Town’s pageantry unveiled

Learn about Sherborne’s seminal role in kickstarting British pageantry at the town’s museum this month.

The film Restaging the Past: The Story of Historical Pageants will be screened at Sherborne Museum at 8pm on May 16.

It will be preceded by talks from the filmmakers and followed by a Q&A session with them. There will also be a pop-up exhibition featuring some of the original costumes and ephemera from the original 1905 Sherborne Pageant, now cared for by the museum.

The original pageant came to be when playwright and impresario Louis Napoleon Parker had an idea for locals to perform a live re-enactment of the town’s history. By all accounts the community was inspired, with some 900 actors, musicians, costume makers and organisers taking part, as well as 50 horses. There were also Morris dancers, people on hobby horses and one couple playing Robin Hood and Maid Marian. The performance took place in the ruins of Sherborne Castle with special trains carrying revellers from as far afield as London.

Audiences of around 30,000 people witnessed the performance and, ever the selfpublicist, Parker commissioned a film of a dress rehearsal and had it shown in London to attract major attention. Excerpts from that

Festival of fun and food

Enjoy a five-day festival of summertime fun and open-air cooking demonstrations at Sculpture by the Lakes.

film, along with archive films of subsequent pageants at Sherborne and throughout the South West, appear in Restaging the Past. The museum screening will include talks and Q&A sessions with filmmakers and researchers Trevor Bailey, the director of Windrose Rural Media Trust, Paul Readman, a professor of modern British history at King’s College London and Mark Freeman, a professor of social history and education at UCL. Entry is free, booking essential at eventbrite.co.uk

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From June 28 to July 2, the Tincleton venue will host cooking classes at its ‘fire and food’ outdoor kitchen. Among the experts sharing their techniques will be Marcus Bawdon from the UK BBQ School, Martin Sviba delivering a pizza masterclass, Luke Vandore-Mackay from High Grange, Simon Gudgeon teaching Moroccan cooking and vegan barbecuing with ‘Vegan Magda’. There will also be artisan demonstrations of pot throwing, blacksmithing and printmaking plus stalls selling food, barbecues and accessories. Brace of Butchers will talk about different cuts of meat and how to cook them. For tickets visit sculpturebythelakes.co.uk

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