Over my 14 years of volunteering at Canterbury Cathedral - always Sundays because that is a difficult day on which to have volunteers - most people have family commitments. My one and only is in Australia so 'I'm Free'. We Sunday volunteers have become quite a small and close knit community of friends.
One of our group last year asked me to give my René Mouchotte talk and then told me the church has no electricity. My Presentation has a 15 minute video and several other short videos. Well, up for a challenge, so I rehashed the talk for an audience without any illustrations. I did have large photos with which I could illustrate the story and spread them out on the pews for the audience to look at.
Another colleague was due to give a presentation next Friday - 18th on his Pilgrimage to Rome. Sadly he will be in hospital so same friend who asked last year requested me to give my Black Prince talk.
Some years ago when the Cathedral was swathed in scaffolding both inside and out and they couldn't afford to drop the price (it costs over £30 million with NO State Aid to run the place annually) we were asked if any of us could give mini talks to enhance visitors' experience. I had briefly told the story of Becket so many hundreds of times whilst standing in the Martyrdom, I volunteered to enlarge it into a 15 minute piece. It appeared to be successful so I added in the Black Prince. However in the Cathedral I have the magnificent tomb of the Prince and copies of his Funerary Achievements hanging over the Tester as my props. In St. Rumwold's I've no aids and have to extend the presentation to at least double the length. So have been madly looking up information - and you know what it is like - one thing leads to another and you can get lost in the plethora of info - often conflicting. Have been madly pulling off and printing photos from my own photo library and the internet and am hoping that I will be able to remember all the extra information.
By sheer chance, I'm going to France for 2 days visiting the battlefields of Agincourt and Crécy with a friend who is also a history afficionado. So I'll have to buy some posters and postcards to illustrate my talk next week.
Ah well, it is a challenge and the venue is delightful even if it doesn't have a Loo!
Was there last night when the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral gave a fascinating talk on Richard 111 - his discovery in a car park in Leicester - how they'd traced it to the actual spot - how they'd proved it was him and how with mitocondrial DNA they found 2 existing relatives one in Canada and the other in Australia and their DNA was like a mirror image. He told us how decisions were taken as to the re-burial and the Tomb and it's design. Fascinating.
Two Roof Bosses of Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent (quite a gal by all accounts). First is rather flattering and hard to find in the North side of the Nave. Second is in the Black Prince's Chantry aka The Huguenot Chapel - not nearly so beautiful!
