On Wednesday January 17th, Mrs Harvey, Miss Lowing and Mrs Morgan took a group of students in the minibus to Roche Court Sculpture Park, near Salisbury. This group of Gifted and Talented students in Art & History braved the wind, rain and very cold conditions in order to participate in a very unusual and eventful afternoon.
Together with 3 other invited schools, students watched a display by members of the British Plate Armour Society, listened to a talk about the making and wearing of C16th armour and then had an opportunity to handle pieces of armour and weapons. Some were even tried on, as you may view in the photos, and we declared that the weight of each item would prevent any of us from fighting in armour!  Â
This was followed by an introduction to the artist Laura Ford who talked about how she made her installation currently exhibiting at Roche Court called The Armour Boys. She explained that her own children acted as models so that she could draw around them as they lay on the floor. From these drawings she then created large rag doll type constructions which she threw around the room in order to fall in strange positions , as would a wounded soldier. These formed the basic forms for her sculptures which were then cast in bronze at a foundry.
This led into a discussion on the role of children in Medieval battle. What would we think worth fighting for today and what armour would we choose to protect us?
The finale was a fighting display by the British Plate Armour Society who, with swords brandished, appeared to quickly make sure that their whole party was dead on the grass, except for one!
