Medieval Midsummer Merriment + Barrington Court & Birchfield Junior!

And so, it came to pass, that His Majesty Henry VIII - Good King Hal, did travel down to Abbotsbury in the county of Dorsetshire and did take part in their annual Medieval Midsummer Merriment on Saturday June 13th. Despite some dodgy weather and a little amateurish organisational moments which reminded you it was a small village event, it was a total triumph. I entertained the crowds in the main tithe barn with a presentation about Henry and his six wives, we also had some local musicians who scraped away during the main meal. Then there was the Dorchester Historical Dance group - eight middle aged ladies in dramatic and unisex Tudor and Elizabethan clothes, plus one tanned younger man who seemed very at home in tights and was very light on his feet. They did a series of dances that were perfectly adequate, but their sound system sounded like it was from the Tudor era as well. Muffled, fuzzy, hissy and at times, deafening! Finally we had "live" music from a band called The Crack who were from Weymouth, and despite the name they were not an Irish folk band but a very good straightforward party band. The food was marvellous - roast long horn beef spit roasted for about 12 hours, plus venison sausages and a fresh crunchy salad. A marvellous time was seemed to be had by all and I finally got away from the mad partying people at about 11.30pm.

Sunday saw me leaving Portesham (I had stayed at my cousin's house the night before) and headed up towards Barrington Court for a walkabout the gardens during their "Jazz on the Lawn" weekend. Now I love most "live" music, but one thing I cannot stand is Trad Jazz (actually I loathe all types of jazz, but trad jazz and modern jazz the most). It was scorchingly hot and I was tired, but I managed many laps of the house until it got to about 3pm by which time I had definitely had enough. I went and saw the lovely Rachel on the cider stall who poured me a "Barrington Shandy" (some Barrington Court cider mixed with Barrington Court apple juice - delicious and not too lethal) and I was soon scoffing a nice sausage in a bap with some fried onions on it. That certainly girded my loins! I also bumped into a lovely couple of ladies who had been at the Abbotsbury show the night before and had come along to see me! One lady was from Mosterton and the other from Oxfordshire. Bless 'em.

Monday had me down for a return visit to Birchfield Junior in Yeovil, but today was a bit different. I did the usual opening talk and the three activities (which we did all together), but straight after that I did the jousting tournament (which the ladies won!). In the afternoon we did a small play called "Henry the VIII - This is Your Life!" in which I play Henry being surprised by Michael Aspel with the famous big red book. A whole load of family and friends came to join us and we had a really good time. I did some more of my Henry routine for the Mum's and Dad's and soon it was time for home.

Tomorrow I am driving to Dover in Kent for two days at the Cruise Terminal for Visit Kent again. See you then!

St John's Junior, Highbridge

A long week of being Henry came to a close this Friday with a return visit to St John's Junior School in Highbridge. Now this area of Somerset has been known in the past to have been slighted by some people. Admittedly, Bridgwater and it's near neighbour Highbridge are not the most aesthetically pleasing of towns you could name. Bridgwater looks like Dagenham with a Wurzel's accent and Highbridge...well, I like to refer to it as the Latin Quarter of Bridgwater.

St John's is a lovely school, very friendly and welcoming and with lovely children. After the previous days show at Wedmore with over 160 children appearing, at St John's we were down to just about 40 which involved less shouting! The morning was good fun and I was delighted to have repeated to me one of my favourite children's answers to my questions. When I asked the group who Henry's second wife was I was informed by a very serious looking young man that she was called "Annie Boyling". Love it.

I nipped out at lunch and bought a sandwich from a local petrol station, and the afternoon seemed to zip past. It ended almost inevitably with ANOTHER victory for the gentlemen in the jousting. They are really making a habit of this!

I stopped off in Crewkerne on the way home to get some shopping. This morning I have awoken to discover I have STILL not been honoured in the Queen's Birthday List. Surely it's only a matter of time? Perhaps I should start a campaign! For services to the British Tights Industry?

Tonight I am down at Abbotsbury appearing at their lovely Medieval Tythe Barn as part of their gloriously titled Midsummer Medieval Merriement! Fun. Monday I am back at Birchfield Junior in Yeovil.

St Michael's, Twerton, plus Medieval Midsummer Merriments!

Thursday. Ill. Very ill. No, not just "man flu" but seriously snotty, hot, achy and not feeling good at all. I took me to my bed and lay there groaning. The phone rang. "Yes" I croaked, in a voice more in keeping with someone having their last rites read. "Mike, where are you?" Oh dear, this could be embarrassing. Had I forgotten a school? No I hadn't, but I had forgotten a meeting I had booked with Tricia, a nice lady down in Abbotsbury for their forthcoming Medieval Midsummer Merriment as it is called. I made abject apologies and then sneezed all over the receiver just to prove to her how ill I really was. She believed me and we re-booked the meeting for this Saturday. I went back to bed and awaited a cure or death, whichever was quicker.

I woke up early on the Friday, delighted to find that I was feeling a lot better - still not brilliant, but the temperature had dropped and I was only mildly snotty. This was a vast improvement and meant I was ready to drive up to Twerton and a return visit to St Michael's School there. I had only recently visited this lovely school back in July, but it was good to be back. Just as before, they were a relatively small group, but what they lacked in size they more than made up for in noise. They were at times deafening, never more so than during the afternoon jousting. I felt really lousy by lunchtime, but plodded on with the show, feeling that I wasn't doing myself or the school justice, but the teachers said they were delighted and the children certainly made it clear that they had enjoyed themselves. The ladies stormed to a famous victory in the jousting and at the end of everything else I sold some souvenir Henry VIIIth coins we had minted with our new coin dye. One little boy bought NINE of them! NINE! I was due to go over and see Ali and Ian in Kingstone in the evening for a curry night, but it was sadly postponed at the last minute, so instead I sat in and had a Chinese takeaway.

This morning I drove down to Abbotsbury for my meeting with Tricia about the Medieval Midsummer Merriment. The meeting went well and their plans look fabulous. In the beautiful shimmering sunlight we walked down to the Tithe Barn where the event will be held and it just looked so beautiful. You looked at the green rolling hills speckled with white patches of distant sheep, the clear azure blue sky, the warm yellow sunshine and the rich warm colours of the old stone buildings and you began to wonder if there really was anywhere else in the world as beautiful as England on a spring day like today. With the nunnery on the hill and the rippled landscape scattered with ancient marks that man has made over the centuries you suddenly felt immersed in history. I can't wait for the show in June!

Next I headed up to Barrington Court for a quick meeting with Matthew Applegate about possibly doing some education shows at the Court beginning next January and February. Should be good!

And now, settle me down and watch Wales v Ireland in the Rugby!

The Abbotsbury Play

This weekend has been a bit of fun. I had been invited by my lovely cousin Ann in Portesham, Dorset, to appear in a small community play taking place at St Nicholas' Church in Abbotsbury. The play had been written by a lovey lady called Tito and consisted of the potted history of Abbotsbury as a musical! I had two major scenes - one opposite my cousin Ann's husband, Jack in which I played Henry (there's type casting for you!) and Jack played the Abbot of Abbotsbury Abbey. I spend the whole scene trying to wangle the keys to the Abbey from him. I do finally manage it, with the words "That'll do nicely, sir!" Then I do some of my usual Henry talk, only this time with some of the children of Abbotsbury portraying my wives and children. It was great fun and seemed to get a fabulous reaction from the audience.

The rest of the show was wonderful village entertainment, very parochial and sweet. Reminded me of the way Laurie Lee described the village entertainments in "Cider With Rosie".

We all came on for a curtain call at the end, and I was lucky enough to get a big cheer and even a standing ovation. I am glad they enjoyed it so much! It has been a really fun weekend working with these lovely people. I really hope they do another show soon!