Creative History

Characters

Enliven your lessons and entertain your pupils by receiving a costumed visitor from the past. Watch the effect as history walks in to your school and "hotseats" the audience's questions. Be prepared for a vocal journey that can take you from games to wigs, back to eating and then jumps to toilets! Click here to find out what children thought about the visitor days.

The visit starts when a relieved character has a break from travelling. Some of the bundles they carry are unwrapped to reveal interesting artefacts. A gossip at heart the character is pleased to tell stories about their life and times, choosing subjects that the audience appears curious about. Where possible, children are involved in dressing-up and role-play. No visit is ever the same!

The Characters

Ancient Egypt

Taia is the wife of a minor Judge living in the Middle Kingdom period. She tells the story of family life during Ancient Egyptian times.

Roman Britain

Cara is a Celtic lady from the north of England living around A.D. 100. She tells the story of the Celtic way of life and how it was influenced by the Roman occupation.

Flavia Severina is a Roman lady from Venta Belgarum (Winchester) who lived around A.D. 150. She tells the life of a high ranking lady living on a Villa.

Viking

Aldis is the daughter of a Viking trader who lived around A.D. 900. She tells the story of town life in Dane’s land, the Viking half of the country.

Tudor

Isabella Beauford is a merchant's daughter living the 1550s. She tells the story of town life in Tudor times.

Stuart

Jane the Baker (1660s) worked in a chocolate house before becoming homeless after the Fire of London.

Victorian

The Mansford cousins offer two different perspectives on Victorian life.

Cecilia Mansford (1870s) - friend of Florence Nightingale. She tells the tale of a comfortable Victorian home.

Victoria Mansford (1870s), cousin of Cecilia. Her fortune has changed and she is now working as a governess. She tells the story of Victorian nursery-based childhood and the occasional trip to the seaside.

Edwardian

Mary Davis was a second class passenger on the RMS Titanic. A survivor of Lifeboat 13, she tells the story of that fateful night in 1912 that RMS Titanic was hit by an iceberg and what followed afterwards.

1950s

Betty is moving to a prefab in North Baddesley. She is excited to be leaving the house she and her family share with her parents-in-law and Mrs Eddings. Rationing still exists and the war, though over, still impacts everyday life.

All of our characters are fictitious (with the exception of Mary Davis), but based upon historical evidence and archeology. If you have any requirements for a different character please send us an email and we will try and help.

How the Day Works

The character will visit for a half or whole school day (with breaks). Presentations can be as short as 30 minutes or for as long as your children will sit (up to 2 hours). Several presentations can be given over the day. Any extra time could be used for other activities such as questioning the historian, observational drawing by children, discussing classroom follow-up work with teachers. Your choice!

Artefact Handling

Artefact handling by the children is a key feature of a character's visit. Between 40 and 60 items are brought on a visit. This enables the children to work individually, in pairs, or in groups as appropriate to their learning style. Supported by the visitor they analyse a range of aretefacts to investigate past ways of life. The children are encouraged to develop their questioning skills by becoming historical detectives in their own right.

Workshops

Workshops are another way of enabling children to look at life in the past. They complement aretefact handling to produce a more rounded view of past life. The character (or her historian alter-ego) can run workshops with the children in conjunction with the teachers. Additional information on the workshops available with each character is presented on the character's page.

Travelling Shop

The museum shop experience can come to you. Options include:

A shop that covers all of the primary history periods.
A stall that is tailored to the character's period.
The "step back in time shopping experience". This option involves "swapping" modern money for reproduction period money and purchasing from a range of items typically available in those times.

Booking and Costs

Click here for details of how to book a Character and what it costs.

[ Home ] [ Booking & Costs ] [ Evaluations ] [ Taia ] [ Flavia Severina ] [ Cara ] [ Aldis ] [ Isabella Beauford ] [ Jane the Baker ] [ Cecilia Mansford ] [ Victoria Mansford ] [ Mary Davis ] [ Betty ]