HullBID is to join forces with Heritage Learning and Hull Museums in bringing history to life with an Edwardian Easter celebration in the Old Town.
Businesses in the area will take part in the event, which was inspired by the hugely successful Victorian Christmas festival last November, when a crowd estimated at 10,000 flocked to enjoy the attractions in High Street and Scale Lane.
Edwardian Easter, which will take place on Saturday 19 April, will follow a similar format. It will run from 10am until 4pm, with a vintage bus operating between the transport interchange and the Museums Quarter from 9.45am.
The grounds of the museum will feature traditional entertainment including a helter skelter and Punch and Judy.
Prizes can be won by those competing in a special Easter egg hunt sponsored by Hull FC, which will see families following a set of 15 clues to spot three-foot high Easter eggs located in various shop windows and places of note around the Old Town.
High Street will be closed to traffic during the event, enabling traders at a special edition of Trinity Open Market to set up their stalls in the street.
The host for the day will be the Honourable Florence Sparks, a fictional character played by Naomi Broadhead, a member of the Heritage Learning team who works on presentations and performances for school visits to Hull Museums.
Naomi, who also played the character of a young Queen Victoria at the Christmas event, said: “Florence is the lady in charge of the Easter celebration, and the story line is that she is putting on a village fete and fair for her people, providing them with a lot of traditional entertainment and activities on the lawn outside the museum.”
Dennis Wann, licensee of the Sailmakers Arms in High Street, will once again support the event.
He said: “The Victorian Christmas was a great success and Edwardian Easter should be even more enjoyable because of the road closure. I don’t know if the crowd will be any bigger, but with the market setting up in the street it will be much more visible and I’d expect people to spend more time here.
“We won’t be having market stalls inside the pub because they’ll all be in the streets outside, and that will give us more room for people to enjoy our buskers and a special Easter menu.”
Annika Nickson, the Bookings and Events Co-ordinator at Heritage Learning, said Edwardian Easter will be the first of three large scale events which are being organised to commemorate the centenary of the start of the First World War.
From 19 July Ferens Art Gallery will host an exhibition entitled “When War Hit Home”, which will look at the impact of the First World War on the local community. An opening event has been planned for the first day of the exhibition, including a high profile speaker from the BBC.
Over the Remembrance Weekend of Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 November, the Museums Quarter will be the venue for a family-friendly event which will include live music, historical re-enactments and displays on military history.
Annika said: “Other events focusing on the First World War will take place around the region as part of the Joining Up The Humber project, which is a partnership between Hull Museums, East Riding Museums and North Lincolnshire Museums with funding from the Arts Council.”
Kathryn Shillito, HullBID City Centre Manager, said: “One of our roles at HullBID is to collaborate with other organisations to attract people into the city centre and to create opportunities for our member businesses, and the Victorian Christmas event was a good example of that.
“But whereas Victorian Christmas had been running for a number of years Edwardian Easter is a first. It emerged because all of the partners – HullBID, Heritage Learning, Hull Museums, Trinity Open Market and the Old Town businesses – wanted to build on the success of the Christmas event. There will be even more attractions and the road closures will add to the appeal for visitors so we’re hoping for another excellent celebration.”
View the event programme here: http://www.hullbid.co.uk/uploads/resource/document/96/Edwardian_Programme_final.pdf
Download a form for the Easter egg hunt (forms can be picked up from The Streetlife Museum, High Street & Scale Lane businesses on the day: http://www.hullbid.co.uk/uploads/resource/document/97/Edwardian_Easter_Hunt_LR.pdf
For full details of Edwardian Easter visit www.heritage-learning.com
Pictured: Naomi Broadhead dressed as the Edwardian Honourable Florence Sparks in High Street, the setting for Edwardian Easter. Also a pic of Naomi with Annika Nickson, the Bookings and Events Co-ordinator at Heritage Learning.
