Recreating the past for live events

A Face to Face audience survey was carried out during the 2 day long history festival, interviewing audiences participating in the various events across the city to gain a balanced view. 82 interviews were carried out. Young people and families were targeted, although feedback was gained from a range of audiences. All feedback will be taken forward to an event management team debrief meeting and will be forwarded to the funders of this event, to improve future events in Gloucester.

70% of those surveyed thought the event was excellent. 30% said it was good (the next category down). No-one said that it was average, poor or very poor, the other options.

2. A note from Gloucester City Council Events and music development officer:

What a professional group of workers. Howard, you are the most diligent perfectionist I have ever worked with, and the difference was huge in the finished product! It was the most amazing weekend, superb quality, and everything went so smoothly. I will gladly tell anyone who wants a reference – but I can tell you, your team did me and the City of Gloucester proud.

Thank you for working so very very hard for us. I hope we will have the pleasure of working with you again.

Events and Music Development Officer
Arts and Festivals Team (Culture, Learning and Leisure)
Arts and Festivals Team
Gloucester City Council

For those who enjoy shooting sitting ducks, Gloucester has offered many targets. Goings-on over gulls, hideous Christmas lights, the vandalising of the Docks - I've had a go at them all.

So it's only fair that credit be given where it is due. A good idea well executed - the Gloucester History Weekend - should also get its share of attention.

Pity about the weather, of course. The bitter blasts that lashed the city must have kept namby-pambies at home. But hardier types were out looking for spectacle and entertainment.

They weren't disappointed.

"Great ain't it? Oi ain't never seen nothin' like this," remarked a chap with a Midlands accent as the parade rolled by.

At the Docks a boatful of Nelson's sailors blazed away with muskets and cannon. Elsewhere knights galloped, Romans marched and smoke billowed as redcoats fired volleys and yelled "God save King George!"

Turn a corner and there was something different to see.

The huge enthusiasm of the re-enactors in the Saxon/Viking battle against the backdrop of the Cathedral was a pleasure to behold. They piled into each other with all the gusto possible short of breaking bones. "Dad, dad" yelled one delighted small boy. "They've killed the Viking king!" What followed was wonderfully politically incorrect. Small spectators were handed wooden swords and invited to defeat the invaders for themselves.

For anyone seeking less warlike attractions, there was plenty on offer. I would like to have seen those but two days weren't enough.

So congratulations all around on what Wallace and Gromit would have called A Grand Day (make that two days) Out. Let's hope they will be repeated - and the next time the commentaries won't be drowned by the sound of whistling Arctic wind and chattering teeth.

DEREK TYSON

Tuffley

What a splendid parade the Gloucester Through The Ages was. The work that all those costumes must have taken, the Home Guard - smashing. King Henry VIII with his wicked wink looked more than capable of keeping his many wives happy!

Thank you to everyone for all your hard work.

Mrs PEGGY ALBERTS

Sherbourne Street

Gloucester

What a weekend! What a shame the weather was so cold and nasty! What a shame the event was not advertised in large letters in the national media!

I agree with everything in this editorial (The Citizen, April 21) but it should have been blazed on the front page in letters at least an inch high.

The whole weekend was so well organised and presented.

There just wasn't time to see everything. We want it back again in the middle of summer with a lot more publicity.

What I saw at the weekend could put York and Chester in the shade.

We have the basis already there, surely someone in the council has the imagination to build on it.

I hope it will be a yearly event at least.

Mrs RUTH GASKIN

Westgate Street

Gloucester

May I say that we had a fantastic and truly memorable time at the Gloucester Through the Ages weekend.I would like to thank everyone involved in this project and all the re-enactors, especially the Romans who must have been very cold, for the part they played in making sure we all had an enjoyable time. Please, please Gloucester could we have more events like this one in the future, I certainly came away wanting more.

Mrs K Greatrix

Gloucester

I know the Festival received outside funding from English Partnership, the National Lottery and Heritage Lottery Fund. This may not be repeated.

But it is imperative this Festival so ideally suited to Gloucester should be sustained and developed. There are many local businesses who have taken much from this city and in my opinion given little. Now is the time for them to dig deeply into their funding budgets.

Finally the greatest praise is due to the Events staff of our council leisure department. In six months we have had the Tall Ships Festival, the Cajun Festival and now Through the Ages Live organised by them. Visitors have nothing but praise for Gloucester. Now let's keep this up.

Terry Haines

Gloucester

And in the interests of balance, the only letter received that criticised the event. Our view is that this letter is less than charitable; is not accurate when it refers to the event as "all about guns and soldiers", the view of re-enactors as "thugs" (they aren't) or re-enactors' reaction to ethnic people who ask to join (usually very positive); and extremely ill-informed historically - particularly in relation to Nelson's navy. But it is pretty impossible to please everyone!

Out of interest, the Historic Maritime Society inform us that there is no record of this mutiny, or of a ship of this name within the Royal Navy, so it may well be a spoof story that Mr Magnus fell for. His letter generated a number of replies (see below!) which would seem to indicate that plenty of people do value the accurate recreation of history.

I Had the bad luck to be in Gloucester on Saturday, April 19, and I was sickened. It was some sort of so-called heritage event and I saw some really terrible stuff. It was basically not believable, just so backward and reactionary. Haven't we made any progress in thousands of years? It was all about guns and soldiers. The noise coming from the docks was dreadful. Where were the minorities? It was just white supremacists, which is what those guys in the red coats were, their job just to walk all over people with brown skin.

Lots of the so-called "entertainment" was people in armour doing fake fights. What a terrible example to set vulnerable kids? Those people were just thugs. You might as well get hoodies to give one another a good kicking. But what really got me was that ethnic minorities and other vulnerable communities were totally excluded. I would like to have seen an ethnic person go up to that lot and say: "I want to join in and wear a stupid costume like you". That would of made those so-called 'Warriors' look totally embarrassed and they would have said 'No' anyway. If they must do this stuff in Gloucester, let's be positive and pro-life! There are loads of things they could do instead of so-called "glory" and battles.

There was a great story in Gay Pride magazine. It was about Nelson's sailors who were gay. On one ship they were called "The Mollies" because the ship was the Molly Rudge. They were sick of abuse and discrimination so when they captured a cargo of clothing they all put on women's clothing and refused to fight the French any more. They put their captain in a boat and said their cat was the captain now and sailed off to Yucatan where they started a gay colony called Molliania which sadly was wiped out by native Americans who were victims of racism so couldn't be blamed.
Why not enact that down the docks?

PETER MAGNUS

Hucclecote Road

Gloucester

I read with total disgust of the letter that Mr Magnus had wrote (published in Saturdays edition). He obviously has no idea about what has made Gloucester great, if he had then he would know that what he saw was a very accurate way of celebrating former glories. Why he had to bring race and sexual preference into it I have no idea. We have a very proud past and have had many famous Regiments that made Gloucester and Britain great and any young person watching these events no matter what back ground they come from would of been proud to have been born and brought up in this county. Scott Gloucester

A terrific spoof, what a pity this wasn't April 1st. Particularly liked the last para. Meanwhile, as P Magus will know, everyone had a great time. We need non pc letters as much as non pc events. Richard G, Gloucester

What a sad and short sighted attitude Peter Magnus has. My children thoroughly enjoyed the event and had not placed any racist or homophobic slant on it at all. Perhaps Peter had better set up a re-enactment group to recreate the event he describes and I'm sure he'll be welcome to join in. As an aside there was a coloured soldier in one of the re-enactment groups. What a shame if people like Peter stop events like this that bring history to life for children and make it so much more interesting than books at school. Dave, Forest of Dean.

What a strange outlook on life Peter Magnus has. I guess he must be one of those extreme PC types who wish to re-write history or at least pretend what we now regard as the nasty bits did not happen. Yes a lot of Britain's history is military based so that is what will be reflected, but he should also remember we were the first to abolish slavery and the spent a lot of time and effort enforcing this. As to his comment about black people in the armies and navy of the past I am sure he is aware that one in ten of Nelsons sailors was black. He is one of those people that bleats on about under represented ethnic minorities at a time or place where none exist to be represented. I for one enjoyed the heritage day, but I also realise that the reason it was military based is because thats the thing that gets remembered. I am afraid the ordinary day to day stuff does unfortunately get sidetracked. Well done Gloucester city council, but can we have a bit more publicity next time please. Ian, Cheltenham

One piece of bad luck some in this city will have had recently would have been to read Peter Magnus' letter of the 3rd May. He clearly had neither understanding of the heritage day's intentions, the background to what he saw or indeed the will to gain either. That the foreign policy of the British Empire was misguided is probable, to the modern eye. Mr Magnus evidently saw fit to look no further and see the infamous Glorious Glosters who fought back to back in the red coats that to him says not selflessness and courage but... white supremacy? Please. Schoolboys have been brought up on the stories of warriors and soldiery for centuries. The "fighting" on the day he mentions hardly constituted circling and beating up old grannies- yet his call for them to instead wear hoodies, being as they are in his opinion thugs, is beaten only in its power to baffle by the suggestion that to celebrate the history of Gloucester, we should re-enact a mutinous group of gay sailors with no apparent links to our city setting up a doomed colony in South America. Please grow up. May I congratulate the organisers of the events my congratulations on a job well done. Daniel Cuffe, Gloucester

My children thoroughly enjoyed the weekend learning about our history, especially learning how to fight like a knight and seeing the parade of people in their costumes. Our mayor Harjit Gill was down at the docks and seemed to be enjoying himself too. The atmosphere was great and it drew a lot of people into Gloucester as there was something for everyone. All I can say to Peter is that is a very big chip you have!! Vicky, Gloucester

Peter, this was our history, I suggest you get rid of that chip, and get a life. Marg, Gloucester

Is this guy mad? A labour councillor? I strongly suggest this awful bigoted tripe be removed from your site. Obviously this is the sort of thing you publish in your newspaper? Glad I don't live in Gloucester! A McCormick, Lincolnshire

A shame that Peter Magnus was unable to enjoy himself, unlike it would seem everyone else there. Yes there was a lack of ethnic minorities, can Mr Magnus (who doubtless knows better) please guide me to the sources that can tell me how many of these minority groups were in Gloucester at the different time periods represented? I also take issue at the portrayal of re-enactors as 'White Supremacists', a comment that is not only misguided but libelous as well. I have done re-enactment for 18 years and can assure him that it has nothing to do with white supremacy. An interest in history and a desire to have fun yes, racism no. And his comments about what would happen if a person of an ethnic minority wanted to join are idiotic in the extreme - in re-enactment, ALL (even people like Peter Magnus who obviously don't want others to have fun or learn about history) are welcome. lan Frize, Grangemouth, Scotland

Dear Mr Magnus, I took part in the event that you 'describe' and, as both a member of an ethnic minority and a homosexual, I was troubled by your comments. People of both of these 'communities' have taken part in the military history of this nations past for 2000 years and for you and others like you to suggest that we whitewash the memory of past events (and deprive people the enjoyment that they get from re-enactments in general) just because you have a bad case of middle-class liberal guilt is insulting to their memory and to the memories of those that they fought and died alongside. Hugh Jampton, Gloucester

As organisers of the Gloucester through the ages event on behalf of the City Council, we were delighted to read the comments from readers who enjoyed the show. Of course, it is never possible to please everyone, and Mr Magnus is entitled to his views, but just for the sake of balance we would like to confirm that this event encompassed many different themes and displays, only some of which were military in nature. However, Gloucester was originally built and often defended by soldiers (along with civilians during the famous siege of 1643) so it would be entirely inappropriate to exclude this theme. There were many non-military highlights too, including a recreation of a medieval pilgrimage to the cathedral, which was really very evocative (but perhaps Mr Magnus missed this). It may also interest readers to know that the Historical Maritime Society, who portrayed Nelson's navy, can find no historical reference to a mutiny by gay sailors, nor a ship called the Molly Rudge serving within the navy at the time. We'd also like to emphasise that neither re-enactment groups nor their displays exclude ethnic or gay members - the criteria for joining is (perhaps not surprisingly) simply a willingness to recreate history as accurately as possible - members' politics and sexual orientation are irrelevant. Howard Giles, Managing Director, EventPlan Limited, Leicestershire.

Recreating the past for live events, TV and film

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the past for live events, TV and film}