A Year in the Life . . . Educating RitaThis is the flip-side of Regia activities, and a surprisingly enjoyable one. As part of the national curriculum, Regia is asked to give a talk on what life was like in the "Settlers and Invaders" module (Kevin, you may wish to comment here!!)[I'll pick up the hint later - must write a specific page on this].
At Oaklands Junior School, our venue was the school hall. I must say that it was odd, turning up at the school and waiting for the rest of the team, in the teacher's staff room. I felt as though I had done something wrong! Eventually, of course the gang turned up and we set out a display of our kit at one side of the hall and waited for the children to arrive.
First, the various ranks were described, while one of us, dressed appropriately stepped forward to give Kevin (who was addressing the children) a visual reference. A certain amount of interplay was made between the person being described and the speaker, to liven things up for the children. In my case, I was the humble peasant; bare-footed and subservient to my Lord, Ketil. Cue lots of cowering and humble looks.
Athelstane, dressed in his gambeson walked up next and finally Bassa, in his chain-mail and helmet, who attempted to frighten the children by attempting mock charges and stabbing himself with an obviously sharp knife [our chainmail is remarkably effective - even against modern knives].
Interspersed with all this, were staged fights between the warriors. It made a hell of a racket, in the hall. I wonder what the other children in their classrooms thought was going on? Also breaking up Kevin's talk, were Marnie and Liz, who spoke about our lifestyle, what we wore, how it was made, and what we ate. A personal favourite of Liz's is going through the entire body of a deer, describing how each organ was used. Watching the childrens' faces as she spoke about sausages being made from the intestines and how the bladder was used to carry water, was most amusing!Rounding off the talk was a question and answer session. This is a hit and miss affair, and generally depends on the children, and whether they talk to us in "character" or as people who have an interest in Anglo-Saxon life. In all, I quite enjoyed the experience. It was fairly rewarding to see the children look "interested" in what was effectively a dramatised history lesson. Why wasn't this sort of thing going on when I were a lad?
Show 2 - St Margaret Clithero RC School. Saturday 12th June
The Donkey Derby.
The only difference between this and the day before's was the outdoor venue (a school's sports field), the presence of the Wic, and a variation in format. Liz and Marnie didn't address the public from the arena, but stayed at the authentic site, speaking to the general public there. There were a few more warriors present, as Animal and Andy turned up. Animal, however, was soon incapacitated - by fracturing a finger - early on in an over enthusiastic fight with Andy. But that's Animal for you.[A hazzard of our hobby- however on a participant comparison basis with Rugby, we have about 1% of the injuries and most are nothing more than bad bruises]
This was the second time our group was asked to do this show, but the previous year, the weather turned foul and the event was a washout. This year, it was much improved, though during our second display the heavens began to open up, brining the display to a speedy conclusion. So yet again we got rather damp.
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