Out & About Summer 2021

Out&About leisure

WHAT’S ON The country is opening up and there is plenty to see and do this summer. Out & About has selected a few highlights from visitor attractions and events across the region

Boxford’s mosaic celebrated by the Boxford Masques

Bellerophon Boxford Recreation Ground July 28 – August 3 boxfordmasques.org.uk

In 2019, a 4th-century AD Roman mosaic floor was briefly unearthed near Boxford, and 4,000 people seized the one- day opportunity to glimpse this fragment of the past. What they saw carried them still further back in time, because the floor depicted far more ancient stories: Greek chariots, telamons, heroes, legendary beasts, and stories you wouldn’t expect to find in a farmer’s field in the Lambourn Valley. In 2021, the Boxford Masques are using the Boxford Mosaic as its inspiration for a script. The Boxford Masques were reinvented 21 years ago to celebrate the Millennium. A century earlier, Charlotte Peake, a resident of Boxford, was writingmusicalplayseachsummerforherservantsandfriends to perform in the garden. Her husband Harold, a renowned archaeologist,soon‘excavated’anamphitheatreofsortsatthe topofHoarHill sothat audiencescouldenjoyasylvansetting and a view across half the county. Between 1900 and 1913 Charlotte’s circle of artistic and eccentricfriendsenjoyed(orsupplied)music,song,danceand drama.MythandfolklorewereCharlotte’sfavouritesubjects. For the last 21 years, larger and larger crowds have climbed HoarHill toperchonpicnicchairs towatchreworkingsof the

O&A SUMMER 2021 They’ll both be there, along with the Furies, the Gods, some robots, Pegasus... and of course Charlotte, Harold and their trusty valet Tails. 91 original plays.Under the directionof AdeMorris, Charlotte’s scripts became livelier, funnier, more spectacular. When The Masques moved to nearby Welford Park, all-new scriptswerewrittenbylocalauthorGeraldineMcCaughrean– though Charlotte and Harold invariably featured. Loyal audiences and tireless, year-round fundraising have allowed seven Masques to be staged since that first in 2000. Theeighthhasbeenpostponedlongenough,sohereitcomes and it returns home to Boxford – the Recreation Ground (no hill toclimbandatent just incaseof rain).Thetitlecharacter– Bellerophon–wasthereonthemosaic;sowashisnemesis,the Chimera.