Lancaster’s Historical Pageants – Mike Winstanley

Following his two previous talks expectations were high, and Mike certainly didn’t disappoint in this gloriously illustrated presentation. Lancaster Museum holds a good deal of material, both artwork and photos, of the extensive planning and execution of the two major Lancaster Pageants, one held in 1913, the second between the wars in 1930.

The organisation for the first pageant took place over just a few months, extraordinary considering the range and scope of the event and the number of activities needed to bring it to fruition in August 1913, outdoors in Springfield Park.

There had been a local precedent – Halton Village staged the first village pageant in the country in 1912 and the tradition in major historical cities at home had received national and international interest. For Lancaster, recruitment of the local notables and worthy citizens was paramount and Mike showed slides of many of the original documents seeking Guarantors and Patrons – the King and Queen becoming the latter. Production contributors came from such as the Arts Master at the Storey Institute, with the all-important Book of Words to follow the action written by a local author, Halliwell Sutcliffe, who received one hundred guineas, with no other Public Money spent.

The Ladies Committee made the garments for some seven hundred performers on three afternoons and evenings a week, no small task for the variety of events performed, stretching across the Coming of the Romans; Early Britons; King John (a ubiquitous figure in Pageants for his largesse in granting Royal Charters); John of Gaunt; the Lancashire Witches to Bonnie Prince Charlie – played by the wonderfully named Harold Hastings, the Pageant Master.

The audience also heard from Mike about later evolving pageant styles, together with questions of why the originals had come about and been so popular. The talk, and wonderful illustrations, was greatly appreciated by members, who eagerly look forward to his next visit.