CHM!
Dr Elizabeth is now a Fellow on Dr Rebecca Wright's fantastic Wellcome Trust funded Project Carbon Bodies: Warmth and Fuelling Health in Britain, 1918 to 2022 at the University of Northumbria.