Ch_22_Royal Mews_feature

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Clip 1 - comments

The horses they were like really big and they’re really nice. It was amazing – kind of really bright gold. It’s really clean as well there’s no litter anywhere.

Anno 1

AbracaDABra radio presents places to see and things to do around . Today we join children and parents having fun at the Royal Mews at . Our reporter is Jeff Link.

Link 1

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I’m standing in the main quadrangle of the mews which is one of the finest working stables in the world. It’s the home of the historic and the modern cars used by the Queen and the Royal family. So why is it called the Royal Mews….well one of the guides here is Steve Denham, just the person to explain the background to the name.

Guide 1

The very first Royal Mews was built in the fourteenth century, very close to . In fact it’s where the now stands. But in fact it was used for housing birds, falcon birds, which then was the sport of Kings and Queens. Now the falcon hunting birds they actually moult their feathers once a year. During that moulting season it’s called the mewing season – hence the word mews originates from the mewing season. So the very first Royal Mews was used for keeping hunting birds.

Now in the sixteenth century Henry VIII’s stables at Bloomsbury unfortunately was destroyed by fire. So rather than building a new stable block he decides to move his horses into the Royal Mews at Charing Cross. So that’s our first association with the word mews and with horses.

Link 2

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Here in the education room a number of children are having fun with art and design and the person in charge is Trish Popkin.

© Taylor & Francis

Trish 1

This is actually part of our ‘designing your own ’ activity which we’re running at the moment. We talk about the different symbolism and the different reasons the coaches they’ve seen on display are designed as they are. And then we give them the materials to let them design something of their own.

Link 3

We’ll come back to see how the art is progressing shortly. But time now to join the guided tour led by Steve Denham, and we’re going to start in the stables.

Guide 2

We have 22 horses currently here at the stables. This is “Max” and we have “Tolerance”. Cleveland Bay is in fact the breed name. They’re on the endangered species list. In fact in 1962 there were only four stallions in this country. But thankfully Her Majesty intervened and she purchased a colt that was due to be shipped to America and within 15 years the number had risen to 35. And now we understand there’s actually 500 in the world.

Max is 22 years of age. Well actually one of our years is four of the horse years – so Max is in fact 88 horse years old. But Max is still a strong horse and wants to work.

Now when horses do retire they will go out to various retirement farms around the country, where they live out their natural days in pasture.

These horses do receive six weeks’ vacation a year – which is more than what I get!

Guide 3

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Well ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the . This, in fact, is a working coach; it is not a museum piece. It has been used by Her Majesty on three occasions. This was for her coronation in 1953, for her Silver Jubilee in 1977 and also for her Golden Jubilee in the year 2002. Now the coach weighs four tons, it’s made of solid wood and it requires eight of the Windsor Grey horses to pull it. This coach has been described as one of the greatest works of art from the eighteenth century and that is because of the sculptures and the paintings.

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Link 4

Just some of the highlights from Steve’s very interesting tour but now I’m back in the education room to see how the activities are progressing.

Trish 2

© Taylor & Francis

Well on this table we have two different activities being done. We have someone here designing their very own coach with horses and coachmen as well and we also have one of our 3D cards being made.

Vox Pop

Reporter: Let’s look at the coach first. What’s your name please? Child: Emma Reporter: And how old are you? Child: 9 Reporter: Would you like to tell me what you’re doing? Child: Well I’m doing at the moment the coachman on the horse and I’ve done the Queen inside the coach. Child: Mine’s a circle type of shape Reporter: So a bit like a pumpkin would you say? Child: Yes. Reporter: Have you had a chance to see the other coaches yet? Child: Yes. Reporter: Which one did you like best? Child: The gold one. It was kind of really bright gold.

Reporter: So let’s go and have a look at this other activity now. Child: I’m doing a 3D card and I’ve got to colour in all the things. I’ve done some of the card but I haven’t quite got there yet. Reporter: Have you had a chance to look round the collection? Child: Yes I have Reporter: And what were your impressions? Child: The horses they were like really big and yeah they’re really nice. It’s really clean as well there’s no litter anywhere. Reporter: And what about the coaches? Child: They were really nice and really big, a lot bigger than I thought they would be. And my favourite was the gold one.

Trish 3

If you come in on the weekends, where it’s unsupervised, we have three templates and you just choose your activity pack and have a seat at one of our tables where we have coloured pencils, gold pencils, crayons, scissors, glue that type of thing and it’s got all the instructions, everything you need and you’re just welcome to sit and enjoy the activities.

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Anno 2

Our reporter at the royal Mews at Buckingham Palace was Jeff Link. Join us again soon for more places to see and things to do around London.

© Taylor & Francis