Medieval Music and Tales of Diana

On the 12th February the Wincanton Museum and History Society arranged an illustrated talk at the Balsam Centre, Wincanton, when Francis Eustace gave a delightful, amusing and informative talk entitled ‘600 years in the Music Business' to a packed audience.

Francis sang and played a selection of instruments showing her skills as 'a blower and a scraper'! Her instruments included a treble and base rebec (a narrow boat shaped 12th century instrument brought to this country by the Crusaders) a shawm, a viola da braccia and a viola da gamba as well as English bagpipes (as opposed to Scottish ones which came later).

The early musicians were a valued addition to a city. They were expected to practice regularly to ensure that their performance was of a high standard and were required to play on festive occasions as well as at public hangings, when sometimes as many as 2000 people would attend. Early musicians were called Waites (or Waytes), possibly after Richard Waite who live in Leeds about 1341 but some historians suggest the name could go back even further.

Our next Illustrated talk will be on Friday 9th April at 7.30pm at the Shed, Balsam Centre, Wincanton when the subject will be:

FLYING WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY BY Grp CAPT DAVID GREENAWAY OBE.

From 1989 to 1991 David Greenway was Deputy Captain of the Queen's Flight and was responsible for planning the flying undertaken by members of the Royal Family.

He also accompanied all members of the family, both in the air and on the ground, and was able to see how they worked at first hand. He spent most of his time with Diana, HRH The Princess of Wales. His talk is an affectionate look at the life he led.

Jeff Kingaby

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