Friday, March 29Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

800th anniversary of Magna Carta Celebrations start early at RHUL

June 2015 marked the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, one of history’s most important documents, which established the foundation of modern democracy, and that few people know was signed in Runnymeade.

Celebrations started early at Royal Holloway in April, with a convention on the Magna Carta, in partnership with Amnesty International, Brunel University, the Supreme Court and the National Centre for Citizenship and the Law, to generate debate around the anniversary.

Students from various local secondary schools gathered to draft a modern-day Magna Carta, as well as take part in a debate to explore the politics of the Magna Carta and how it is still relevant in modern society today.

This is the first in a line of events planned by the Egham Museum in celebration of the anniversary. These events, named Constitutional Conventions, will take place in the summer term at Royal Holloway in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Many other events started very early in advance for the anniversary. The Egham Museum closed in late April and re-opened on June 15th, having been redesigned to be made more attractive to tourists.

Most recently the Egham Town Team has been set up to redesign Egham’s town centre, in an effort to strengthen community pride and underline its historical importance. Egham, according to the Surrey Council Website, will become the ‘gateway to Magna Carta country.’ There is an opportunity for Royal Holloway students to enter a competition to design Egham Magna Carta signs that will be placed throughout the new town centre, and a logo for the new team.