festival 2010 pdf

HEURISTICS “TO

2010

LEAR N

BY

D I S C O V E R Y ”

Proposed festival programme Welcome to a weekend with Hester and Thomas as they explore the vast history of games played in this country over the last 2,000 years such as :

Bandy -

Skittles -

Bowling -

a hockey-like game, with few rules, possibly played in Ancient Greece earliest drawings depict throwing missiles at standing logs - you won’t believe how many variations there are now from the most simple idea of throwing stones to the modern pin table

We will have over 40 different games for you to play all day - this isn’t an area just for children.

It’s for the child within.

In addition, Thomas will be helping you understand some of the great inventions that have changed your world.

Your modern vehicle will show you how far you have travelled today, but the hodometer is described in 85BC. The use of wind and water to produce power is still not fully explored despite 2,000 years of technology.

Until circa 1380AD in this country, every day had 12 hours of daylight, so how did we cope with a changing hour?

All this and more, as we spend the weekend exploring the development of ancient technologies and inventions.

BANDY

BOWLING

SHOVELBOARD

Games for all ages With such a huge number of games played and adapted over the centuries it would be impossible to produce a show which includes everything.

Festival 2010 will offer a selection of games that may be played by children or/and adults.

Whether they be physical as in trials of strength, mock combat and chasing games, or board games requiring mental ability and agility everyone has played games of one sort or another at some time in their life. It is the one area that easily crosses the barriers of language and distance, connecting people of all age groups with our ancestors.

The time and place for the playing of games was dictated by the seasons, the Church and Parliament. Henry VIII tried on more than one occasion to ban a variety of games and in 1526 made an unsuccessful attempt to ban games altogether causing ‘Tables, Dice, Cards and Bowles’ to be ‘taken and burnt’.

The painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder in 1560 is a wonderful historical record of games past and present.

Throughout the weekend in addition to being able to explore and play the games, there will be short presentations about their origins and development.

From the earliest board game, merrills, (possibly 1500BC found carved on a roof tile of the Egyptian temple at Kurna. Still played today but more commonly known as ‘nine mens morris’) to t h e Vi c t o r i a n i n v e n t i o n o f ‘Tiddledywinks’

C ROK INOL E

or games of chance such as ‘Hoca’ - incredibly popular during the Tudor period and team games like ‘bandy’ (with its early depictions on Greek vases) or ‘polo’ which may be a derivation of bandy but played on horses (we will use hobby-horses) and ‘stool ball’ which is becoming popular again today, but one of its earlier variations probably became cricket.

F RO G ( C O I N P I T C H I N G )

Hester and Thomas will be on hand to answer all your questions.

Pieter Breughel the Elder paints CHILDRENS GAMES circa 1560

SKITTL ES & B AG ATEL L E C OMBIN ED

B AGATELL E ( O R I G I N AT E S F RO M B OW L I N G )

HOC A

G A M E S T H RO U G H H I S TO RY

MANY OF THE GAMES WE PLAY TODAY HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED OVER HUNDREDS OR EVEN THOUSANDS OF YEARS. THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO NOT ONLY SEE BUT ACTUALLY PLAY THEM AS YOUR ANCESTORS DID. HOW DID BOWLING, FROM THE MIDDLE AGES, BECOME YOUR MODERN PIN-BALL MACHINE?

I N V EN TION S T HAT C H A NG E D T H E WO R L D

Thomas looks at some inventions that have changed your life TO NAME BUT A FEW 1. HODOMETER 2. WATERMILL 3. WATERCLOCK 4. SPINNING WHEEL 5. ASTROLABE 6. GROMA 7. MECHANICAL CLOCK 8. WINDMILL 9. CAMERA OBSCURA 10. MANGONEL

Craftsmen through time have invested much of their time creating new ways of working. Some devoted their lives to science and invention, much of which we take for granted today. But technology doesn’t have to be complicated in order to be effective.

During this festival of history, Thomas will present just some of the early inventions that we just couldn't have managed without.

clock that also has a built in calendar (incredibly accurate).

Water clocks stay in fashion until the invention of the mechanical clock circa 1280AD. Come and join in as Thomas builds each of these devices for you.

Similarly you can watch the development of the watermill to our hydro-electric schemes, or how the spinning of fibre changes over 11,000 3,500 years before the birth of Christ in years, starting with finger spinning and a region called Sumer, the Sumerians on to 1521AD when the spinning wheel were using shadow sticks to measure reaches a stage that we can still the passage of the sun. By 1500BC we recognise in the modern mill. see the development of the Clepsydra, a You can also use a mediaeval siege simple water clock, and just 250BC a weapon to a attack the castle. man called Ctesibius invents a water

WIND & WATER POWER A WATERMILL THAT DEMONSTRATES SIMPLE GRIST (GRAIN) MILLING BLACKSMITHS FORGE FULLING MILL AND A POST-MILL FROM 1181 AD

MEASURING MEASURE LONG DISTANCES USING A HODOMETER ANGLES AND DIRECTION WITH GROMA DIOPTRA ASTROLABE

TIME SHADOW STICK CLEPSYDRA WATERCLOCK 250 BC WATERCLOCK 809 AD MECHANICAL CLOCK GALILEOS PENDULUM