Garibaldi Took The Library Biscuit with Help from The Potters

History Does of Course Repeat Itself ...

'Tis true that our twin town Barga is in present day Italy, that 2007 already saw a major new library extension of the town's Carnegie establishment, that Prestonpans Pottery is this year's very very big theme for the Prestoungrange Arts Festival and that Colonel Gardiner is still a well remembered hero ....... but ...

Where Does Garibaldi Fit Into that Picture?

Firstly, he was an inspired and colourful military commander who helped the republican independence movements from Spain and Portugal right across South America before turning his attention to Sicily and ultimately to the unification of the Kingdonm of Italy. And then there are the biscuits named after him which most of us love ..... the one's with Italian flies in.

But as the cutting below shows, Panners in the 19th century had their own soft spot for him and our Potters in particular. They sold up the town's failing lending library and dug deep in their Potters' Box to send the cause £15.

click on image below to enlarge



P.S. Anyone wishing to give a closer inspection to the account reported above can find a facsimile hanging in The James Fewell Bar at The Prestoungrange Gothenburg quite properly next to the 'free' Book Exchange Lending Library that now flourishes there today.