The Stonemason's Tale - a Year in Preparation

A 400-strong procession of musicians, dancers, artists and amazing carniv

al structures will make its way at lunchtime (1:00-1:40pm) through High Town, down Broad Street, and into the Cathedral Close, telling the story of Hereford Cathedral and its Close on its way.

Inside the Cathedral at 10:00am and 1:45pm, audiences will experience show-stopping performances including dance, music, and drama, as well as a stunning exhibition of visual artwork.

The Stonemason's Tale...

• is day of historical pageantry and colourful festivity in central Hereford on Wednesday 29th June 2011.
• is also a remarkable cross-curricular project for 11-14 year old (Key Stage 3) secondary school children throughout Herefordshire.
• is the biggest of a variety of community education activities that complement the Heritage Lottery Fund-supported renovation of Hereford Cathedral Close.
• is being run by Hereford Cathedral in partnership with The Music Pool, Herefordshire's community music and arts charity.

Through a series of memorable workshop activities and showcase events, delivered to pupils by specialist artists and tutors, the historical, social and spiritual connections between the Cathedral Close and the people of Hereford have been explored and celebrated throughout the school year. These have ranged from stone carving and film making, through to storytelling and photography, carnival arts, dance, music, drama, history trails, maths projects and so much more. 

The project culminates in a day of festivities on Wednesday 29th June 2011 when audiences will experience show-stopping performances morning and afternoon in the Cathedral, including dance, music, and drama, as well as a stunning exhibition of visual artwork produced as part of the process, with a lunchtime procession full of pageantry, colour and music through High Town, via Broad Street, and back to the Cathedral.

Five historical periods will provide the dramatic events and emblematic images which will bring the cathedral close to life in the pageant:  How ordinary people fared in the mediaeval close, what life was like under siege during the civil war of the 1600s, the dramatic collapse of the Cathedral’s west front in the 18th century, and life in the close both in Victorian times and in living memory. 

Admission

Admission to the performances is free, but is ticketed and is limited. Please call 01432 374212.

To view the procession, please just watch from along the route. 

What went on in Schools, September 2010 to May 2011

Finding new Graphic Design Talent

The Logo Competition  

In the final weeks of the project, we asked pupils to use what they had experienced during the year of workshops to design a logo to be the ‘identity’ of The Stonemason’s Tale.

We were delighted with the response (the call to submit designs went out late in the day and yet 5 schools still took up the challenge) and what a wealth of potential graphic designers Herefordshire revealed.

Our winner was the imaginative design by 13-year-old Leticia Salcines Rueda, of St Richard’s School in Bredenbury.

Fantastic runner-up designs came from Anastasia Sawyer of The Bishop of Hereford’s Bluecoat School; Samantha Price and Ewan Durrell of Fairfield High School in Peterchurch; Isaac Barber, Emma Parry-Jones and Charlotte Evans of Hereford Cathedral School; Grace Rider and Abi Powell of St Mary’s RC High School in Lugwardine; and Josepha Pakesh of St Richard’s School.

Learning Art, Craft & Design Technology

through Film-Making & Stone-Carving Workshops

Led by James Atkinson of JDA Media, and specialist tutor, Angela Thoo.

Hands-on stone-carving experiences with the masons of Hereford Cathedral, kindly donated by Capps & Capps.

There have been stonemasons at Hereford Cathedral since Norman times, building, repairing, restoring, strengthening, and beautifying. Their almost permanent presence has inspired these workshops, and indeed, the title of the project, ‘The Stonemason’s Tale’.

James Atkinson ran a series of film-making workshops with groups from different schools who came to the cathedral, met the stonemasons and tried out stone-carving tools in the stonemasons’ yard, and then put together a short ‘silent movie’ depicting the life of stonemasons at different times in the cathedral’s history.  Each pupil had a role to play in the film-making process and nearly all of them featured in front of the camera, too. A short while later, the film was available on CD to show in school assembly and entertain the rest of the school!

To enjoy the films, switch on your speakers and click here:

St Mary’s RC High School – Mediaeval Stonemasons

The Steiner Academy – Stonemasons at the time of the Civil War

St Richard’s School – Stonemasons in the Eighteenth Century

Hereford Cathedral School – Victorian Stonemasons

The taster of stone-carving at the cathedral was followed up in the schools by a series of classes given by Angela Thoo, under whose guidance the pupils were able to create their own carvings. Some of these will be on display in the cathedral during Stonemason’s Tale pageant day, Wednesday 29^th June 2011.

Neither film-making nor stone-carving are always accessible to schools, and we have been particularly pleased to be able to offer schools and their students something a little different during the course of this project.

Learning Maths and Science through Catapult Workshops

Led by Charlie Lupton of Make Your Own History (www.makeyourownhistory.co.uk )

Catapults kindly made and donated by Oakwrights (www.oakwrights.co.uk) of Hereford.

These workshops were inspired by what

happened at the Cathedral during the conflict of 1135-1154. Matilda, daughter of the King, and also known as Maude, and her cousin, Stephen of Blois, took the country into bleak years of civil war that became known as The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter. Each wanted to rule, and each had a strong following.

In Hereford, Matilda’s side took the cathedral as their stronghold, while Stephen’s men took over the nearby castle – the huge motte and keep of the castle were situated in modern-day Redcliffe Gardens beside the Castle Green. The two sides fired missiles at each other, Matilda’s men actually mounting a catapult on the top of the cathedral tower in order to fire on the castle.

Roman-style catapult under construction in Oakwrights' workshops

 

Renowned oak-frame builders, Oakwrights, kindly offered to design and make a medieval-style 'trebuchet' for the Stonemason’s Tale at their Swainshill workshops, together with a Roman 'onagar' so that pupils could compare the two ways of propelling the missiles (using, respectively, a counter-weight and torsion). Workshop leader Charlie Lupton of Make Your Own History put together a science and maths workshop that was taken up by Whitecross High School, St Richard’s School, the Steiner Academy and St Mary’s RC High School. Here’s what teachers said:

“The children were encouraged to work in a team and were given the minimum level of support, this really tested their organisational skills, something that we don’t often get chance to do in a busy science lesson. By the end of the day the enthusiasm shown by the two teams was fantastic and reflected the content and pace of the day. We will be booking this course again not just as a science-based day but also in a cross-curricular manner involving history and CDT [Craft Design Technology]. Many thanks for an unforgettable day.”

Adam Yearnshire, St Mary’s RC High School, Lugwardine, Herefordshire

“It was a wonderful logical puzzle, a team-building exercise, a science, history and maths project, and even sports competition all rolled into one, and next time we would certainly allocate more time to it so that each aspect could be explored more fully.

“We have just finished a week of statistical analysis, so as the main follow-up to the Siege Weapon workshop comes to an end (although I shall be using their data again for their exams at the end of term!) it seems like a good time to write and say how much we enjoyed the experience and how useful it was on so many levels.”

Hugh Farey, St Richard’s School, Bredenbury, Herefordshire