Tamworth Castle ‘Being Human Festival’ workshops announced

Tamworth part of national Being Human Festival New FREE workshops will be delivered on 18 November – prebooking recommended Workshops delivered by Dr Sara Read, poet Dawn Jutton and historical interpreter Jed Jaggard

Tamworth Borough Council are excited to announce a programme of free workshop events for the Being Human festival in November at Tamworth Castle.

The event will take place inside the castle, delivered by the castle team in partnership with Dr Sara Read at Loughborough University and Dawn Jutton, Staffordshire poet laureate.

Being Human is the UK’s national festival of the humanities. A celebration of humanities research through public engagement, led by the School of Advanced Study at the University of London. The festival works in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy.

The castle event called ‘The Reasoning with Ragged Recipes’, will focus on recipes handed down through generations, that sometimes survive in fragments. In the present, how do we make sense of the strange ingredients and lack of instructions? This event will allow visitors to take part in a series of interactive workshops based on early recipes. Participants will preserve vegetables, make poetry from the recipes, photograph still life and learn about early dining etiquette.

The afternoon of unique and inspiring workshops will consist of four 45 – 60 minute talks and interactive demonstrations running from 12pm to 4pm. Funded by the Being Human Festival and associated partners, all activities are FREE but spaces are limited so pre booking is essential..

Workshops will include:

Dr Sara Read: Reasoning with Ragged Recipes

During Dr Sara Read’s workshop participants will try and decipher the weird and wonderfully named ingredients found in early modern recipes and discuss the recipes if we could adapt them to modern standards.

Jed Jaggard: Making Rhyme or Reason of the Rules of Dining

Historical interpreter Jed Jaggard will deliver an interactive demonstration of medieval and early modern banqueting etiquette using items from the castle’s collection in the perfect setting of the Great Hall.

Dawn Jutton, Staffordshire Poet Laureate: Rhyming with Ragged Recipes

‘Recipe’ poems provide an accessible and fun introduction to writing poetry. Dawn will use both the language and foodstuffs of early recipes and the still life set up in the castle antechamber, as prompts to inspire new writing around what it means to be human.

Dawn Jutton, Staffordshire Poet Laureate: Visualising the Reason of Historical Dining

Inspired by early recipes fine art photographer Dawn Jutton will construct a still life using castle antechamber props to talk about composition, lighting, and the symbolism of food in early still-life paintings.

Participants are invited to bring their own cameras, or they can simply use the camera on their phone.

To book please visit: whats on ticket | Award-Winning Heritage in a Stunning Castle (tamworthcastle.co.uk)or call the booking office 01827 709618

The sessions will be available digitally after the event for those who cannot attend on the day. In addition, there will be an ongoing legacy event in which a ‘guerilla poetry’ campaign, led by Dawn Jutton, will take place in various venues across the region

Every year Being Human help projects; from literature and history, languages and philosophy, art history and classics, and more; to deliver enjoyable events for public audiences that emphasise working with local communities to share ideas for mutual benefit.

The festival events aim to celebrate and demonstrate the ways in which the humanities inspire and enrich our everyday lives; help us to understand ourselves, our relationships with others; and the challenges we face in a changing world.

Councillor Andrew Cooper, Portfolio holder for Entertainment and Leisure for Tamworth Borough Council, said: “Offering new and exciting insights to our rich history and having renown university partners and local poets help us to deliver events, is a great honour and will create a very interesting event.

“Book a place now for this new workshop and discover why humanities research is vital to society and directly relevant to the lives and interests of people across the UK.”