Gloucester through the ages - Live!
Sunday 19 and Sunday 20 April 2008, 11am to 4.30pm Free admission
A fantastic festival of Gloucester's history from the Romans to WWII - grand parade - living history, re-enactments and displays - music , song and dance - children's entertainments and games - guided tours - historic boats - around 90 timed displays and activities per day!
A fabulous weekend
festival celebrating the rich heritage of Gloucester, from
the Romans to WWII, set at a number of key locations within the city including
the Cathedral and close, historic docks, Parliament Rooms, Blackfriars, Greyfriars, St.Michael's Tower,
St.Oswald's Priory, City Museum & Art Gallery, and the folk museum. Around
10,000 people
braved bitingly cold and later on Saturday afternoon, wet weather to enjoy the
huge number of displays staged around the city by hundreds of participants
including re-enactors, minstrels, singers, entertainers and others. Visitor
comments were extremely positive and on the Gloucester City Council survey form,
achieved a 70% "excellent" rating, 30% "good" and no adverse ratings at
all.
Funded by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and sponsored by English Partnerships, the event was staged by EventPlan in association with Gloucester City Council. Highlights included a parade of the performing groups through the city centre on Saturday (with St. George on horseback in full armour, and a dragon!), a medieval pilgrimage to the cathedral on Sunday, ongoing living history, military and other displays, children's entertainments, games and activities, WWII searchlights in action and much more.
Click for event survey results and letters about the event from Gloucester City Council and the people of Gloucester. Also click for the timetable of displays and activities or for frequently asked questions.
A free colour programme with full timetable of activities and city map was available from the Tourist Information Centre (01452 396572) and Guildhall (01452 503050), and at key event venues over the festival weekend.
View and if wished, order a huge selection of photos taken by Red Zebra and Mayhem Photographics. Also see This is Gloucestershire for some video highlights, or SoGlos.com for more snaps. Also enjoy a video of HMS' Nelsonian launch.
Performers
Roman:
The Ermine Street
Guard and
Britannia
(the latter sailing their Curragh, a Late Roman hide boat)
Viking: The Viking Longship Experience (with scaled down longship) and Cwmwd Ial (The Vikings)
Norman: Les Miles de Marche
Medieval: The Wars of the Roses Federation; Higgler; Knights Hospitaller Association; Soutares and Clerces; The Ringwoods of History; Drudion and Those Flamin' Squirrels; Hellequinn and Warhorse, with music and song from Misericordia and Darryl Milsom.
Tudor: Farthingale and Perrotts Puppet Players
English Civil War: The Fairfax Battalia and other members of The English Civil War Society
C18th: Lace Wars redcoats, with sailors from the The Senior Service
Nelsonian
era:
The Historical
Maritime Society,
who will be rowing their 23 foot launch
Victorian: The Bluejackets; The 1879 Group; The Festival Players; Hands on History and Gerry Burrows
World War Two: Military vehicles of the 43rd Reconnaissance Regiment (The Gloucester Regiment) Living History Group; Discover History; The Garrison with their anti-aircraft searchlights and Bofors gun, and music & song from The Spitfires
Plus
Storytelling by Maureen James of Telling History and Ruth Moore Williams
Juggling and street entertaining by Zooted
"Have a go" dig with Gloucester County County Council's Archaeology Service at the Cathedral
Guided tours of the city including the historic docks, Blackfriars and Beatrix Potter's Gloucester, by the Gloucester Civic Trust
Have a go
activities and storytelling at the City Museum and Art Gallery and
Gloucester Folk Museum, with museum staff.
Re-enactment groups and other performers interested in taking part in our events are invited to contact us for further details and click the link for our Standard terms and conditions for participation.
Admission
Admission to all venues was free! All venues were within a modest walk of each other and all were suitable for wheelchairs. In addition, the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum (next to our historic docks arena) offered free admission to anyone who was a British National Serviceman.
Visiting Gloucester
You can sail in like the Historical Maritime Society (see photo below!), or if local take the bus or walk. But if driving, Gloucester is close to Junctions 11 and 12 of the M5, on the A38, A40 and A417. Park in the city centre or take the park and ride service (see below for details).
Parking
City parking fees can cost anything up to £6 for 6 hours, jumping to £11 for over 6 hours, depending on the car park, although some car parks are free on Sunday and there are excellent value park and ride services. Click for details of parking or park & ride.
Gloucester docks Tall Ships event 2007
View an extensive range of excellent photos of last October's Tall Ships 07 event at Gloucester docks taken by Red Zebra or click for some within our Gallery.
A brief history of re-enactment
Interested in how and why re-enactment has become so popular in recent years? Click on the link to read a history of re-enactment.
Events 2008
EventPlan will be back in Gloucester on 24-26 October, providing living history and historical entertainments for the City Council's maritime event at the historic docks.
Click here for details of the historical events organised by EventPlan for 2008.
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Updated 27 May 2008