From Sailors to Spirits
Laura Wilkinson
4 September 2007
Three great family events this October!
Families are invited to join in a drawing extravaganza on Saturday 13 October as part of The Big Draw – the national drawing event. Inspired by the ceiling and richly decorated Painted Hall, families will have the opportunity to create their own mythical gods, imaginary creatures and regal portraits. By the end of the day families will have helped to create The Longest Draw in the Painted Hall! This workshop is a free, drop-in activity from 11am to 4pm.
On Sunday 21st October the Old Royal Naval College and National Maritime Museum are offering a combined actor performance by John Deman which includes a visit to both attractions and celebrates Black History Month and the 202nd anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. The performance will be led a character actor who is depicted in a painting at the Museum and whose history has been uncovered through detailed research. John Deman was born in the West Indies around 1774 and as a boy joined Nelson’s Navy travelling to England where he served on various ships in Nelson’s fleet. He was wounded before the Battle of Trafalgar and entered the Greenwich Hospital for Seamen (which today is the Old Royal Naval College) as an injured sailor, spending the remainder of his years in Greenwich as a Pensioner. All performances are free and begin at the National Maritime Museum at 12, 2 and 3.30pm, before moving to the Painted Hall.
Finally if parents are looking for something different to do with the family this Halloween the Ghostly Tour and Ghoulish Supper offers a very scary experience! On Wednesday 31 October one of the resident ‘ghouls’ will guide families on a lantern-lit tour to the many haunted areas of the site from the deepest Undercroft to the eerie courtyards. Tales of ghostly encounters are sure to send shivers down your spine. The tour will finish in the Painted Hall where families can enjoy a hot-dog supper. The tour begins at 5pm and is £7.50 per child and £10 for adults.
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Issued 04 September 2007
For further information and images contact Laura Wilkinson, Marketing & Events Manager, Greenwich Foundation. 020 8269 4763 / lwilkinson@greenwichfoundation.org.uk
Notes to Editors
1. Listings information
Saturday 13 October 11.00 – 16.00
The Big Draw – The Longest Draw
Join our giant drawing extravaganza and help create the longest drawing in the Painted Hall! From kings and queens, to mythical gods and creatures the inspiration for your drawings will come from looking up!
Painted Hall.
Free drop-in workshop.
For further information visit www.oldroyalnavalcollege.org
Sunday 21st October, 12.00, 14.00, 15.30
John Deman; special Trafalgar Day performance
Meet John Deman, a black Greenwich Pensioner, and hear about how he became a sailor, leaving his West Indies home to serve with Admiral Nelson in this unique tour with the National Maritime Museum to mark Trafalgar Day 2007.
The tour will begin at the Museum and move to the Painted Hall.
Performances are free and suitable for ages 6+
For further information visit www.oldroyalnavalcollege.org
31 October 17.00
Ghostly Tour and Ghoulish Supper
Are you brave enough? Hear about the hauntings and ghostly encounters at the College with a lantern-lit tour in the dark of night, followed by a hot-dog dinner in the Hall. Meet in the Visitor Centre.
£10 adult, £7.50 child
To book tickets call 020 8269 4799
For further information visit www.oldroyalnavalcollege.org
2. Brief Site History
The Old Royal Naval College began life as Greenwich Hospital, which was established in 1694 by Royal Charter for the relief and support of seamen and their dependants and for the improvement of navigation. Sir Christopher Wren planned the site, described as "one of the most sublime sights English architecture affords", and, during the first half of the eighteenth century, various illustrious architects, such as Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh, completed Wren's grand design.
In June 1705, the first Pensioners arrived and, by 1814, a total of 2,710 lived there. They lived on a diet of bread, beer and boiled meat and smoked their clay pipes or ‘chalks’ in the Chalk Walk, now the Skittle Alley. The Pensioners were given pocket money of 1s a week, which they supplemented by acting as caddies at Blackheath Golf Club and guides for visitors to Greenwich.
For three days in 1806, 5 – 7 January, Admiral Lord Nelson ‘lay-in-state’ in the Painted Hall. The Upper Hall was draped in black and arrayed with symbols of state mourning: banners, armorial escutcheons and sconced candles whilst the Lower Hall windows were draped and barriers erected to channel the expected crowds. Huge crowds were admitted (estimates range from 15,000 to 30,000) in a renewed outpouring of grief since the victory at Trafalgar. On the morning of the 8 January Nelson’s coffin was borne to the River where it was taken in a huge procession up the river to St Paul’s Cathedral for his state funeral.
In 1869 the Hospital was closed, and in 1873 the complex of buildings became the Royal Naval College, where officers from all over the world came to train in the naval sciences. The Navy moved out in 1998 to merge with the RAF and Army at a new Joint Services Staff College in Shrivenham.
With the departure of the Royal Navy from Greenwich, responsibility for the Old Royal Naval College passed to the Greenwich Foundation. The Foundation is a registered charity established to look after, and interpret, the buildings and their grounds for the benefit of the nation.
3. 2007 is the 10th anniversary of both the inscription of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site by UNESCO and the setting up of the Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College following the departure of the Royal Navy in 1997.
