The leaflets for the Winter Haecca event arrived today, they followed the same design pattern as the Horkey posters and leaflets with similar colours to keep a sense of continuity. (See below) Distributing them was now a priority with the event on the 14th looming down on us. I therefore booked a time at the big ASDA in North Hykeham to do some leaflet distribution in the lobby. As the Haecca would be a very varied event, incorporating interpretive dance, community artworks, social history and the Town Council’s input of Christmas stalls, songs and plays, I had trouble deciding which opening line to use to get people’s attention. I therefore settled on a rather crude option of deciding which people may like certain things. For families with young children I started with ‘Would you be interested in coming to a Christmas Fair?’, with older residents I chose social history as an opening line, etc. The best response I had was from an old boy from North Hykeham who, when asked ‘are you interested in local history?’, replied ‘I am local history mate’.

Haecca Leaflet- Front

Haecca Leaflet- Back

Later on in the week we received word from artist Jo Freya that she had finished most of the verses for the North Hykeham song she was writing for the event and teaching to children in local schools. It starts with an opening chant with the town’s oldest streets, then breaks into the main body of the song, influenced by the 50s rock and roll style.

North Hykeham Song composed by Jo Freya.

In addition to the lantern making workshops and Jo’s music workshops in local schools, we were also providing two days of history workshops at South Hykeham Community Primary School. I went for both days with project historian Dave Reeves. We used some similar topics as in the workshops Dave did in Welbourn Primary school, such as the old occupations of the area, their parents’ occupations and their own ‘marks’ incorporating the jobs they wanted to have. In addition, as we had the maps I had sourced from the town council, we described how the occupations in North Hykeham had changed over the years. At the end of each workshop we showed the children the maps and invited them to find the old windmills, the foundry, the old gravel pits and, yes, their own homes. Dave and I had a great time teaching the children and involving them in such ways as to get them excited about their local history.

Below are some of the occupational ‘marks’ the children created.

Children working on occupational ‘marks’.