Cultural Geography Blog

David Rogers is going to spend the 15th of July on a special fund raising effort. Here's the inspiration for his charity effort. How many times can I get up and down Pen y Fan in 24 hours? David said: "Pen y Fan and Bannau Brycheiniog as well as the Preseli Hills are where I learnt how to navigate and explore the mountains. I became comfortable being uncomfortable in all sorts of weather. I am therefore really excited to return to the area for my next challenge. On the 15th July I will be seeing how many times I can summit Pen y Fan in 24 hours. I’ll be at Love Trails for the weekend, so it made sense to tie the two together. 6.1km 440m Per lap. This is a solo adventure to raise money and awareness for bigmoose and training for the 250km ultra of Why We Run in September this year. How can you help: donate - let’s help save more lives Talk - check in with your friends and family. Don’t judge. Don't give advice. join in - Heckle me via social media or come along for a lap o...

 In this National Fieldwork Festival month, it's good to have a new alternative for you in the shape of Salaam Geographia's Urban Fieldwork experience. Link below: https://salaamgeographia.com/2024/06/17/sg-launching-gcse-a-level-urban-fieldwork-experience/ From the link you can access the Google Form to register your interest. Learning walks will take place for students from September 2024 to July 2025. Launching a new fieldwork experience: ‘Unveiling Southall’s Diverse Urban Tapestry‘Secondary schools (GCSE and A Level) welcome to witness community and expand on place and space knowledge. ​ Discover diversity in dynamic places within West London such as Southall, West Ealing and Ealing Broadway.​ Register interest here: https://forms.gle/Ytz2aVczaK1d7FRa9 ​ Dates available in July 2024.

A good piece in a recent Observer on the power of fish and chips.  It's written by Daniel Gray, and I have his new book 'Food of the Cods' Heart of the batter: my lifelong love affair with fish and chips https://t.co/eRTpnvexrD — The Guardian (@guardian) June 2, 2024   Fish and chips are an integral feature of daily life, and British culture. A chippy tea on Friday was an integral part of my life growing up - we were lucky to have an excellent chippy called the XL Fisheries close to where we lived.   Well worth a read...

Last week, I headed down to South London to present once again for the Prince's Teaching Institute. It's always a pleasure to do this. I've spoken in a number of locations including Harrogate and Cambridge previously. It was a really good morning and I enjoyed my time down in Bromley at the Primary Hub meeting for a group of schools - which had also attracted some secondary school teachers. My talk was on mapping for Primary geographers. Here's my slide deck. There was a lot of supporting material, but I hope I got across my message that there is more to mapping than OS sheets and four figure grid references. As Jack Dangermond said in this piece here , "maps are the language of geography".

Macondo is the fictional village which is the location for the main action in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's classic 'One Hundred Years of Solitude'. “Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” Now the village of Aracataca , which is the basis for the village is poised for an influx of new tourists as a result of a new Netflix adaptation which is going to be appearing soon.  It will have 16 episodes. This Guardian article explores the impact on Marquez's hometown in Colombia. Some locals feel betrayed that the series was not filmed there. Instead, it was shot in the industrial city of Ibagué, 430 miles to the south. “We’re disappointed that Netflix decided not to film here, but we all know that anyone inspired by the series will have to come to Aracataca, as the heart of Macondo lies here,” said Robinson Mulford, a local high-school teacher.

  This has been getting a lot of coverage... a cultural "sense of place" offering for cultural geographers... Leon Mallett's version of another song, but with plenty of East Anglia references. You can find the full version of the song online.