War of 1812 - Interview Series

by Judi McWilliams

Anne Brooks - Part Seven

This now leads me to another favourite question … I shared with Anne that Volunteers are a huge part of all Ontario’s festivals, events, and fundraising activities for many worthwhile causes. Part of our volunteer base, in Ontario, is made up of the youth of today. I recently discovered that approximately 5 million volunteers, in Ontario alone, are helping our economy. They are not only increasing revenue into our communities and decreasing personnel costs, but adding a work force that would cost 8-10 billion dollars in time alone! I was wondering if Anne, with her current roles, encouraged today's youth to participate in re-enactments? Anne answers … “I don’t know if I encourage youth to participate in re-enactments but I encourage them to learn about their history and I think re-enactments and living history are good ways to go about this. It is a lot more interesting to go to a re-enactment to learn about a battle during the War of 1812 over reading a chapter or two in a text book. I know that I enjoyed going to the old forts and re-enactments at a child so I hope that other children feel the same way.” Over the course of the year, I am collecting some anecdotes to publish in our THE INSIDE SCOOP special “anecdote” edition? With this Anne thought to share this with us … “Many of the War of 1812 Groups are spin offs of the Upper Thames Military re-enactment Society. There were not as many re-enactment groups until the mid to late 1980s. The Upper Thames Military re-enactment Society started out when one guy put an ad in the pennysaver.”
(To Be Continued)

War of 1812 - Interview Series

by Judi McWilliams

Anne Brooks - Part Six

I feel that it is important to share the insights of the leaders in the industry of events and festivals and with the organizers/participants that will be leading us into exciting activities for the upcoming War of 1812 Bicentennial Celebrations.

I left off my last article talking with Anne Brooks, Marketing and Communications Coordinator at Fanshawe Pioneer Village in London. I asked her one of my favourite questions about why “living history” is important to us today. I also wanted to know if Anne could tell us what the importance of “living history” is, in her opinion, and in Fanshawe’s philosophy! It is interesting to share Anne’s insight here … “Fanshawe Pioneer Village uses the technique of living history to convey the message of what it may have been like to live between 1820 – 1920. We provide third person interpretation most of the time and then we have first person interpretation for certain special events such as our dance weekend and our War of 1812 weekend. Many adults respond well to third person interpretation because they can ask a lot of questions about what could have happened. Children respond better to first person interpretation, so when we have our War of 1812 or WW1 Ed days the kids tend to absorb a lot more through this type of learning experience by War re-enactors. I personally tend to think that certain people learn better by different ways, no matter what their age is. Although I am a good reader, and spend a lot of time reading, there are many times when it is a lot easier for me to understand what is going on by seeing it actually happen. I do think there is great importance in projecting “living history” because it is a different way to learn about the past and really understand what could have taken place.”
(To Be Continued)

War of 1812 - Interview Series

by Judi McWilliams

Anne Brooks - Part Five

What better person to ask than Anne to help us learn what advice she would give to someone wanting to participate in re-enacting? “Visit a re-enactment and talk to numerous people and different groups. Each group is very different, different personalities and different values for what they do in the community and how their group runs. Ask a lot of questions.” I find this to be every sound advice. I received similar advice from teacher/re-enactor Mr. Chris Robins. He too suggested that you borrow the period clothing, take part and make sure you really enjoy re-enacting, before you start investing lots and lots of money. As some of you may know, I have been on a quest to understand why “living history” is important to us today and why the Celebrations of the War of 1812 were important also. Anne said … “I think it is important for people to learn about their history. The war of 1812 was a very large part of Canadian history and I really feel like people do not know a great deal about what happened. It is important to celebrate the heroic actions of the soldiers who lived and died in the War of 1812. You can’t move on to the future until you learn from the past.”
(To Be Continued)

War of 1812 - Interview Series

by Judi McWilliams

Anne Brooks - Part Four

Anne was kind to share with us a little about some of the challenges that the “audience” does not see during the re-enactments. … “One of the biggest challenges is safety, what we can do to make sure that not only re-enactors but also visitors are safe, what looks cool, but is still safe. Visitors want to get close and see everything and the biggest challenge is making sure everyone is safe. Battle plans are drawn up ahead of time. The area is mapped out months in advance and the scenarios are discussed at least a day or so in advance and re-enactors are told what the scenario involves”. I was curious how someone would overcome some of these challenges. Anne shares with me … “Patience, and asking lots of questions. I will ask anything and everything from re-enactors so I know what is going on. I need to be aware of what their plans are for safety reasons, so visitors can be made aware of what is going on, and what re-enactors expect from me as a site. I need to be able to please re-enactors, visitors, staff and volunteers so there are a lot of people I have to talk to and organize with to make sure everything happens and that everyone is happy.”
(To Be Continued)