News Story

Simon Carpenter

We would like to congratulate our Festival Archivist, Simon Carpenter, on being one of five individual winners of of the essay writing competition 20sStreets!

Launched late last year by the National Archives in partnership with the British Association for Local History, the competition invited entrants to research and share stories connected with the 1920s, focusing on any community within an area covered by the 1921 Census of England and Wales.

Simon chose the subject of the 1925 Three Choirs Festival BBC broadcasts and here is what the competition judges had to say:

Congratulations - we are delighted to let you know that you are a winner in the Individual category of our 20sStreets competition!

We loved your story, ‘The Three Choirs Festival makes its BBC debut’. There was tough competition and your story is one of only 5 winners from across the country. The judges commented on how your story demonstrated an important moment in cultural history and were impressed by how well referenced your submission was and the breadth of sources used.

- The National Archives

Simon's winning essay is published on the National Archive website and you can read it here:

Three Choirs Festival Makes its BBC Debut