In the steps
of Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the d’Urbervilles
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| In April 2007 a Lower
Sixth group of 15 English Literature students made a study tour of
Hardy’s Wessex just like Edwardian tourists of 100 years ago.
This was timely in setting the novel in its context a month before
their AS exam. |
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Tess’s Cottage : Marnhull |
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Led by Mr Kemp and “Sylvia,”
a teacher from Coventry, the students visited Hardy’s birthplace
at Lower Bockhampton, Tess’s fictional home village of Marlott
and heard a lecture on “Tess” as a Novel of Character
and Environment at the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester. |
| Alec makes Tess swear on “The Cross-in-Hand” |
The displaced, exhausted Durbeyfield family
beneath the
d’Urberville window, Bere Regis |
| Blessed with good weather,
the group also picnicked on Bulbarrow Down and posed for tableaux
from the novel at “Flintcomb Ash”, “Wellbridge”
and “The Cross-in-Hand” – the settings for critical
moments in our heroine’s history. In true Hardy style [as in
“The Return of the Native”] the group lost its way on
Egdon Heath: before rejoining the correct path ten minutes later |
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The overnight accommodation
at Toller Porcorum was ideal, as the group had the residential block
to themselves, a mole-hilled field for rounders and an excellent party
room for singing old ballads and re-enacting a Hardy style revel. |
Angel carries Tess across the threshold at
the d’Urberville
Mansion, Wool.
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The sleepwalking Angel carries Tess across
a footbridge
to lay her down in the ruined abbey’s stone coffin |
The
sighting of a dead swan in the lush watermeadows of the River Frome
disconcerted everyone in a manner of which Hardy would have approved.
Before the final visit to Stonehenge, Tess’s last resting place prior
to her hanging, the group visited the Turberville tombs at Bere Regis,
posing in the graveyard as the displaced Durbeyfield family in various
stages of exhaustion.
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| Shadowing the
Carnegie Award for Children's Literature |
| A group of students enjoyed reading and discussing the six books
nominated for this year's Carnegie Medal. We attended a fasciating
talk by one of the nominated authors, Meg Rosoff: her book, Just in
Case was the eventual winner. On the day the results were announced
we hosted a Carnegie Event which was attended by students from the
whle of Warwickshire. |
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Author
Visit by Chris Ryan
Chris
Ryan, the ex SAS officer famous for his exploits during the First
Gulf War in Iraq when he travelled over 200 miles through the desert,
the longest ever escape by a member of the SAS, gave a fascinating
talk to a group of students in the library |
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He began by dressing a
year 10 boy in full SAS kit. |
He
told us about his experiences in the regiment. These included the
occasion when Princess Diana was visiting their base and they accidentally
set her hair on fire with a thunder flash, leading the press to
assume that she had decided to change her hairstyle. Remarkably
he had never been shot, but he had experienced great danger, including
going into such an uncontrollable spin when parachuting at 30,000
feet that he blacked out. |
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He
emphasised the importance of working hard in school, as when he
joined the SAS he had to catch up on education he had missed when
he was younger. The students asked some very interesting questions
and many of them bought copies of his Alpha Force and Code Red books
which were signed by the author. |
