Over the last couple of weeks we have been exploring the idea of different types of journeys. Firstly as a group embarking on our drift we set out to explore the city in a different way. By not being compelled by direction it really allowed us explore different parts of Lincoln and begin to question certain things. For instance, we came across a old abandoned park (which we have decided to include in our performance) under the fly-over. Looking at what use to be bright colours on the slide it promoted us to think of how the park would have originally looked when first built, and more importantly the children who would have used it. This has given us the topic of ‘The Children of Lincoln’ to research into for our performance.

Another form of journey that we have looked at it that of an ‘Imaginary Walker’. After reading the article by Coverley, it inspired me to think of journeys as not only a physical one, but as a mental one as well. If we can recreate this essence of travelling with minimal movement that that opens up a lot of opportunities for our group to explore. An idea of which is exploring time by talking our audience through the past, present and future of Lincoln, and the children growing up within the city in particular. A quote that resonated with me from the text is that it is “better to travel than to arrive”. Especially with the whole of the city being the site we’re looking at by focusing on the journey rather than the final destination its allows the audience to explore, as we did on our drift, a different side to Lincoln and lets the audience to notice things they have never seen before.

Anna Starbuck

Works Cited: Coverley, M. The Art of Wandering: the writer as walker. Harpenden: Oldcastle Books

We hope that you are feeling confident about your sound recordings and the possibilities that are available to you using the Audacity editing software. Consider how you can create mood and tone in your recorded pieces using the amplify tool. Also, discuss how you will use the editing tools, such as noise removal, time shift, envelope and equalise to enhance your work. How could you use the above to make a background track for your performance?

On Wednesday me and the group went to the Lincolnshire achieve to look through books on the Lawn. One of these books that I looked at was the patient records for 1838 till 1895. The interesting parts of the record for me was that of the illnesses that the patients suffered. Some of these such illnesses are that of Mania, Melancholic, Mania Hysteria and Dementia.

Mania: Mania is an abnormally elated mental state, typically characterized by feelings of euphoria, lack of inhibitions, racing thoughts, diminished need for sleep, talkativeness, risk taking, and irritability. In extreme cases, mania can induce hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms. (http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/mania)

Mania Hysteria: I could not yet find out what this was.

Dementia: Dementia is a syndrome (a group of related symptoms) associated with an ongoing decline of the brain and its abilities. This includes problems with: memory loss, thinking speed, mental agility, language, understanding, judgement. People with dementia can become apathetic or uninterested in their usual activities, and have problems controlling their emotions. (http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/dementia-guide/Pages/about-dementia.aspx)

Towards the end of the records I found that the patients being admitted where getting older and being admitted for Dementia where as at the start they where young adults.

Throughout the records the majority of patients where either young adults or older men/women, rearly ever middle aged people. Within the achieve there was a piece of texted that stated how patints should be treated.

“With all the tenderness and indulgence compatible with the steady and effectual government of them and every occupation which my divert the mind, win the at tensions and awaken the affections be cheerfully and readily promoted.”

The hospital also goes through periods of time in which it doesn’t take on any patients from July 10th 1890 to September 2nd 1890. There is something written in the book but I could not read the handwriting.

This week, my group decided to divide our key topics for our performance and each choose one to research. I chose to further my research into Amy Beechey, the mother who lost 5 sons, during the space of just 3 years, to The Great War. During the War it was very unusual to loose this amount of children, and this is why Amy Beechey’s story is so tragic. I can’t even begin to imagine how it felt, but I would like to highlight the bravery of the Beechey Boys in our piece and give the audience an insight of the what it might have been like for them when they had to sacrifice their lives on the front line.

I feel this story should be shared, as it has a huge part to play in the history of Lincoln. My first stop was to visit the house of where the Beechey Boys once lived –  14, Avondale Street, Lincoln. I wanted to stand outside the house that Barnard, Charles, Frank, Harold, Leonard and Christopher would have once called home. It was heart breaking to stand outside of the house they grew up in, on the same street they’d have played on and realise these boys would have once walked out of the front door, to never return home.

Whilst researching, I have came across a book called ‘Brothers In War’ by Michael Walsh, which might be useful to read to really gain a better understanding of our topic, to ensure we can really make an impact on our audience when performing.

I am delighted that Joey Warren, niece of the Beechey boys chose to donate their letters to the Museum of Lincolnshire Life, and feel very privileged to have the chance to be able to view them. An idea my group could look into could be to make our own letters, using the words of the Beechey Boys and let the    audience read them as we take them on our journey. At the same time, we could record the words written in the letters and have them play as an audio, and use this BBC video for inspiration.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/lincolnshire/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9129000/9129086.stm

Hannah Taylor

Before I researched Amy Beechey I did not realise how famous her story was. Her and her husband raised eight sons that went to war, however only three returned. Letters, which are now at the Museum of Lincolnshire life, were discovered in an old suitcase. Mrs Beechey’s famous words when Prince George V and Queen Mary thanked her were “It was no sacrifice, Ma’am, I did not give them willingly.” (BBC, 2014) As a group I think we should go back to the museum to look at the letters from her sons. During the summer there was a site specific performance in Lincoln about Amy Beechey and her family. Researching further into this may be beneficial for the group.

BBC (2014) World War One: Families that lost five sons to conflict. [online] London: BBC. Available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-25497900 [Accessed 9 February 2015].

BBC (2014) BBC Radio Lincolnshire’s local WW1 drama: Leaving Home. [online] London: BBC. Available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/f14fa281-db0b-38f7-b7ca-fd5268c19f36 [Accessed 9 February 2015].

Chloe