The 23^rd April (St George’s Day) is Shakespeare Day, traditionally the birthday of William Shakespeare.  He was baptised in Stratford-upon-Avon three days later.

William Shakespeare wrote a great many plays, including Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Merchant of Venice.   Today, most young people will still study one or more work of Shakespeare in schools.

The 23^rd April is a good opportunity to give you an idea of the possible gift memberships you could give someone who loves culture, Shakespeare, plays, the theatre and reading.

The Royal Shakespeare Company perform plays by Shakespeare and also his contemporaries, whilst also commissioning a wide range of work from contemporary writers.  Its purpose is to make sure that Shakespeare is for everyone across the world.  It nurtures future talent, trains theatre makers, and reaches over half a million people every year through learning programmes.  It also creates projects for communities which have not previously engaged with its work.  It has a number of ways you can support its work, including giving a membership.  You can find out about visiting its Stratford upon Avon venue here.

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is in Stratford-upon-Avon.  It cares for the world’s greatest Shakespeare heritage sites there, and also promotes the understanding and enjoyment of Shakespeare’s works, life and times.  You can visit William Shakespeare’s childhood home in Stratford-upon-Avon, where it all began, and visit Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, the family home of Shakespeare’s wife-to-be, where Shakespeare would have visited her during the early times of their relationship.  And you can walk in Shakespeare’s footsteps at Shakespeare’s New Place, the site that was William Shakespeare's family home for 19 years. You can Become a Friend of the Trust to help support its work and enjoy exclusive benefits.

Shakespeare’s Globe is a world famous performing arts venue.  It’s also an education centre and cultural attraction and it sits on the bank of the River Thames.  Its programme of work seeks to harness “the power of performance, cultivates intellectual curiosity and excites learning to make Shakespeare accessible for all.”  It has two theatres, one indoors and one outside, and you can take a virtual tour of the Globe here.  The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse opened back in 2014 and it has plays, concerts, events and education workshops.

Back in 1623, a book with 36 of Shakespeare’s plays was finished.  It was compiled by two of his acting colleagues, and printed over the river from the Globe.  It’s the 400^th anniversary of this book – which was first known as the First Folio – and Shakespeare’s Globe is a custodian of one of the copies that has survived, thanks to a private owner.  The book is displayed in the main foyer.

Give a gift membership to Shakespeare’s Globe Members can enjoy priority booking, a Digital Member’ Room and exclusive member discounts, and the knowledge that their membership is supporting the Globe in all its work.

You can also give someone a gift experience related to Shakespeare, such as a visit to Shakespeare’s Globe and Shakespeare’s School Room. 

Did you know that May is Local and Community History Month?

The aim is to raise awareness of local history – often forgotten besides the histories of people such as Henry VIII or events such as the Second World War.   But it’s also a chance to promote history to local communities and get people involved.

Getting involved in a local history group is also a great way to meet other people who are also interested in history, so like-minded people, and you can learn a lot from each other.

The Local and Community History Month is organised by the Historical Association.  It’s a chance to get out and about in your area, and really delve into how  your local area has changed, what’s happened and why, the local characters involved,  how it connected with the outside world and so forth.   The Association have 10 Top Tips for Researching the History of Where You Live so this would be a great place to start and there will be events going on all over the country.

One great source of local history is of course newspapers. Thanks to a great project between the British Library and the British Newspaper Archive, there are now over 84 million pages of newspapers you can access online through a subscription.  They’re adding more and more pages each week and there are still new titles being added, too.  So you can find out all about local history in your area even if  you are still restricted, or do your research online and then  head off to spot history, stand where it happened, and imagine what life would have been like

The British Newspaper Archive gives us a chance to see what readers wanted to read about and hear about, what was popular to sell and buy at the time – the advertisements are a great source of information – and what sort of social events were held.  You can give a gift subscription for one month or choose to run it for longer.

Local and Community History Month is also an opportunity to raise awareness of the Historical Association itself.

The Historical Association has a number of memberships, including a Gift Membership –  and the Historian Membership which is for anyone who just loves history.  There are also different memberships for those involved in the subject at primary or secondary level and you can see what the different membership levels include here.  The website on its own is a massive mine of information for people involved at a professional level e.g. history teachers or wannabe history teachers but there’s also lots of articles and topics of interest for people who just love the subject.

Historian Membership of the Historical Association includes The Historian,
the quarterly magazine of the Historical Association

Historian Members receive The Historian quarterly magazine (not every membership includes this) and you can download a free copy by registering online to see what it’s like.  It’s a great gift for anyone who teaches or studies history – or who just loves it.  I did History for my degree and still love immersing myself in the past to escape from the craziness of this modern world we live in and daily routine!

Memberships help support the Association’s mission to develop the teaching, learning and enjoyment of history at all levels, for generations to come.

Members also have free access to over 350 high-quality podcast talks by history experts; these cover historical periods, regions and themes, so there’s plenty to discover!

The Historical Association was originally established in part to bring people together who were interested history, and there are over 45 local branches around the UK meeting regularly.  Branches organise a programme of speakers every year so that members and the public can hear from historians and researchers.  You can find your closest branch here.  They may also be history visits and CPD events, it depends on the branch.

Find out about the Historical Association's Historian Membership here 

There's also the British Association for Local History, which is the national association devoted to local history.  It publishes books and pamphlets on local history, and it also publishes both The Local Historian, a quarterly journal, and Local History News, a topical magazine.  It has lots of resources online, plus events and there are even classroom exercises to bring local history into the classroom!  There are several different types of membership.  Visit the British Association for Local History here

Plantlife is one of my favourite charities.   If you're looking for a gift membership for someone who loves flowers and wildflowers in particular, and wants to help with conservation, please take a look at its website. 

Wild flowers , plants and fungi are essential for all our wildlife.  There's nothing like seeing a beautiful roadside verge full of wild-flowers, or a wild-flower meadow.   

Plantlife work to raise awareness of the importance of wildflowers, plants and fungi and to protect them so that future generations can enjoy them and that wildlife can continue to benefit from them.   

Get involved in Plantlife and conservation!

We can all get involved in their work, by going on a Great British Wildflower Hunt, taking part in No Mow May (leave some of your lawn uncut and then you can work out how many bees and butterflies the area would support - Every Flower Counts!  They have a cowslip survey and of course, they have a Road Verge Campaign.   The good news is that many councils are taking steps to make road verge management more sustainable and wildlife-friendly. 

Give a gift membership!

Membership benefits include Plant Life magazine three times a year, a free identification guide, information on how to grow wild flowers in your garden and priority access to selected events

Give a gift membership to Plantlife
Image ©Plantlife

Other ways to support Plantlife and its vital conservation work include:

• Adopt an acre
• Adopt a veteran tree
• Adopt a reserve
• Adopt a flower
• Make a donation
• Support an appeal

You can do all of these things through Plantlife's online shop.