Battlefield Guided Walks
The wonderful thing about the Society’s guided walks is that, although the story of the Battle and the ground over which it was fought aren’t going to change (Or are they? Hold that thought…), the audience is going to be different every time. Strictly speaking, there are four different types of walks: our regular monthly ones (Thursday evenings in the summer, Sunday mornings in the winter), our big anniversary walk in May, the quick ‘trips round the bay’ during the Medieval Festival, and special one-off events by request from specific groups. Sometimes the latter will give you an idea of who the audience might be but, more often, any of our guides could find themselves with a group of mixed ages, experience and background knowledge of the Battle and medieval history. Fortunately, and if we make them welcome, we’re quickly able to get a feel for the group, although while some of the medieval experts will quickly make themselves known, others will keep their knowledge to themselves until they’ve got the measure of us. It helps that none of us make any claim to be deep medieval history specialists (even Steve, who probably knows as much about the Battle as anyone), and we emphasize that our aim is to give them enough background to understand why the Battle happened, and a good feel for where it happened – which comes as a relief to those worrying that we’ll firehose them with a degree-level exposition on Wars of the Roses personality and politics.
The other thing we have to judge early on is how quickly the group will move around the tour. Hopefully we’ll have been alerted to any specific disabilities and will have been able to plan accordingly, but it’s not unusual to find that there are particular needs to take into account, ranging from those impacting on people’s mobility to issues such as impaired hearing. Whilst that keeps us on our toes, it’s also a very rewarding challenge to ensure that everyone gets the best experience we can offer them. More generally, one has to set the pace to be within the ability of the slower members of the group, whilst keeping things moving at a reasonable rhythm to get round the battlefield and maintain interest for all – probably one of the most difficult parts of the job.
In terms of content, we all try to work to a common core narrative (sorry, that sounds horribly corporate – basically, we try not to spout different versions of the Battle), but we do inevitably give it our own personal slant reflecting our particular interests. Our sense is that visitors enjoy that – knowing that they’re not just getting a boilerplate set script, and that they could (and do) come back more than once and get a different experience but with a consistent story beneath it. We’re also all very clear from the start that we make no claim to be the ultimate authorities on what happened where – because, without a time-travelling helicopter, no one could be. People like that, preferring it to be confronted by a self-professed ‘expert’ who declares that their particular version of history is without doubt the definitive one and that all others must therefore be wrong. Visitors also enjoy the idea of piecing together the sources, applying the evidence to the ground, and coming up with a ‘most likely’ version which, we think, also gives us credibility as a Society and, ironically, also strengthens their trust in the story we tell them, having explained to them that we might be completely wrong! That said, it does help that the site of the Battle at Tewkesbury is likely to vary by hundreds of yards, rather than miles.
Our route is fairly standard, but we do have a couple of extensions that we can throw in for groups who either have a bit more time to spare or who keep up a swift pace. Whichever route we take, though, the important thing is to keep the narrative moving along, weaving in the expertise of knowledgeable visitors, whilst remembering to pitch the story at a level that all can understand, including any younger participants. Most visitors will be very tolerant if we show we want everyone to enjoy the outing, but many would be put off if we went to the other end of the scale and concentrated on showing off to fellow devotees of the period to the exclusion of others. At the back of my mind, I’ve always got the late military historian and battlefield guide, Richard Holmes, who perfected the art of bringing battles to life (complete with much waving of arms); then, of course, there’s our late President, Robert Hardy – a master of battlefield storytelling, but at a level few could aspire to.
Lots to think about as we make our way round: Have we still got everyone? Does anyone need to peel off early, in which case can they find their way back? Is anyone struggling physically but afraid to speak up? What’s the weather doing? And, for winter walks, have we got enough light left to get home safely, even if it does allow us a lovely sunset view over the Gastons? It’s important not to get distracted by the most engaged and chatty visitors, and so neglect those who might be trailing, or the result could be those who leave with a perception of us as a cliquey bunch only interested in talking to other historians.
Hopefully, all ends with the complete group returning full of new knowledge, having enjoyed a good walk in our lovely countryside and, for those who are local, having discovered a few places they never knew existed. Just time to encourage them to take advantage of our modern, free membership offer but also to invite them to contribute something to our work which, we’re pleased to say, many do!
We’re always keen to expand our cohort of battlefield guides. Speaking notes are provided, and the training is very much ‘on the job’, involving shadowing walks with other guides until the new team member is confident to strike out on their own, with backup/mentoring until they’re completely comfortable with what they’re doing. If you’d like to give it a try, why not get in touch?
