Latest news with #BethanyWalker
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ashgates raises £1,500 for charity partner PWSA
Ashgates, an accountancy and advisory firm situated in Derby's Pride Park, has raised close to £1,500 ($2,031) for its charity partner, the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association UK (PWSA). The firm, which has a workforce of 90, announced its collaboration with PWSA earlier in 2025. In a significant fundraising effort, over 40 professionals from the finance and professional services sector in the East Midlands participated in a padel tournament held at We Are Padel. Teams from Barclays, Gateley, NatWest, Rothera Bray, and Handelsbanken competed for the inaugural trophy, with Stanton Environmental ultimately winning the title in a competitive final against the hosts. Bethany Walker, an audit and business services assistant at Ashgates, proposed PWSA as the charity partner for personal reasons, as her sister Izzy is affected by the rare genetic condition that leads to an uncontrollable urge to eat, along with associated learning and physical disabilities. Ashgates director Steve Martin said: 'PWSA do amazing work, providing a dedicated helpline, information hub, peer support groups and community events for the 2000 people who live with this syndrome in the UK. 'As well as raising vital funds for research and other activities, it importantly raises awareness, so more people understand what is involved and what people have to live with. 'Everyone is talking about Padel and we've been asked by a few stakeholders and clients for a game. I couldn't think of a better way of rising to the challenge then putting on a competition at nearby We Are Padel and raising lots of money for a great charity.' Established in 1991, Ashgates provides a variety of accountancy and business advisory services, along with independent financial advisory and managed IT support. The firm, which became part of the DJH accountancy and professional services group last year, is looking to enhance its presence in the East Midlands and plans to organise further social events in the coming year. Karen Wilkinson from PWSA said: 'We are most grateful to Ashgates and DJH for their fundraising event on behalf of the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association UK. 'The padel tournament was a great way for professionals to relax and do battle on the court, whilst raising much-needed awareness of the condition, a condition that affects more than 2000 people in the UK. 'We've achieved so much, but this is just the start. The funding will go into the next steps, which include more age-appropriate support and social activities for adults with PWSA, expanding our information hub and training more professionals in helping people to live with the syndrome.' "Ashgates raises £1,500 for charity partner PWSA" was originally created and published by International Accounting Bulletin, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
Jordan Times
22-05-2025
- Science
- Jordan Times
Scholar highlights Ayyubid legacy, challenges of distinguishing it from Mamluk period
The Ayyubid castle of Ajloun, located in the northwestern part of Jordan, overlooking the Jordan Valley (Photo courtesy of ACOR) AMMAN — For Professor Bethany Walker from Bonn University, it is a true challenge to differentiate some pottery objects whether they belong to Ayyubid (1171-1260) or Mamluk (1250-1517) period. Walker wants to separate two periods that are often called Ayyubit-Mamluk and belong to Middle Islamic era. "Ayyubid period was much shorter than Mamluk period," Walker said during the lecture " Jordan in the Ayyubid Age" held at the Department of Antiquities of Jordan on Wednesday, adding that if one excavates on the Mamluk site they will not find many remains older than the Mamluk period. Mamluk's powerful visual presence in Jordan also underlines Ayyubid Sultanate contribution, Walker continued, adding that Mamluks re-used Ayyubid buildings. "Vernacular buildings didn't change much from 12th until early 20th century in Jordan," Walker said, noting that to differentiate between these two periods became a challenge. The Ayyubids laid foundation for administrative buildings, fortresses and castles, as well as way stations for pilgrims and store houses for agricultural produce. They invested in network of roads and castles, reviving the world economy. One of the achievements of the Ayyubids was the beginning of the sugar industry in Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea area, where the sugar technology was brought from the Indian Subcontinent (sugar canes). "The major achievement of the Ayyubids in Jordan was economic," Walker stressed, adding that agricultural sector flourished during their reign. Rural area was economically stimulated to produce certain types of crops during that period. "The most active of the Ayyubid rulers was AlMu'azzam (1218-1227) who ruled from Damascus," Walker said, noting that in the early decades of the 13th century Karak became a scientific and educational centre. However, there are no architectural traces of these activities as no remains of madrasas and hospitals survived to our days. Al Mu'azzam built villages and the state stimulated different types of migrations to urban and rural centres. Nasser Dawoud in 1244/1245 renovate the Karak Castle, adding that palatine halls at Karak and Shobal castles represent the Ayyubid architecture. Regarding the Ayyubid bathhouse, Walker said:" It's relatively small, with three to four rooms." The Mamluks would tear down old, decrepit buildings and reuse the material for new structures, and that is one of the reasons why it is often difficult to distinguish which building belonged to the Ayyubid and which to the Mamluk period. "In some textual documentation there is evidence of these demolitions, like in chronicles, where villages around the Shobak Castle are mentioned. Here we have accounts what still functions and what is in ruins," Walker said, adding that ruins had a commercial value as a building material.
Jordan Times
20-04-2025
- General
- Jordan Times
Scholar calls for ‘deeper' use of Ottoman tax registers in Mamluk archaeology
AMMAN — The archaeology of the Mamluk period, as practiced today, is a form of historical archaeology heavily informed by anthropological models, noted an American professor. One methodological development of the last decade has been in the engagement with the written record. The combination of written and material sources is the greatest challenge of any archaeology of historical periods, particularly so with the Mamluk period, which produced a wealth of texts, Professor Bethany Walker said, adding that many excavations and survey reports now include an explanation, however brief, of how historical sources are used. There has been a very gradual shift from dependence on texts for interpreting archaeological data to creating a dialogue between the two in ways that inform project design, the professor said. Because written sources and archaeological data answer different sets of questions about human behaviour and can differ in chronological scale of inquiry, they can and should be used in tandem to write a multi-faceted history of Mamluk societies, Walker explained. 'In short, one data set can inform the other. the challenge is to decide which kinds of sources are most appropriate to the subject at hand and to write a coherent, analytical narrative that uses them in complement with one another," Walker highlighted. The professor added that archaeologists of the Mamluk period ('Middle Islamic' period in archaeological terminology) have generally relied on written sources that are geographically and chronologically useful and readily available in print form (and frequently translated into European languages). Narrative sources (primarily chronicles and geographies) and administrative manuals that help identify sites and provide a historical framework for their physical development. When used responsibly, such sources, in combination with archaeological evidence, can produce a rich narrative of Mamluk history. "What has been largely missing is an engagement with contemporary documentary sources. One notable exception is the early Ottoman tax registers (singular, daftar-imufassal) of the ninth/sixteenth century.' 'During the first century of Ottoman rule in Syria, many elements of the Mamluks' administration in the region were retained, including the general administrative structure, some personnel, and many of the larger landed endowments [awqāf]," Walker underlined. The registers document anticipated income from taxable commodities, though not actual taxes collected, and describe in some detail the status of rural property, whether a settled village (qaryah), a village formerly settled but now abandoned (kharāb), a piece of cultivated land (such as a garden, qiṭʿah), or a tract of cultivated land not associated with a village (mazraʿah). Tax-liable commodities (summer crops, winter crops, livestock, processed agricultural goods and animal by-products such as honey, endowments) are listed along with their estimated revenues, Walker elaborated. Specific references to land tenure and use, along with incidental information, such as how a plot of land was acquired and what its access was to water, are occasionally included. the registers, moreover, are organised according by tax districts, yielding important details on the administrative structure of the region. The registers of 1534, 1538–39, 1551–52 and 1596– 97 are preserved in manuscript form, and from these several segments have been published for Palestine and Jordan. The majority of the publications are in Turkish with Arabic summary and commentary; 11 the most widely cited one, though, is in English. "Unfortunately, these sources have not been used as fully as they could be: The general trend has been to look up an individual site name and determine whether the place was inhabited and its land continued to be cultivated after Ottoman annexation. The registers, however, yield much more important place specific data than this," Walker said. The professor added that the estimated number of households in each location is included and the dhimmīs liable for the jizyah are mentioned in each entry of a qaryah. Although the numbers are not reliable for population statistics, they do reflect the religious composition of villages, a demographic characteristic that is not readily recognisable in the archaeological record. the registers note, though inconsistently, abandoned villages, the location of roads and waterways, and the existence of facilities such as mills. 'In spite of this, their potential for studying environmental and land use has not been realised. Furthermore, because the Ottomans taxed many landed awqāf at a rate of 10 per cent, endowments made during Mamluk rule that were retained as such by the Ottoman state are also named in the registers," Walker underlined. The professor added that in many cases these are the only references we have to these local endowments of grain fields, orchards, and gardens, as they have not been thus far identified in Mamluk-era waqfīyāt or chronicles. They attest to the continued economic viability of agricultural land in the region and provide invaluable data on cropping patterns during the transition from Mamluk to Ottoman rule; the value of this data has been largely overlooked, Walker underlined.
