In 1870, country parson Francis Kilvert began a diary of his ‘uneventful life’. The result, says Mark Bostridge, is sublime

One hundred and fifty years ago, in January 1870, a young curate in Clyro, a small village near Hay-on-Wye on the Welsh borders, began a diary. His name was Francis Kilvert. He was 29 years old, tall, with a dark beard. A cousin of his would remember him long afterwards as “very sleek and glossy, rather like a nice Newfoundland dog”.

While he ministered to parishes in Wales, as well as in Wiltshire, the county of his birth, Kilvert remained lovingly attentive to this daily record of his life for the next nine years, until the year of his death at the age of 38. Eventually published in three volumes – in the years 1938, 1939, and 1940 – Kilvert’s Diary was immediately acclaimed…

Wiltshire council is recruiting a number of new senior management in roles created following the realignment of its senior management structure, as a result of its new 10-year business plan.

With an ambitious programme of work outlined in the 2017-2027 business plan, an increasing number of exceptional leaders are needed to deliver the council’s vision. This vision is based around three key priorities – growing the economy, building stronger communities and protecting the vulnerable. Delivery of these priorities is dependent on having a talented and committed workforce.

The council is currently looking to fill three director posts – education and skills, adult care operations (learning disability and mental health), and finance and procurement. It is also seeking a commercial manager to develop traded services to schools, which is a new and exciting area with opportunities for commercial development.

Terence Herbert, corporate director and the council’s statutory director of children’s services, outlined that the council is looking for someone to fill the post of director of education and skills, who “understands the synergies between education and employment.