Our drift led us to the Museum of life, a place which holds a great deal of historical information about the city of Lincoln. When walking around the Museum we came across some very inspiring images and objects, and a lot of which related to Women during the period of the First World War. Being the only ‘all girl group’ within the class, it could be a good idea to focus on the awareness of how Women were treated during this time and what effect the idea of ‘change’ meant for these women, touching on subjects like the suffragette movement. We visited a small room in the Museum which was set out like a classroom. I felt the room had a very eerie and intense feeling about it and I tried to let myself imagine what it might have been like for a child back then. Placed on the desk was a sheet of paper which read ‘Rules for Women Teachers.’ This is something as a group we all thought could be a good focal point for our piece, and if possible, this room could even be where we take our audience. It would be useful if we could go back to the Museum and possibly interview one of the members of staff, asking if they have any information regarding women that lived in Lincoln during the War period, to help further our research.

Hannah Taylor

These images of a Victorian class room layout, immensely strict rules for women teachers, information about women at war and heartfelt letters from the Beechey brothers, are what we found the most interesting and inspiring, sparking ideas for our site-specific performance. We found that the rules for women teachers including “you will not marry during the term of your contract” and “you must be home between 8pm and 6am unless attending a school function” were extremely restricting but I am intrigued to find out more as to why the rules were so firm. However, it would also be useful to learn more about the rules that Victorian children had to follow during school and what the schedule of an average school day would have included. Furthermore, learning more about the roles of women during the war would be interesting as their previous expected role was to be a housewife and take care of the children but when war was declared, the jobs of women were extremely contrasting as some had to work in factories making bombs, become mechanics or engineers. A story I found heart-breaking is the story of the Beechey brothers, a Lincolnshire family involving a mother who had eight sons that fought during World War I with only three of the brothers returning. My group and I found these topics inspiring and agreed that a war or Victorian related performance could be a creative and excellent idea, especially if the audience members aren’t exactly interested in theatre but are interested in historical events.

Amy Clarke

Here are some interesting images that were taken during our drift through a part of Lincoln. Some of the images are of locations and remarkable buildings around Lincoln and some are gripping images of rooms during the Victorian times and letters, situations, and fascinating information, from World War I and II. All of which are captivating.

Amy Clarke