Monday 2 December 2013


New attempt to post John's story from our visit to the Workhouse....


John told us a story showing how families ended up at the Workhouse...



...we thought about how closely people's lives were linked to nature in the past. 

Friday 8 November 2013

More about the Workhouse


We've collected together some of our pictures...

People got put in the Workhouse if they were poor.  There were no benefits then. 


Everything about living at the Workhouse was hard....


The beds were hard...

You had to pump hard to get water..




You had to work hard...men broke stones, dug holes and made rope in the winter.  Women did cleaning, polishing and so on.


They still grow vegetables like they did in Victorian times. 
 




Ricky gives his thoughts about going to the Workhouse

 "This visit prompted thought around man and financial issues as well as nature.  (The Workhouse) was an alternative to benefits!  Kinder than slavery but still very strict.  If you don’t co-operate there was no meat for meals.  Male and female were not interacting with each other.  As long as you co-operated then it was fine.  People would have been used to it being stricter then.  You had to work.  Couldn’t get money for nothing.  Found it very interesting. 

 

I was aware of Workhouse before but hadn’t been in.  There were two separate courtyards for men and women.  One or two corners where the Master couldn’t see.  They made their own version of a sundial.

John’s story brought it to life for me.  Makes you think of the reason they started doing these benefits.   

In the schoolroom we found that the left-hand was considered the “devil’s hand.” 

People had to do repetitive and time-consuming jobs.  They broke stones.  They made rope.  They dug holes and they filled them in again.  You got callouses on your fingers.

It was a good day out."



Thursday 7 November 2013

Life at the Workhouse....

On 23rd August the group visited Southwell Workhouse.  This wasn't in our original plans but we wanted to find out more about this important local building which is the best preserved workhouse in the country. In Victorian times people were put in the Workhouse if they were poor and couldn't find work.  They were given lots of work to do because it was thought that they were lazy.


Workhouse staff and volunteers bought the past to life for us through costumes and stories.  It helped us understand why people had to come here and to imagine what life was like for them.  It made us think about how important nature was to people then, because if they couldn't work on the land during Winter then the Workhouse might be the next stop.

You can find out more about the Workhouse at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/workhouse-southwell


Wednesday 21 August 2013

Here we go round the Mulberry bush

Last Friday we had a surprise visitor to Southwell Pod...


Ethel told us about the important roles that Southwell's mills had played in the past
Ethel told us that she was a worker at the Maythorne silk mill.  She told us the story of her life - it sounded very hard work!  She told us how about the silkworms that were used to produce the silk.  The silkworms lived on Mulberry bushes.  Ethel told us that some people say there is a Mulberry bush somewhere around Maythorne.  We also talked about Greet Lily Flour Mill and how interesting it is to find out about the history of places that we pass every day.

We made pictures using silk screens and paint.  We thought about the stories we had heard during Collecting Stories.  We each chose to show something different with our silk screens...


Acorns in progress

Bramley Apple in progress




Daisies in progress



Oak Leaf up close


Finished artworks




Robin Hood Festival

We've really enjoyed finding out more about Robin Hood and thinking about the connections with the Green Man.  On 9th August we went to the Robin Hood Festival at Sherwood Forest.  Andy Gaunt from Mercian Archaeological Services CIC met us there.  Andy works on the Archaeology and History of Medieval Sherwood Forest project.   He told us some great stories and we felt very lucky to get his expert view.  We'll tell you more about what we found out later.  
You can find out more about Sherwood Forest and Andy's project at

www.sherwoodforesthistory.com


Here are some pictures of our day

Andy tells the group some stories

We met some interesting Forest Folk!



Monday 19 August 2013

Yum yum - Bramley Apple scones

As everyone knows, the Bramley apple comes from Southwell...so of course we've found out lots about the Bramley Apple during the project.  But some of us had never actually eaten the famous cooking apple.  So for our 2nd August session we thought we would get baking.  Everyone researched a recipe during the week before and brought their own Bramley apples to the session.  We decided to make Bramley Apple Scones. 

Here is our recipe:


Ingredients


2 ¾ cups of flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

8 tablespoons cold butter

¾ cup chopped fresh apple – Bramleys are best!

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup apple sauce

Method 


Heat oven to 220 degrees centigrade (Gas Mark 7, 425 degrees Farenheit)

Whisk flour with sugar, salt, baking powder. Work in the butter until unevenly crumbly.

Stir in chopped apple.

In a separate bowl whisk eggs, vanilla & apple sauce

Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients until moist and holds together

Line a baking sheet with parchment without greasing it.  Sprinkle with flour.

Scrape dough onto parchment and divide in half.

Pat each round into circles (about 1-1.5 cm thick)

Slice each circle into 6

Separate 5cm apart

Bake for 18-20 mins until golden brown

Remove and cool briefly

Serve warm! 

 

Other recipes:


Wholemeal Apple & Cinnamon Scones: www.foodnetwork.co.uk

Easy Apple Scones: tea4two.blog.co.uk

Bramley and Walnut Scones: www.bramleyapples.co.uk

Apple Crumble Cheesecake: www.bbc.co.uk/food

Friday 16 August 2013

Potwell Dyke Re-visited 2 - the changes we noticed

Some of the things we saw and thought on this visit



 "There was a lot or erosion and silt on the paths and fields. There were different flowers and plants in bloom like Deadly Nightshade, reeves, rosehips, elderflower, buttercups, a blue flower (can't remember name).  We saw ladybugs, froghoppers, cabbage white and brown butterflies, red and black bug.  We saw a lot of rubbish and sludge removed from the river.  Lots of overgrown thistles and nettles." (Anthony)


"Changes since last visit: overgrown nettles and grass - more green overgrowth covering some flowers; more flowers on some plants, eg burdocks, rosehips, buttercups; no cowslips (at least not visible) due to overgrown grass) - only come out in spring; abundance of insects, invertebrates, grasshoppers, frog-hoppers, midges, butterflies, ladybirds/ladybird larvae, bees; mud/silt residue left over from flood covered many plants eg mint.  Some plants were seeding - eg rattles.  Pile of rubbish scooped from the dyke near car park.  Weather was much better this time, and it was good to see seasonal changes and the after effects of the flood." (Ricky)


With Robin's guidance, some of us tried
this wild garlic - an incredible edible!

..but Robin reminded us not all plants
are on the menu - like Deadly Nightshade











"We went for a walk to Potwell Dyke.  We saw a lot of cow pats and we saw some bluebells and some buttercups." (Phillip)


Elderflower berries - not ripe yet!

"The walk was different because there were lots of flowers and plants to see and it seemed steeper than before and I saw some of the damage the floods had done. I thought it seemed longer but the walk was interesting.  Lots of rubbish came out of the Dyke." (Rachel)

The Minster towers are never far away



 
 
 
"Still very nice.  Nice to see the difference in spring to summer.  The flowers that was to the flowers now...nice to be in the fresh air." (Laila)


"I walked to Potwell Dyke with staff and (saw) changes in the fields..." (Laura)
 
"I enjoyed taking photos of different kinds of flowers and plants. It was a good walk explring the countryside in the fresh air.  It was (a) good afternoon, bit hot and sticky but was okay." (Sarah)

After the Flood - Potwell Dyke Grasslands re-visited

It was a fine, sunny day at the end of July when we went for our second walk around Potwell Dyke.  Yet only a few days before Southwell had been in the middle of a tremendous storm that had caused serious flooding.  The Potwell Dyke had flooded in several places and we weren't sure what we would find..... 
Members of the Collecting Stories Group with Mandy, Stuart & Robin from Potwell Dyke Grasslands Action Group

...well there was a lot of sludge around and some of the plants looked bit worse for wear:



But nature has a wonderful way of carrying on regardless...

Busy as a....

This time, we noticed butterflies like this Meadow Brown

 


Once again we are grateful to the Potwell Dyke Grasslands Action Group volunteers for taking the time to show us the wonders of nature on our very own doorstep. 


 

 
 










Thursday 25 July 2013

Performance Intro and Outro

Our performance of Collecting Stories (12th July) was a huge success!

Here is the Introduction which was recorded by Ricky and played on the big screen, to introduce the Heritage Lottery funded project, to our audience.

Click the screens below to play, or for IPad or Iphone click links 

Intro https://vimeo.com/71017077 Outro https://vimeo.com/71017950

And the Outro


Audio Stories

More audio stories from our Story Tree Tent at Southwell Folk Festival, June 2013


Click to play from Soundcloud 

https://soundcloud.com/collecting-stories/storytree

Friday 19 July 2013

Audience Feedback

Some fab audience feedback from our Collecting Stories sharing event/performance last week.






Thursday 18 July 2013

Story Tree

If you visited our Story Tree and told a tale or two, you can find yourself here on this edit of the whole Folk Festival weekend, from inside our Story Tree Tent.

A fabulous edit, cleverly put together by www.iandearmanmedia.com 

Click here to play https://vimeo.com/70553062


Wednesday 10 July 2013

A story by Ione Jones

The fabulously talented young lady - Ione Jones, wrote this wonderful story over night and visited our Story Tree Tent at Southwell Folk Festival, to record it the following day.

https://soundcloud.com/collecting-stories/iones-story

Thursday 27 June 2013

Jasper in the Company of Others

Our Collecting Stories tent was a HUGE success at Southwell Folk Festival. Being situated opposite the beer tent had its advantages with festival goers gaining confidence to record their stories after a tipple or two.

Thanks to the AMAZING tech team at Micro-Video, we recorded almost 80 hours of footage over the three days, which Charles and Heather, expertly (and very kindly) edited down to a mammoth 8 hours of stories, told by 70 members of the public aged between 5 and 75 years young.

We were extremely lucky to gather stories and songs from some of the exceptionally talented musicians performing at the festival. So to wet your appetite we have an exclusive acoustic song, performed to our Story Tree, by Jasper in the Company of Others.

or click here to watch https://vimeo.com/69251256

Keep an eye on our Blog for more songs and stories to follow or come and see some of them for yourselves at our Collecting Stories sharing evening, Friday 12 July, from 6.30pm at The Minster School Theatre, Southwell.

Wednesday 5 June 2013

Story Tree at Southwell Folk Festival

Come and see our Story Tree at Southwell Folk Festival and tell us a tale...or three! Watch our 3 min film here...

If you have an interesting story about where you live; the trees and the breeze and the earth, landscape or raked fields. Talk to our Story Tree and record your folk story for our project funded by the Heritage Lottery.

Or Email podblogcollectingstories@gmail.com with a sentence or three. 

Your story might feature in our event on Friday 12th July, 2013 at The Minster School Studio, Southwell, Nottinghamshire at 7pm.

Monday 3 June 2013

Story Tree

Come and see our Story Tree...

The world famous Folk Festival live from sunny Southwell, plays host to our Collecting Stories tent, where we bring the outside in and invite you to tell a tale or two. 
Phil weaves the willow
           


We worked with fantastic local artist Carole Beavis to create our Story Tree out of willow and wood (pictured above with Richard)




Our Story Tree will be sat proudly in our Collecting Stories tent at Southwell Folk Festival on Friday 7 and Sat 8, June 





If a tree grows for 300 years, lives for 300 years, then dies for 300 years; What in that time could a tree see? If it had ears what would it hear?




Our Story Tree is ready to listen and record your stories of Southwell, tales from the Trent or natterings of Nottinghamshire. We want your folklorical knowledge of local heritage, stories rooted in the trees and leaves of Newark and Sherwood. 

Be it fairy-tale, fact, fable or fiction, just relax in the arm-chair of our outdoor living room and spin us a yarn or two and we'll digitally record your local story, which may feature in our celebration event at The Minster School studio, Friday 12th July, 7pm. 

If you would like to email us a story and arrange an appointment for us to record it, please email a few sentences to podblogcollectingstories@gmail.com

Saturday 1 June 2013

Rhythm of Life



Musician and artist Biant brought twelve Djembe drums to Collecting Stories and taught us all to tune in to our natural life rhythms.


As we tapped our hands on the drums the smiles grew bigger and the sound grew louder and taps turned in to beats and rhythms.

Biant told us all about his heritage of India and how his family came to live in Nottingham. He spoke about home and traditions and the stories his family would tell.


Did you know that the very British story of the Green Man is found all over the world with Green Men in Egypt and India?


We wonder if our stories might be heard and even told in other countries.


Biant’s story inspired us to tell our own stories of how we came to live and work in Southwell in Newark and across Nottinghamshire.

A chance to share our own intriguing journey and give an audience an insight in to who we are.

 
 









Thursday 16 May 2013

Potwell Dyke Tour


We had a FANTASTIC tour of Potwell Dyke on a rather windy but sometimes quite sunny day of May.

Robin and Mandy were our fabulous tour guides. Here's Mandy introducing us to the day...

We learn't about all the different (in some cases rare) flowers, plants and even poisonous weeds. 

Robin introduced us to many varieties of birds tweeting from the trees (none of them were face booking though :)

We learn't about the different names for flowers and how they came about and we held a plant which had a square stem and a green shoot that came in several removable sections. It was fascinating to uncover what we don't notice is right underneath our feet.

Do you know how a cow slip got its name? The lovely yellow and on occasion red flowers grow where cows graze and we all know what cows produce a lot of...and pats are quite slippery - hence the name 'cow slip'.

Our trip inspired Creative Producer Tracy to forage for and cook some really tasty nettle soup.


Extremely Healthy!

Exceptionally Tasty!