We are a professional Living History team who will bring alive the life of the ordinary Tudor in the home, field, town and Manor House to your school. We dress as the Tudors in authentically designed clothes of the period. Our large range of artifacts will show how all classes of society work and play. In our workshops children will be able to use some of these item to gain hands on experience of  life in those times. We make all our own clothes and over the years have collected a wide range of equipment similar to that used in the 16th Century. Some of this has been specially commissioned; other items are made by specialist craftspeople and others turn up in antique shops or even at car boot sales! Schools and voluntary groups are amongst those who will be interested in our presentations.

Here we compare the requirements of the National Curriculum with the material we use

The text from Key Stage 1 & 2 is in bold italic type. What our presentations do to cover it is displayed below it in normal type.

In key stage 1, history is about the lives and lifestyles of famous people and events in the more distant past, including those from British history.

Children:

learn about familiar and famous people and about events from the recent and more distant past in Britain and elsewhere;

Rulers,
We talk of events that we have heard of or "personally " experienced. We make mention each Tudor monarch in relation to their achievements - politically, religiously, socially and economically - Henry VII (the battle of Bosworth and William Caxton the printer), Henry VIII (the Barber-Surgeons charter and the Mary Rose), Edward VI (persecution of catholics), Jane (succession of the monarchy), Mary I (the loss of Calais), Elizabeth I ("taxation" of foreign shipping by privateers and exploration).
Saints,
I exhibit my pilgrim badge, from the shrine of St Thomas of Walsingham and of my reliquery of St Bartholomew, one of the 12 diciples of Jesus Christ. We talk of Fox's Book of Martyrs and the religious changes during the reformation.
Artists,
We mention Holbein in reference to the picture of Henry VIII giving the charter to the Company of Barber-Surgeons. The Bruegal painting of Chrildren's games features in one of our workshops. We talk of the playright Marlowe and the theatre but little of Shakespeare.
Engineers,
Building of great ships by Henry VIII, the father of the English Navy, and by Elizabeth I to repel the Armada. Great builders of forts, places and country homes, we talk of Bess of Hardwick building the new Hardwick Hall and Henry VIII's defense work along the cost of England.
Explorers,
We talk of meeting such personalities as the seamen John and Sebastian Cabot, Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh and Martin Frobisher. Richard Hakluyt was a contemporary writer on the exploits of the various Tudor adventurers and privateers as well as journeys to the New Found World he relates visits to the East via Muscovy etc.
Inventors,
Just about the only thing the English are famous for in this period is the Water Closet invented by John Harrington? The greater freedom in printing led to a newspaper in London in late Elizabethan times. Many experts in their field translated works into English, like the bible from Greek and Latin and the medical works of Thomas Paré from French. Thomas Tusser wrote his One Hundred Points of Good Husbandrie (and Huswiferie and Five Hundred ... etc.). Various Military manuals were written.
Pioneers.
Settlements in New England were a disaster in Tudor England. We talk of Thomas Harriot, who was a navigational instructor and wrote of his experiences in the New Found World. He published A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia in 1588, a book in which he recommends the smoking of tobacco which he himself had learnt to do in Virginia. They had slightly more success in the plantations in parts of Ireland which of course has led to the religious divide amongst the communities there.

look for similarities and differences between life today and in the past and use common words associated with the passing of time;

We compare the lives of the children and their parents today with those in Tudor times. We examine what schooling children had in those days and what work an average parent might do. We ask for Smiths, Bakers, Tanners etc. in the class. We examine the measurement of time by differing methods - water clocks, candles, sundials, sandglass, clockwork. We look at the seasons that governed lives of the great majority of the population.

talk and write about what happened and why people acted as they did;

Our commonplace book is devised so that children can talk about their experience of the day and write down their recollections. There are quizes and space to write stories and identify objects.

find out about the past using different sources of information and representations.

Children can examine a number of pictures, try to read books, use a horn book and handle artifacts.

In our material we can cover aspects of the following schemes of work for Key Stage 1 and 2

Unit 1. How are our toys different from those in the past?

We can bring a range of toys for the childen to examine and use

Workshop devoted to this subject: W3  Tudor Games - fun and frolics for all!

Unit 2. What were homes like a long time ago?

We can talk about the life in rich and poor homes.

Demonstration devoted to this subject: D2 The Huswif: A Grandma

Unit 4. Why do we remember Florence Nightingale?

Using our extensive medical knoweledge we can discuss medicine in the Crimean War and the important work of Florence Nightingale.

Talks devoted to this subject: T3 Florence Nightingale and her contribution to medicine

Unit 5. How do we know about the Great Fire of London?

Drawing on primary texts we can describe the horror and excitement brought about by this frightening occuance.

Talks devoted to this subject: T1 The Great Fire of London and those who saw it

Unit 7. Why did Henry VIII marry six times?

We discuss the problem of the Tudor succession.

Talks devoted to this subject: T2 Why did Henry VIII marry six times?

Unit 8. What were the differences between the lives of rich and poor people in Tudor times?

Many of our demonstrations dwell on this subject. By comparing the station of any of  the characters in our demonstrations: we illustrate the differences in society between the rich and poor.

D1 A town tradesman: The Barber-Surgeon - middle class - of the middling sort

D2 The Huswif: A Grandma - poor class - of the lesser sort

D3 A craftsman: The Bookbinder - middle class - of the middling sort

D4 A rich merchant: Goldsmith/bead maker - the rich in wealth - of the greater sort

D5 The Clothier - textiles from sheep to cloth, the first capitalist - the rich in wealth - of the greater sort

D6 The Gentleman and Lord of the Manor - Thomas Cromwell's Man - the reformation - the rich in land- of the greater sort

Unit 19. What were the effects of Tudor exploration?

There was more to exploration that the New Found World, using the stories written down by Richard Hakluyt and a range of artifacts we illustrate the expaning world in Tudor times.

Workshop devoted to this subject:W7  Tudor Expansion: Exploration and Colonisation