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Huntly Castle Tour Guide Launch

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This afternoon the launch of the 4th year of Huntly Castle Tour Guides took place at Huntly Castle. A group of p5’s, who will be going up to P6 next session have been training hard at learning how to deliver a tour to groups of school children and other visitors to Huntly Castle. All the p5s have been learning a song from Elizabethan times, helped by Keith Cockburn.

Parents, members of the local community, Lumsden School  and the Huntly Express were all invited.

The new tour guides walked down to the castle, accompanied by the bagpipes, played by Jack McGowan.

The p5s sang a song connected to Huntly Castle, accompanied by Keith Cockburn. Other entertainment included a dance called the Pavanne, based on dances from the 17th century. The tour guides then delivered their first tour.

After that a group of children served refreshments.

The afternoon went very well  and we wish the new tour guides every success!

Thanks you also to the present P6 tour guides who have done a wonderful job of delivering tours this session!

See more photos here on the tour guide page on the right.

Tour guide launch

Good luck to all the tour guides who will be doing their first tour tomorrow at the Grand Launch!

The new tour giudes 2012/2014 are

group 1

Faye  and Lucas             Caitlin and Christy

Group 2

Philippa and  Mitch           Fiona H  and Aimee

Group 3

Tasmin and  Lola      Ellie and liam

Group 4

Liam and Hannah    Fiona B and Heather

group 5

Freya and Nicole   Norah and Ali

So back to the tour guide launch. It will take place on Wednesday the 3RD of July. There will be 5 tours. The first 3 groups will guide the pupils and staff of Lumsden Primary around the castle. Everyone’s parents or guardians are coming along to watch the fabulous show. Other important people from the community have been invited, such as members of Huntly Development Trust (Donald Boyd and Fiona Manson), Claudia Zeiske from Deveron Arts, Pat Scott from the Huntly Express and many other people.

The tour guides will be wearing 17th Century costumes. They will be piped down by Jack McGowan. All P5s have a part to play. Some will be singing an elizabethan song, accompanied by Keith Cockburn and others will be dancing a Pavanne. Some pupils will be  handing out refreshments at the end of the tour.

This is a copy of the invite.

Invitation

Dear_________________,

Gordon Primary Huntly Castle Junior Tour Guides request the pleasure of your company at our Grand Launch.

On Wednesday the 3rd of July 2013

At Huntly Castle*

From 1:30 – 3:00

Refreshments will be provided.

Please R.S.V.P. by Monday the 24th of June 2013

*Huntly Castle location weather permitting

Castle Extravaganza!

Last Sunday (16th June) the Castle Tour Guides joined in an event at Huntly Castle that had been organised as a Fathers Day treat. Also at the castle were members of the Sealed Knot, a historical re-enactment group. They were dressed as Jacobites and had a wonderful assortment of old weapons such as muskets, rifles, axes and even 17th century bombs!

We all got quite a shock when the Sealed Knot soldiers fired their muskets during the tour! Luckily the tour Guides soon recovered their composure and carried on with the tour once they had stopped laughing.

The Fruit Trees

All of P3 were planting trees in the school grounds with Norma Hunter as part of “the edible walk”. 

I  think all of them had fun! They planted apple ,plum and pear trees. We are looking forward togetting fruit on the trees that everyone can enjoy eating!

The idea behind the edible walk is that people in the community can walk around Huntly, from Battlehill down to the Deveron  and taste food that has been planted along the way.

Cuban Visitors

P4C were visited this week by Celia and Junior, two Cuban artists who are visiting Huntly for 3 months for a residency with Deveron Arts. The artists are developing a project about friends and looking at if and how Facebook has affected friendships.

Celia and Junior talked to Primary 4 about their friendships and what they felt a good friend is. All children agreed that they would much rather play with their friends face to face than talk to them online.

The children asked Celia and Junior about Cuba. They found out about celebrations and festivals (they were surprised to hear that Cubans don’t get Easter eggs at Easter!) , weather, Cuban wildlife, food and music. They looked at a globe to see where Cuba is.

P4C really enjoyed meeting Celia and Junior and making friends with them!

Tour guide news!

Gordon Primary is delighted to have been successful in it’s application to Huntly Cultural Fund for money towards developing the Huntly Castle Junior Tour Guides.  The school has been awarded £600.

We are planning to take the tours to the Balhousie Care home, the Meadows and Scott’s hospital. Some of the money awarded will be used to purchase a portable projector so that the Tour Guides can perform in front of photos of the castle.

We are also planning to introduce an Elizabethan style dance and songs into the tour; in this way the whole of Primary 5 can become involved, and this will really  bring the tours to life! Costumes will be made for singers and dancers.

Thank you Huntly Cultural Fund!

Tour Guides

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This term the new tour guides have been taking on the challenge on learning the script.

A woman from Historic Scotland called Calen came in to the school to help train them. A couple of weeks ago they did a really fun workshop to help them, they played catch and pulled funny faces and vocal warm ups . They also did something called the blocking rehearsal  with Calen, which  is when you go round the castle and see where you need to stand and what features in the castle you would need to need to point to .

Good luck to all of them.

by Fiona and Ellie p5 bloggers and JTGS ( junior tour guides)

Tree Planting 2013

Every class from p4 to p7 has been tree planting last week.We planted black thorn,hazelnut,wild cherry and pine and we did it in the meadows.We had to dig the whole with a fancy shovel and made sure the roots were covered and patted it down and then put a bit of wood what is called a stake beside it  and then put a tree guard around it. When we get older we will have fun watching them grow. I think every one had fun and so did I!

P4 recycling

P4 recently enjoyed workshops organised by Deveron Arts. nancy, elisabetta and Norma came into work with the P4’s.

The p4’s learnt how young children in Zimbabwe play with dolls and footballs made from recycled materials (plastic bags and newspaper). They then had a go at making the dolls. They all really enjoyed the activity.

Thank you Deveron Arts.