Choice Blog

Editors Letter: 50th anniversaries and the Mayflower

For us Baby Boomers there are nostalgic fiftieth anniversaries coming up for the next few years- major events that were important to us in our teens and 20s, music, films, politics and, of course, our own personal anniversaries.

But it is a 400th anniversary has been occupying me of late. In 1620 the Mayflower left Plymouth bound for America to found a colony in New England landing near what is now Boston, Massachusetts.

It was an important moment in modern history. Today between 25 and 30 million Americans can show they descended from these pioneers known as the Pilgrim Fathers. Already the towns and cities that are associated with the Mayflower or her passengers in England are busy making preparations to mark this anniversary with events and tours.

They will be doing the same across the Atlantic and across the channel in the Dutch town of Leiden, where some of the pilgrims embarked.

Ahead of 2020 Choice is planning to tell this epic story and it is probably not quite the one we learned in history lessons at school.

Those heading off for religious freedom were in the minority. Many of the others were looking to find their fortune in the New World, some were just adventurers.

Fear of oppression (and in Holland of the Spanish Inquisition), of the sea journey and the unknown land they sought made for plenty of intrigue.

Watch this space for Mayflower 400. We won't forget those fiftieth anniversaries we lived through either.

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