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Frankly Speaking Debate Competition 2025- Applications Open

A Benjamin Franklin House debate competition in collaboration with the US Embassy London and the DAR Walter Hines Page Chapter.

Frankly Speaking 2025 will take place on Thursday 6th February 2025 and will be hosted by the United States Embassy London. 

Benjamin Franklin exemplified Enlightenment beliefs like the primacy of reason and critical thought. In his role as a colonial agent, and later as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Franklin regularly had to advance his opinions in the face of challenge and criticism, which he did with careful argument and wit.

In that spirit, and to encourage tomorrow’s thinkers today, Benjamin Franklin House proudly holds the annual Frankly Speaking Debate Competition for upper secondary school students, in collaboration with the US Embassy London. The winner joins students from across Europe and the United States at the Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Summer Institute.

We run two debate competitions on the day. Our Junior Competition is for students in Years 10 and 11; our Senior Competition is for Years 12 and 13. All participants must be in the relevant year groups to participate in each respective competition.

Applications for the 2025 competition will open on Monday 30th September at 9am and close on Wednesday 20th November at 5pm. If you would like more information or would like to apply, please email education@benjaminfranklinhouse.org and request an application form.

Applications must be completed by a staff member. If you are a student and wish to participate – please inform a member of staff at your school.

Frankly Speaking 2025 will take place on Thursday 6th February 2025 and will be hosted by the United States Embassy London. 

The individual winner of the Year 10/11 category will receive a private tour of the Houses of Parliament. The individual winner of the Year 12/13 category will join students from across Europe and the United States for an all-expenses-paid Summer school at the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellowship Summer Institute. In 2024, this was held at Purdue University, Indiana, over 4 weeks in June/July.

The 2024 competition took place on Wednesday 28th February. The heats, finals and awards ceremony were all be held at the United States Embassy London. The debates followed an ‘Extended Mace’ format with 2 students in each team. There is a Year 10/11 category and a Year 12/13 category.

For information about the 2025 competition and for an application form please contact our Education Manager.

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Benjamin Franklin House Literary Prize 2024 – SUBMISSIONS OPEN

2024 Competition Announcement

Each year a question or quote exploring Benjamin Franklin’s relevance in our time is open for interpretation in 1000-1500 words.  The competition is open exclusively for young writers, aged 18-25, with a first prize of £750, and a second prize of £500. Winning entries will be published online at www.BenjaminFranklinHouse.org  and https://www.telegraph.co.uk/

The Franklin quote for interpretation in 2024 is;

“Truth will be Truth tho’ it sometimes prove[s]… distasteful.” A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain. (1725).

Please find details of how to enter below:

  • Deadline: Saturday 30th November at 23:59
  • Entries of 1000-1500 words must be sent to education@benjaminfranklinhouse.org
  • Entrants must be aged 18-25 years and living in the UK
  • Each Entrant is asked to provide their name, preferred email, postal address and phone number within the email and the entry attached as a word document. In addition entrants should provide their age and place of study (if applicable; if they are not in education, they should provide a biographical note explaining their current activities)
  • Entrants may submit only one entry; fiction or non-fiction
  • This is a free-to-enter competition.
  • Please ensure your email subject is: Literary Prize 2024 Entry – [YOUR NAME]

The 2024 Literary Prize Judges are;

  • Márcia Balisciano, Director of Benjamin Franklin House
  • Lord Guy Black, Executive Director of the Telegraph Media Group
  • Wendy Moore, English journalist, author, and historian
  • Huw David, Development Director at Wolfson College, University of Oxford
  • Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group and Board Member of Benjamin Franklin House

Please contact our Education Manager with any queries.

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Ben’s Book Club Returns!

We’re proud to be hosting an array of accomplished historians who have kindly donated their time to walk us through some of Franklin’s practical lessons and words of wisdom, fascinating friendships and connections, and contributions to American literacy.

Book your free tickets here.

 

Buy a copy of our featured works below:

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Summer Family Events @ Benjamin Franklin House

Join us throughout August for an exciting line-up of fun-filled family events at Benjamin Franklin House!

Every Wednesday in August we will be running a series of FREE historical skills workshops at the House. We will be holding two sessions per workshop with limited tickets available in the morning and afternoon. All family events are most suitable for families with children aged 5-12, but all are welcome!

Our Summer Family Events will be;

Wednesday 14th August – Portrait Workshop

Portrait Workshop

Examine the fascinating details and hidden meanings buried within some of the most famous paintings in the world as well as those featuring Benjamin Franklin himself!

Create a fantastic self-portrait of yourself and fill it with your very own hidden meanings and messages!

BOOK TICKETS for 11am-12:30pm

BOOK TICKETS for 1:30pm-2pm

 

Wednesday 21st August – Archaeology Workshop

Archaeology Workshop

Unearth the secrets of 36 Craven Street. Why are there human bones in the basement? How did they get there? Who were they? We will explore the history of the undercover secret school that operated in the house whilst Franklin was in residence!

Examine real artefacts from the past to work out what they are and how old they might be!

Create your very own model of a human skeleton as we learn all about the anatomy and explore medicine in the 18th century.

BOOK TICKETS for 11am-12:30pm

BOOK TICKETS for 1:30pm-2pm

 

Wednesday 28th August – Calligraphy Workshop

Calligraphy Workshop

Learn all about Benjamin Franklin’s life as a successful printer, author and the first US Postmaster General! You will even get a chance to see one of Benjamin Franklin’s hand-written letters up close!

Create your very own letter from the 18th century as we roll up our sleeves for some good old fashioned dip pen writing! Write a letter using parchment paper and our collection of brightly coloured quill pens! Use Georgian handwriting guides to help create some beautiful writing!

BOOK TICKETS for 11am-12:30pm

BOOK TICKETS for 1:30pm-2pm

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Summer Family Events: Untold Stories – Visualising History

Learn about 36 Craven Street’s lesser-known 18th Century young resident and help us tell their story.

 

FREE August Events in the heart of London at Benjamin Franklin House, 36 Craven Street. BOOK TICKETS BELOW;

Thursday 8 August 2024 at 1-3pm

Friday 9 August 2024 at 10am-12pm

Friday 23 August 2024 at 10am-12pm

Friday 30 August 2024 at 10am-12pm

Saturday 31 August 2024 at 10am-12pm

 

These creative and collective storytelling workshops are designed primarily for ages 10-16. However, all are welcome to take part.

 

Group size: Up to 15 participants per workshop

Themes: Transatlantic slave trade, migration, freedom, child narratives

Meet our illustrator in residence, Kremena Dimitrova, and learn about her research related to the museum. Kremena is a London based illustrator-as-historian who specialises in public history through visual storytelling – children’s illustration, comics, murals, public art installations, maps/trails. Co-creating with children and young people, Kremena interweaves text and images, creative writing, characters, and humour to bring hidden and forgotten archives/narratives to life. www.kremenadimitrova.com

Explore how illustration can be used to visualise history by practicing your existing creative skills and by learning new artistic techniques.

Help us co-create a research comic and co-curate an exhibition at Benjamin Franklin House on 2-18 December 2024.

“Creative and collaborative work helps to uncover and communicate marginalised and diverse stories. But, it is essential to acknowledge how much we do not – and will never – know about children’s lives in the past. This offers valuable scope to engage visitors in the practice and ethics of research and story-telling.” (Lamb & Pooley, 2023, p. 2). Traversing histories and geographies across time and space, these workshops draw on R.G. Collingwood’s (1946/1994, p. 245) theory and approach to re-constructing knowledge about the past that relies on the historical imagination, or in Collingwood’s own words “… the historian’s picture of the past is… in every detail an imaginary picture…”.

 

We look forward to meeting you!

 

FREE August Events in the heart of London at Benjamin Franklin House, 36 Craven Street. BOOK TICKETS BELOW;

Thursday 8 August 2024 at 1-3pm

Friday 9 August 2024 at 10am-12pm

Friday 23 August 2024 at 10am-12pm

Friday 30 August 2024 at 10am-12pm

Saturday 31 August 2024 at 10am-12pm

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Children’s Summer Fair

Get ready for a day of creativity and fun with activities for the whole family!

Join a fun-filled summer craft fair at Fulham Palace, featuring Benjamin Franklin House, the William Morris Society and Leighton House!

With hands-on craft activities from each historic site, offering a variety of creative fun for all ages. Recreate the iconic Strawberry Thief bird with the William Morris society, make peg dolls and Victorian thaumatropes with Fulham Palace, design your very own Georgian home with Benjamin Franklin House and more! There’s something for everyone, designed to delight children and their families.

GET TICKETS HERE

Event details:

  • This is a free event in partnership with Benjamin Franklin House, Leighton House and The William Morris Society.
  • This event is a drop-in event taking place throughout the Palace’s historic rooms.
  • This event is suitable for ages 3+.
  • Children must be accompanied at all times.

GET TICKETS HERE

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Summer Walking Tours

We’re pleased to announce the return of our Summer Walking Tours on July 25th and August 22nd!

Join tour guide extraordinaire Brian to explore the sights, sounds, and smells of Benjamin Franklin’s 18th-century London! From famous thoroughfares to hidden streets, you’ll uncover a layer of London history and learn about its transformation over the last 200 years.

 

Starting at our doorstep, our expert guide will lead you around our local area to follow the steps Franklin would have taken whilst living and working here just prior to the American Revolution. As a witness to George III’s coronation on September 22, 1761, we will also be retracing the steps that Ben might have taken on that historic day!

 

Thursday, July 25th at 3pm

Buy Tickets

 

Thursday, August 22nd at 3pm

Buy Tickets

 

If you have any questions or queries, please feel free to contact Front of House Manager Megan at supervisor@benjaminfranklinhouse.org.

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Franklin’s Young Scientists: The Solar System

Franklin’s Young Scientists is our FREE science club for aspiring scientists in Key Stage 2/3 (ages 10-14).Participants learn all about the experiments carried out by Benjamin Franklin and his British friends as well as trying their hand at practical investigations. A range of core topics from the science curriculum are covered including electricity, forces, sound and the human body.

BOOK HERE

In this session, we will learn all about Benjamin Franklin’s fascination with the stars. As a member of the famed Lunar Society he travelled to Birmingham every full moon to meet with some of the most influential figures from the 18th century including Erasmus Darwin, Joseph Priestley and James Watt.

The Young Scientists will explore our Solar System; what it is and how it works. We will also design and craft our very own diorama of the Solar System to take home!

Due to our limited resources – there are a select number of tickets available for this event.

Please only reserve a ticket for the children attending.

Due to absences in previous sessions – you will be asked to confirm attendance ahead of the event to ensure all tickets are accounted for.

This is a FREE after-school workshop most suitable for KS2 pupils and anyone else with a keen interest in Science and History!

BOOK HERE

Please note: Parents are welcome to attend.

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Refugee Week Family Event – ‘Our Home’

Join us on Saturday 22nd June 2024 to celebrate Refugee Week (theme: “Our Home”) in the heart of London at Benjamin Franklin House, 36 Craven Street.

Meet our illustrator in residence, Kremena Dimitrova, and hear about her research related to the museum.

Learn about one of 36 Craven Street’s lesser-known 18th Century residents.

Discover how illustration can be used to visualise history by practicing your existing creative skills and by learning new artistic techniques.

Participate in the co-creation of a research comic to be exhibited at Benjamin Franklin House on 2-18 December 2024.

Make your very own visual creations to take with you home.

We are running two FREE workshops on the day, designed primarily for KS3 and KS4 children. Our first session will be for KS3 (aged 11-14) and our second session will be for KS4 (14-16). However, all are welcome to take part.

To take part in the KS3 session (10:00-11:15) please BOOK HERE.

To take part in the KS4 session (11:15-12:30) please BOOK HERE.

Number of participants per session: Maximum 15.

Activities: Storytelling, observational drawing, tracing, mapping.

National Curriculum Links: History/geography/art.

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The Coercive Acts – Response to the Boston Tea Party

THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOSTON TEA PARTY TOOK PLACE IN DECEMBER 2023 

What happened afterwards in the lead-up to the American Declaration of Independence?

Join us at the National Archives for an afternoon debate!

SATURDAY 1st JUNE 2024

13.00 – 15.15 HRS

The National Archives, Bessant Drive, Richmond TW9 4DU 

Tickets £10 available via this link 

It’s 1774 and the tea party is over. Britain is shocked at the colonists’ blatant disregard for the law and sovereignty. It is time to respond.

You are cordially invited to join the Walter Hines Page Chapter, NSDAR (National Society Daughters of The American Revolution) and the Kew Society as we explore the Coercive Acts of 1774, a key element in the lead-up to the Declaration of Independence.

The afternoon begins at 1pm and will feature a display of original documents related to the Coercive Acts held by the National Archives and a debate between the colonists and the British. The colonists will be represented by Dr Marcía Balisciano, Director at Benjamin Franklin House and the British parliament by Rebecca Palmer, postgraduate student at University College London. Andrew Payne of the National Archives will chair

Timings:

Document display at 1pm – 2pm

Debate begins at 2pm between the Colonists & Parliament

Q&A from audience at 2.30pm

Document Display continues at 2.45pm

Event ends at 3.15pm

Café stays open till 4pm

WHOSE SIDE WILL YOU BE ON?