Toys Needed

For the Toy Stall

Please bring any unwanted toys to

TODDLER GROUP, Hernhill Village Hall, every Thursday Morning

or give them to Abbie or Miriam

All Proceeds to Village Charities

Image: www.bergencountytoysfortots.com

The Exchange Cafe will not be running this term – we will be back in April and will run along-side after-school tennis lessons for children with a professional tennis coach. Day and Time to be confirmed, please email miriam@machin.f9.co.uk  to register your interest and we will keep you informed.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the Cafe over the last year and we look forward to seeing you after Easter!

Image credit: centre's website

Situated entirely within the confines of the former St Margaret’s Church in the heart of the city, the tour takes visitors through a series of individual rooms, each staging a tableau depicting either a stage in the pilgrimage, or one of five of Chaucer’s famous tales, with life-size mannequins and authentic sound-effects and smells working to bring each story to life. An audio guide (separate ones for adults and children) narrates your way through the stories, and introduces some of the characters and scenes encountered on the way. Effective lighting and automated props whirr and bustle to life as you enter a room, whether a medieval inn complete with comatose patrons, a leafy glade, an entry into the walled city, or a visit to the Crypt and the site of Becket’s martyrdom.

The experience is an immersive one; from the outset, you are plunged into the murky world of the Tabard Inn and its crackling fireplace, where the voice of Harry Bailey greets you and warns you of the perils that lie ahead on the arduous journey to Canterbury. Clever lighting also serves to illuminate different characters and features in rooms as the accompanying tale unfolds. From flickering candles, starlight, illuminated windows and an array of sound effects, you finally emerge from visiting the Crypt into the light of day with some surprise.

A family ticket (two adults and two children) costs twenty-five pounds which, for a visit which lasts well short of an hour, might be more attractively priced at twenty. And here is the main issue with the visit: shepherded through the individual rooms by the audio guide, which cues the automatic opening of doors into the next room, there isn’t time to explore each room and the characters and scenes in each. This is a real shame, as the wealth of detail packed into each room is extraordinary; from the stables packed with pilgrims and animals preparing for the journey to the crypt’s frescoes and paintings, there is a rich profusion of detail which we would have liked more time to explore with the children, the chance to really bring out the features of medieval life on display. But one has to move on when prompted by the audio guide as the doors ahead open, otherwise the narration gets out of sync, and there is scant opportunity to revel in the details in the realisations.

Image credit: centre's website

Apart from this, however, the visit was a terrific success with our children, who came out and immediately wanted to go round again! They enjoyed the animated effects – the emergent behinds of Nicholas and Alison in the Miller’s Tale as they were poked through the window in particular was greeted with great delight. The audio narration is an effective guide, and includes some famous voices taking part; I’m sure I heard Bernard Cribbins… There’s the opportunity for children to dress up in period costume before they go in; parents should be mindful that, when the tour finishes and we are invited to go out ‘into the market-place’ that what is really meant is ‘marketing-place,’ and you are herded straight into the inevitable gift shop…! Be strong.

The attraction’s website can be viewed here.

[Reviewed by Tom O'Bedlam]

Read all the reviews in this column here.

Have a good break!

“For centuries, the idea of intelligent animals struck most people as ridiculous. But not any more – the latest science reveals that animals are a lot smarter than we thought.

From skateboarding dogs to chimp maths geniuses, Liz Bonnin embarks on a worldwide search for the planet’s most intelligent animals, devising some ingenious IQ puzzles and even putting herself to the test to find out.

Liz gets creative with dolphins, shares a eureka moment with orangutans and defends the reputation of the human race when she goes head to head with a chimp genius in a test of maths and memory. There is an octopus escapologist, John Humphrys puts a goldfish through its paces on Mastermind, and Tillman the skateboarding dog wows crowds in Los Angeles.

Prepare to be amazed, entertained and even outwitted by the world’s Super Smart Animals”.

Image: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

Credit: author's website

Read it here.

Venue: Canterbury College

Times: 09.30-03.30 daily

Cost: £7 per person.

http://www.sciencefestival.org.uk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01b9hjs/Analysis_Do_schools_make_a_difference/

Image: https://rctmoodle.org