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MikeMike
16:04 13 Mar 23
Highly recommended! Josh and Sarah have been fantastic at Astute. They've found and placed me in 2 jobs now between them, both really responsive and excellent at keeping you up to speed with things. Very knowledgable about the roles and happy to talk to companies with any queries you have.
C R.C R.
10:45 27 Jan 23
Great agency one of the best ones I've worked with! Liz has been a great help and support in helping me towards a new direction in my career life. She is very attentive and keeps me in the loop at all times! She makes the extra effort to work with my preferred requirements for work and even if it isn't completely attainable she meets me in the middle and does as much as she can to help! Also Liz is very funny might I add 😂 and I'm happy that I can now put a face to the name after all these years! Thank you again Liz for all your help and support! 😊
ChristineChristine
10:32 20 Dec 22
Josh and the Astute team was very swift to help me to find roles that matched my profile. They are really reliable and will help through every step of the recruitment process going out of their way to assist and follow up when needed. Could not find a better recruitment agency!
Helen PinegarHelen Pinegar
16:19 18 Dec 22
Fantastic recruitment agency.. Josh was extremely enthusiastic, encouraging and clearly knowledgeable about what was needed from both the employee and the employers point of view. Extremely supportive especially in regards to interview preparation and endeavoured to procure feedback promptly. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Astute in the future to both candidates and recruiting businesses particularly for the right fit for the role!!!
Lisa LeighLisa Leigh
11:56 30 Nov 22
I have worked as a candidate for Astute and they have been excellent. Super friendly service and professional agents keen to fit the right person to the right job. It has been a pleasure dealing with them and I would happily work for them again in the future. Highly recommend this agency.
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Its-amazing-what-people-can-achieve-if-they-work-together.-How-the-people-of-Eyam-in-Derbyshire-saved-thousands-of-lives-

In 1666, around 800  Derbyshire people chose to sacrifice themselves, in order to save the lives of thousands of strangers. Could you have done that?

Let’s step back in time to 1665.

 

Why is the small, Derbyshire village of Eyam significant? In the words of a Victorian local Historian William Wood…

 

“Let all who tread the green fields of Eyam remember, with feelings of awe and veneration, that beneath their feet repose the ashes of those moral heroes, who with a sublime, heroic and unparalleled resolution gave up their lives, yea doomed themselves to pestilential death to save the surrounding country. Their self-sacrifice is unequaled in the annals of the world.”

 

Eyam, lies between Buxton and Chesterfield, just north of Bakewell in the Peak District. Most of the villagers were farmers. In the early 1660s, it was a typical, rural, farming community like hundreds that lined the trade routes from London to the rest of England. There were also tailors, bakers, and shopkeepers whose work ensured the livelyhoods of the villagers. And yet in 1665 Eyam became one of the most important villages in the whole of England. The bravery of its 800 souls had huge significance and influenced the development of treatment of the plague and in implementing quarantines successfully.

 

1665-6 was the last major epidemic of the plague to occur in England, with London the worst affected.

 

Back then, in 1665, evacuating the capital, the wealthy (Including King Charles II) escaped to their country estates, whilst the authorities did little to help those in poorer communities. Having to fend for themselves, the poor and uneducated of London faced a cruel and horrific foe. The House of Lords eventually discussed the crisis the following year, deciding instead of measures and aid to help, that the policy of shutting up’ of infected individuals with their household would not apply to persons of ‘note’ and that plague hospitals would not be built near to the homes of the wealthy. This selfish and callous attitude added to the feeling of abandonment for many of the poor left helpless and scared in London.

 

The movement of the rich plus the normal trade routes of England meant that the great plague spread quickly across the country. Rural areas that could previously have been safe from the diseases of urban city areas became exposed.

 

This was the backdrop, heralding the plague’s arrival in Eyam in late August 1665 via a parcel of cloth from London. Delivered to the home of Eyam’s tailor, Alexander Hadfield. His assistant George Vic shook & spread the damp cloth out by the fire to air it, only to find it infested with fleas. His death was recorded in the parish register on 7th September 1665 just a couple of days later.

 

George-Viccars-the-first-plague-victim-of-Eyam-depicted-in-staned-glass-windows

The plague was spread by infected fleas from small animals and human lice. The bacteria entered the skin through a flea bite, traveled via the lymphatic system to a lymph node causing it to swell. Then characteristic buboes (pus-filled boils) would typically appear under the arm, neck, or groin area. Combined with fever, spasms, black bruising under the surface of the skin, and vomiting, the plague was a truly terrifyingly ferocious and contagious disease.

 

Back in the 17th Century, many wild causes for pestilence were put forward, from punishment by God to bad air quality. Some thought fragrant herbs would ward off the disease.

 

Windows and doors were closed and many, especially watchers and searchers in plague hit London, would smoke tobacco. Large piles of foul-smelling rubbish were also burned.

 

While these methods helped indirectly, for example ridding the city of rubbish meant that the rats spreading the disease had to move on for a reliable food source. Many had limited to no effect.

 

However in Eyam, a small Derbyshire village, they acted in a unique way. Their intention was to act decisively and prevent the spread of disease.

 

How?

The Church’s dominance in the 17th Century was still supreme, even after the religious roller-coaster of the Tudor period. The local Reverends were pillars of the community, often the most educated people in their towns and villages.

 

Stanley and Mompesson depicted in stained glass windows

 

Eyam had two Reverends. Thomas Stanley had been dismissed from his official post for refusing to take the Oath of Conformity and use the Common Book of Prayer. His replacement, Reverend William Mompesson had worked in the village for a year. Aged 28, Mompesson lived in the rectory with his wife Catherine and their two small children. Both husband and wife were highly educated, and it was the actions of Stanley and Mompesson that resulted in the outbreak of plague in Eyam being contained to the village and not spreading to the nearby cities and beyond.

 

A picture of Eyam's hero, Reverand William Mompesson

 

A three-point plan was established and agreed with the villagers. The most important part of this was the setting up of a ‘Cordon Sanitaire’ or quarantine. This line went around the outskirts of the village and no Eyam resident was allowed to pass it.

 

Signs were erected along the line to warn travelers not to enter. During the time of the quarantine, there were almost no attempts to cross the line, even at the peak of the disease in the summer of 1666.

 

Eyam was not a self-supporting village. It needed supplies. To this end, the village was supplied with food and essentials from surrounding villages. The Earl of Devonshire himself provided supplies that were left at the southern boundary of the village. To pay for these supplies the villagers left money in water troughs that were filled with vinegar. With the limited understanding they possessed, the villagers realised that vinegar helped to kill off the disease.

 

Mompesson’s well on the village boundary was used to exchange money for food and medicine with other villages.

 

Other measures taken included the plan to bury all plague victims as quickly as possible and as near to the place they died rather than in the village cemetery.

 

They were correct in their belief that this would reduce the risk of the disease spreading from corpses waiting to be buried. This was combined with the locking up of the church to avoid parishioners being crammed into church pews. They instead moved to open-air services to avoid the spread of the disease.

 

The village of Eyam, while undoubtedly saving the lives of thousands in the surrounding area, paid a heavy price.

 

At 40%, they suffered a higher death toll than that of London. 260 Eyam villagers died over the 14 months of the plague out of a total population of 800. 76 families in that rural community, lost souls to the plague.

 

Whole families were wiped out completely.

 

However, the impact on medical understanding was significant.

 

Doctors realised that the use of an enforced quarantine zone could limit or prevent the spread of disease.

 

The use of quarantine zones is used in England, and around the world to this day in the current COVID-19 pandemic, and many other infections, to contain the spread of diseases.

 

Sadly, back in the 1600s, it took longer for the ideas of quarantine so successfully implemented in Eyam to filter through to become common practice in hospitals back then.

 

Florence Nightingale, raised in Derbyshire, pioneered the use of isolation wards to limit the spread of infectious diseases in hospitals during the Crimean war. Echoes of the practices put in place at Eyam.

 

Adopted in hospitals the world over, learning quickly that to contain the spread of diseases, isolation wards needed to be used.

 

Other lessons on disease control were learned by doctors from the methods used at Eyam included: –

 

Limiting contact and potential for cross-contamination. 

  • Eyam villagers paid for food supplies by dropping coins into pots of vinegar, preventing money from being directly handed over.
  • Echoed today with cashless payments, sterilisation of equipment, and medical clothing.
  • Before COVID-19, lessons learned from Eyam had been seen in the handling of the Ebola epidemic in Africa. The quick disposal of bodies close to the immediate area of death had limited the risk of spreading the disease.

 

While the events at Eyam did little to change attitudes immediately back then, history has shown how the people of Eyam, shone a beacon of light to scientists, doctors, and the medical world.

 

They came to use Eyam as a case study in the prevention of disease, and save countless lives ever since.

 

A fascinating story of how ordinary people with everyday jobs and lives, inspired medical practices used to this very day. And, it is an amazing, moving story of how people from all professions, trades, and backgrounds came together as a community and made a huge difference in the way we manage the spread of disease.

For more information and interesting facts click HERE to a BBC article on the bravery of Eyam’s villagers.

 

An article by Mary Maguire

Managing Director
Astute | Accountancy & Finance | HR | Office Support

Suite One, Ground Floor West, Cardinal Square, 10 Nottingham Road, Derby, DE1 3QT

T: 01332 346100
M: 07717 412911

E:  [email protected]

W: www.astuterecruitment.com

LI:  https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/mary-maguire/18/73/553

LI: www.linkedin.com/company/astute-recruitment/

Astute Recruitment Ltd explores VE Day 2020 uncovering the historic events that led to VE Day 75 years ago

Astute Recruitment Ltd explores VE Day 2020 uncovering the historic events that led to VE Day 75 years ago

 

 

 

Today people in countries across the globe are fighting a very different war with a very different foe. Fitting then that on the 8th of May 2020, we celebrate VE Day, but not just any VE Day. Instead, it is the 75th anniversary from when the Allies secured victory in Europe. Thats what V.E. day stands for. ‘Victory in Europe’.

 

We should take hope and heart that the most vicious of foes those years ago could be and was defeated and our current foe, COVID-19, will, in time, also be defeated.

 

For now, we need to remind ourselves of the sacrifices and heartache that our ancestors undertook to secure a peace that has lasted ever since in Western Europe. Take heart from the fact that we all have it in ourselves to be inspirational & courageous. Together, we can overcome any obstacle whether human or biological if we work together and stand united. And as the country unites in some much-needed celebrations, we wanted to put together a brief history of the key events that triggered and finally resolved what was the Second World War.

 

How we got to VE Day

In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party took control in Germany with ambitious plans to expand beyond Germany. Early in 1939, Germany gained control of Austria, the Czech Republic, & Italy as an ally. The UK, France & others were concerned, but most countries were still wary of war after the horrors and impacts of the First World War. Following an invasion of Poland, and war was finally declared by the Allies in September 1939.

 

World War 2.

The war took many huge twists and turns, with the victorious side looking to be either Hitler or the Allies in equal turn. Germany was extremely successful using a method of quick, superior attacks – the ‘Blitzkrieg’ (lightning war in German). Eventually, the tide turned in favour of the Allies with German troops pushed back & conquered territories being liberated. By February 1945, the Allies had entered Germany and by late April 1945, Berlin was captured.

 

By the 7th May, both Italy & Germany had lost the very leaders who had taken them into war, & both had signed a total, unconditional surrender, effective from the 8th May.

 

Over 1 million people celebrated in the streets throughout Britain to mark the end of the European part of the war. In London, crowds thronged, cheered and gathered from Trafalgar Square along The Mall and all the way to Buckingham Palace, where King George VI & Queen Elizabeth, with Prime Minister Winston Churchill, appeared on the balcony of the palace before the cheering crowds.

 

The young Princesses Elizabeth (now our Queen) and her sister, Margaret, were given discreet permission to go incognito and celebrate with the public.

 

The End of the war.

 

VE Day only acknowledged the end of fighting in Europe, not the end of World War 2. Japan was still fighting against the Allies in May 1945. It wasn’t until August 1945 that Japan would surrender, with the official end of the 2nd World war signed and ratified in September 1945.

Clive Mason/Getty Images
Clive Mason/Getty Images
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won last year’s Formula 1 British Grand Prix

 

The team at Astute have worked so hard in the last twelve months, so Sarah Stevenson and Mary Maguire are delighted to take Astute’s team down to Silverstone and hopefully see Lewis Hamilton work towards securing Pole Position for this weekend’s British Grand Prix.

Photos of the day to follow next week!

 

“Reward success in your team and your team will reward you with success”