Since we heard the good news in August 2005 that we had been granted an LHI and Nationwide Building Society award there has been none stop activity, panic at the prospect of the work to be done and the responsibility of achieving our goals.
‘We’ are the Newark 1646 committee. Set up specifically to organise and ensure the project’s success. There is a major re-enactment of the ‘Surrender of Newark’ during the early May Bank Holiday (April 30th & May 1st 2006) with a discrete day for local Schools and youth groups to acquire a taste of 17th Century life.
As young people are our prime target group at the beginning of the spring term 2006 Schools will receive letters of invitation to our ‘Education Day’. We anticipate demand to attend will be in excess of the resources we will be able to muster; we plan on catering for approximately 300-400 students. We have of course prioritised the Schools in the district and invited as a priority Schools within the Town itself.
So far we have engaged with the following organisations:
- Newark & Sherwood District Council
- EventPlan
- Newark Town Council
- Nottinghamshire Youth Service
- Newark Young Archaeologist Club
- Nottinghamshire Library service
- Newark Millgate Museum
- Newark Business Club
- Friends of Newark Castle
- Beacon Hill Residents Association
- The English Civil War Society
- The Newark Advertiser
- Radio Nottinghamshire
- Community Action for Wildlife
- Newark & Sherwood College
As a group we meet every month. Parts of the committee are core members, however, we invite persons to join us as and when our topic of discussion dictates. The common factor amongst us all is the inherent belief that the events during 1646 in Newark should be celebrated, commemorated and that the local community should be more aware of the rich historical town they live in.
We have contracted with ‘EventPlan’, a nationally recognised company that has considerable experience in the management of re-enactment events. With a project of this size the committee decided that with ‘EventPlan’, quality of the delivery of the main event would be ensured.
To the best of our abilities, materials are being sourced locally so that monies can be ploughed back into the community as far as possible, for example our willow, to construct siege works, is being harvested from a local ‘Willow Holt’ which is part of the ‘Community Action for Wildlife’ charity.
Local and national media interest has been astounding with local radio and newspapers taking a great interest. To date we have had several articles appear in the local ‘Newark Advertiser’ and they plan to do a series running up to the main event in the spring of 2006.
While trying to meet all the requests from our partner agencies we have realised that the project is expanding beyond our original expectations. Almost weekly there are e-mails arriving from groups and individuals offering help and some asking to be involved in the celebrations.
Currently our energies are being focussed on the following areas:
- Building the siege works
- Hiring a DVD photographer
- Informing local residents adjacent to the main re-enactment site
- Maintaining media links and interest
- Writing scripts and event timetables
- Event insurance
The more we accomplish the more we realise that there is still so much to do, the challenge is enormous but we will persevere.
