The daytime activities all had a medieval motif to them, which linked the whole day excellently to the evening’s activities. Early evening was spent rifling through the costume cupboard, washing hair, doing makeup and positioning bald caps to make sure everyone looked the part for our medieval banquet! Brother John’s twin brother (and sworn enemy), Sir Peter, was our host and invited us to adjourn to the banqueting hall. Lords Grant, Hughes and Gaud sat with Ladies Jones, Dando and Ruck on the head table, while their esteemed guests sat before them. Only those at the head table were allowed to give permission for the rest of the party to sit down and eat. When the head table gave permission for something to happen, it was expected of their guests to all shout ‘HURRAH!’, and bang their hands and feet on the table and floor. Of course, our hall of rowdy diners took this very literally and hurrah-ed everything… for the duration of the meal… very loudly…
A three course meal awaited us!
To start: pottage with our bread rolls we’d made earlier in the day, which proved to be lovely!
The main: Roast chicken with all the trimmings!
Dessert: A lovely slice of honey cake (a medieval luxury!).
And we had none of that new-fangled cutlery to help us along! That meant drinking the soup, and getting hands-on with the chicken, spuds and veg.
Our meal finished with entertainment from Ray the royal fool and riddles from each table, all hoping to get in with the Lords and Ladies of the head table! With the banquet over, we adjourned to the chapel for a story from Sir Peter, followed by a showing of the spectacular 1956 classic, ‘The Court Jester’.
Get it?
Got it!
Good!
