Daughter's Tudor Tavern.......

Emma Mordue and Melford Hys Companie present
A Night at The Red Rose Tavern

Join us for an immersive evening of music, plays, food and dancing from the alehouses of old. From bawdy songs to morality plays the event promises to bring hearty laughter and full bellies, and the true flavour of 16th Century Ipswiche.

Local early musician Emma Mordue performs at music and dance workshops and events up and down the country, and as part of The Kentwell Players, at the Great Tudor Re-creations at Kentwell Hall. Playing a range of historical instruments, she can often be seen at festivals and events portraying a variety of historical and mythical walkabout characters as well as hosting informal renaissance music evenings at both private parties and public events.

Melford Hys Companie have been performing together for 25 years, portraying  a company of travelling entertainers in the Tudor and Medieval periods. In historically accurate dress, with props, instruments and accessories of the time, they portray life on the road through well developed characters with authentic names, histories and speech. At a Melford Hys Companie event you will be entertained with music, dance and plays from the period. Some plays are funny, some more serious, but whilst there may be a moral to the tale you can be sure the actors will tell it with infectious enthusiasm and a good dose of healthy irreverence.

Both Emma and The Melfords have a common aim – to have fun and pass this on to audiences along with accurate historical insight. Participation is positively encouraged, though not obligatory.

We are pleased to have period caterer Gerry Rhodes providing dishes of the era.

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I'm so very proud of Daughter (= Emma Mordue) who undertook for the first time to organise a whole event in a theatre. It was a great success. Almost non-stop entertainment as they only allowed themselves a 15min interval in just over three hours. Musicianship was brilliant and the Mummers' plays were hilarious.

I'd taken friendKK as she's great for getting into the spirit of this sort of thing and it was just like old times when she would come with me when my very talented musician Daughter gave performances as a child/teen with school or consort or solo.

Both Granddaughters were also there, E as a Tudor came out to dance with Daughter and R as always was in her Red Rose Chain sweatshirt working front of house and waiting tables with the other Youth Theatre volunteers.

Yes I'm very proud indeed ☺
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Like Piccadilly Circus.......

This has been Daughter's main summer event as a Tudor so as usual we are here for any grandchildren that remain in the 21st century.

Daughter went off on Friday with E and O and now O is bigger he's having a go at being a Page to the Gentry.

R is staying with us for the duration (11 days) and as she is working (voluntarily) for Red Rose Chain while they put on Much Ado About Nothing at Jimmy's Farm, Theatre in the Forest we started our substitute parenting by collecting her at 10:15pm as we did every night after, dropping her there for 4:30pm. I say we but actually Hubby did every run apart from Friday night collection. 

She/we had Sunday and Monday off (Hubby was out all Sunday fundraising) then as a last minute thing R tells me she really needs a 1930/40s style costume for the following Sunday as they are holding a street party for the audience before the final performance. She had a look in mind and what she really wanted was a beige knitted tank top and had looked in the charity shops in Ipswich without success so Monday we went to Felixstowe as they have an abundance of charity shops and a lot of elderly residents so if not there then I doubt we'd find one anywhere. Well all we found was a very washed out beige long-sleeved jumper which I restyled for her and paired it with a white shirt and black skirt still in the wardrobe from her mother's teenage concert playing days (see I knew they would be useful one day).

She chose not to wear the belt

Also R had wished she'd brought her devil sticks with for something to do, so on the way back from shopping we called into home but her key wouldn't work, second attempt M let her in but she couldn't find the sticks bag, third attempt after messaging her mum asking if she'd left them in the car and told she hadn't they were found yippee (I drove a lot of miles to get them considering they only live 5 minutes away).

Monday evening we had a phone call from Daughter to say E wasn't feeling very well and will probably benefit from a couple of days rest from camping so Hubby went to get her. While here she ate well and slept well but did very little all day Tuesday, I'd started the day with my weekly physio circuit training session so was pleased they didn't need me to do more than sort meals and make packed food for R to take with.   Wednesday E got motivated to get arty and creative and needed me to hunt out art materials at various times, she also needed Hubby to sort computer/scanner/printer etc. 

Meanwhile I finished knitting a cotton top which unfortunately turned out far too small for me and although knitted all from one cone seems to have a shade change across the front! I was given the cone of cotton so no costs lost so I'll put this into a charity bag and maybe someone will love it. 

Very early Thursday Daughter arrived to grab a shower and collect E to get to college and pick up her exam results (two very good passes) she then took E back to Kentwell with her and had intentionally left O behind as he'd had enough. His Tudor shift was covered in clay and he told us he quite enjoyed being a page but hated having to wait until all the Gentry had eaten before the servants were fed, so he gave that up and spent lots of time in the pottery. 

He took up his usual position on the floor by the door, as there are sockets available there, and gets stuck into his technology (making music this time).

He stopped for a while when an experiment came to mind of "how can I position mirrors up and down the room to reflect images remotely like watching tv round corners". He was thrilled to see we had saved some mirror tiles under a bed for just in case!

This had to be an ongoing experiment and the mirrors had to remain in place for days! 

Thursday we also had a visit from sister-in-law who hasn't been here for years so it was lovely to see her. She came by bus and then train and Hubby picked her up from the station. We all had lunch together and later tea and cake then Hubby had to take R to Jimmy's Farm for theatre of course and O wanted some extra computing stuff from home so by the time he did that he was almost late for taking SIL back to catch her train so a bit of a rushed farewell.

R was telling O about her theatre work and all about this Shakespeare play in the forest and so O said he really really wanted to see it. So I booked us a couple of tickets for Friday night. I've given our night out it's own blog post. 

Friday M opened R's post as requested by R and gave her her exam result via messenger, also a good pass. 

We had arranged for R's friend F (who also volunteers for theatre) to sleep over Saturday night as they have the end of show party for cast and crew till midnight and a last performance Sunday. I've known F and her mum for years as they are friends of Daughter. Twin beds in R's room so no problem. Then Saturday evening R sends a message do I mind if two more girls stay over as well. Of course I said they could and gathered plenty of bedding for them in the lounge to use the four recliners as beds. Hubby had to wait ages for them in the car park and they got back at nearly 1am and I could hear them chatting for ages. 

Unfortunately O had a bad evening not being able to get to sleep so I was up and down, then when I'd seen the girls home I got into bed with O and stayed there till morning, each time I tried to leave he cuddled up so I couldn't. 

All up and breakfasted and then Hubby goes out for the day with his friends which had been arranged ages ago. So I cleared away all the bedding, done two loads of washing, and made packed food times four for them to take to theatre. Because of the forecast really wet weather the forest had been cancelled and moved to their much much smaller Avenue venue so R got a message could her and the girls come at 2pm instead as the whole set needs rebuilding. 

Now of course I've the "fox-chicken-corn" situation with a five seater car, driver plus four girls plus O. It's now raining really heavily, thankfully it's so close that I made two trips. 

So O now had me all to himself and first request was baking

followed by board games at the table. 

Bank holiday Monday and I'm home with Hubby R and O and nowhere to rush to! A much quieter day, O happy to watch tv or sit with his ipad and headphones. R didn't even get out of bed till 3pm. Ending the day with a full roast dinner and thought Daughter and E would be back to share dinner with us before taking the children home. But they were running really late so we gathered all their stuff, and there was lots, and I took them home. 

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And in other news........

Lots has been going on and I've not had much time to blog so here's another condensed catch up.

Our beautiful granddaughters R and E have had another birthday, they are now 14. How did those years fly by so fast?
This is my favourite photo and favourite memory ever

And we tried to recreate it but R ran away hahaha

Out for a lovely lunch together then back for desserts with candles

I was out with my usual Wednesday friends in our usual pub. Normally I would bring friendDJ but he'd had a fall the night before and although unhurt was still feeling wobbly. He text me Friday to say he was in hospital. He'd survived prostate cancer and over a year ago he was told his lung cancer was terminal, they've now discovered a tumour on his brain and can not offer any treatment! So very sad. I've been visiting him in hospital as often as I can. 

Met up with friendAN for lunch. She lives way up in Norfolk so we each drove for an hour to meet half way in Framlingham. We haven't had a proper catch up for about two years so lots and lots to chat about. Time whizzed by and I had to leave as it was the same day I took R to theatre in Woodbridge so lots of driving. 

FriendsL&K suggested we visit Kentwell Hall for their Multiperiod event. It was great weather and so lovely walking around the beautiful estate talking to people from stone age to Victorians to WW1 soldiers, to punk rockers and all eras in between. It was odd Daughter and children not being there as Tudors (they are on holiday) but I was told to introduce myself to "Terry in the 70's" as he knows daughter well when he has a different name and Tudor persona. When I found him he gave me a huge hug and congratulated me on giving birth to Daughter who he said is wonderful but totally mad! Lots of photos here!

There's also been lots of gardening at every chance as the weather had been quite good. Takes a lot to keep on top of it! Unfortunately my clever strawberry planter wasn't so clever as we came home yesterday to find it had fallen over, rescued all the pots and the plants all look ok but I'll have to rethink the stacking. 

On a positive idea I'd planted a few tomato slices (a tomato had gone a bit soft and I couldn't use it quick enough) and today I need to prick out these lovely new plants

High Summer hahaha........

Daughter, E and O are back at Kentwell for the Tudor high summer week so R has moved in with us. Not much like summer today (Monday) though as it's raining and the forecast is wet and stormy for much of the week ahead. Poor Tudors most of which are camping on a muddy field.

Sunday 23rd - Hubby did the long round trip to collect R from her dad and they got home about 8:30pm.

Monday 24th - I had a little help with some housework and while I was sorting out the drying laundry upstairs R made a start at painting some new bead project I'm trying out....dried potato shapes!

Hopefully by the end of the week they'll be painted, varnished and strung. I'm hoping to monitor these for sometime to judge wearability and durability as I've never made beads from potato before.

Tuesday 25th - and another wet and gloomy day. R spent nearly all of it on her laptop and I tried to use our sudden large crop of figs 

Open freezing seemed to work well, just need to test how they thaw. 

Almond cake and fig works really well, big and individual. The big one should have looked like flowers but reminds me more of stargazy pie lol.

The bread was my attempt at a filled couronne (crown) with figs, ginger and honey but that didn't work quite so well, think it needs a much sweeter richer dough. Took the photo from the wrong side too as that side had gone right over the tin and broke off! 

Wednesday 26th - still wet here and I came down this morning to three text on my silent phone from Daughter saying that both O and E are fed up with being soggy Tudors and may want to come home, today is awkward for her and me so they may be here early tomorrow if they haven't had fun today and changed their minds. R still hasn't left her laptop for more than meals. Apart from some housework I've made a few more beads using the neck of this green bottle and they are now drying out on a bamboo cane for about two weeks. 

Thursday 27th - and yes O arrived with Daughter about 8am, she stopped for tea and toast and left behind some wet muddy clothes to wash and then headed back to Kentwell. So we put on a wash while R went back on her laptop and O tried to use Hubby's old laptop for minecraft which really upset it......Hubby then spent hours rebuilding the poor sick laptop. So O decided it was a good time to play in the bath

The rest of the day was pretty much children on screens because when Hubby went to do some shopping he called into their house and M gave him the ipad, unfortunately that caused an O meltdown as he really needed the macbook-pro so Skyped his dad to ask if he could, so back I went with him to collect that and promised to return it later as M needs it for work in the morning. 

Friday 28th - took quite a while for us all to be up and ready to go out but by mid morning we did. A lovely warm and sunny day yaay! First a bit of QD shopping for some plants and Hubby looking for a new bench which they didn't have, then a lovely riverside walk and a bit of playing on the park. 

M finished work 2:30pm so we collected up their stuff from all around the house and took them home at 4pm. Missing them already! 

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Weekend one-to-ones......

Thought we were having a 'just us' weekend as Daughter and children were off to Kentwell Hall to be Tudors from Friday afternoon till next Wednesday, however as with all best plans there are hiccups. Poor R was unwell on Thursday and even after a really good night's sleep she was too wobbly to join in their busy morning on Friday or head to Kentwell and set up camp with the rest, so she came here.

It's always special to have a child on their own for a while and thankfully R was well enough to want to do something. When she arrived she noticed near the front door a grasshopper/cricket so I passed her my camera and she selected macro setting and got a great photograph despite the sun being on the screen so she had no idea what was exactly in front of the lens.

We printed it and put it into her folder then googled (and giggled) and discovered it was a grasshopper, because crickets are nocturnal and have very long antenna. We found out lots about the grasshopper and R wrote some bits onto our fact-finding / things-to-think-about sheet.

She spent some time upstairs with granddad, each on a computer and then she came outside with me to harvest some of our grapes. When I was sitting preparing the grapes for the freezer R had an urge to test out smells by gathering flowers and herbs and crushing them in the pessle and morter and regularly sticking it up my nose for my opinion. Really interesting to discover that cow parsley flowers really sweetened the mix and both sage and mint will overpower quite easily.

I often think some of her wobblyness is due to not eating, drinking or sleeping enough. She loves lots of foods but finds eating any quantity difficult, so because lunch was healthy but small with a lack of carbs we decided to make a honey cake and had that just before taking her home to have dinner with M and D.

As she now felt so much better the plan was to collect her at 8:45am Saturday and take her to her drama group while Hubby stayed to drastically cut back their front garden hedge. We were all done by 11:30am so left M to give Rand D lunch and dinner and afternoon entertainment and Hubby and I went home promising to come back at 5pm to take R to Kentwell.

About 4:30pm Daughter rang to say don't come here as we are coming home because O has been sick twice! Hardest thing for Daughter was E didn't want to come home and was more than happy to sleep in the camper on her own, at least there were friends camping very near that were glad to look out for E overnight.

Sunday and thankfully O is fine. Daughter said they have changed the water at Kentwell to coming out of a bore hole and O drank a little before they found the bottled water saved specially for the children. So Daughter needed to get straight back but O had been sick on his tudor coat which she had washed and was now soaking wet and M can manage D and R and still get some work done but can't do the same with O so we have him for the day and if we can get his coat dry take him to Kentwell after 5:30pm or home if it's still wet. The coat is made of pure wool with a linen lining so really holds the wet but we dare not tumble dry in case it shrinks! So while it hangs off the curtain rail by the sunny open window and then moved to the bathroom radiator once the heating came on, we played.

Seems to have become a bit of a habit here that O wants to wear my makeup, well today he decided to do his own.

Lots of different games were brought out and played with and a game of pool with granddad, balloon playing a bit of tv and making his own marble run. Somehow we managed to fit in breakfast, lunch, cake and dinner.

Took him home at 6pm and hopefully his coat, now taking prime spread out space in the airing cupboard, will be dry so we can return him to 1556 tomorrow evening.

Our monthly coffee morning tomorrow so this evening I'm not getting off the sofa, need to get my energy back :)
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