Graham goes to Nottingham

As many of you know, we traveled to Great Britain because Graham was invited to present a paper at a conference. He belongs to several professional organizations, and this year one of them (related to the arson side of his work and research) met in Nottingham, England.

While Sam and I remained in Croatia for several more days, Graham flew to England and maneuvered the train and Underground system to travel to Nottingham, 2 hours north of London.

He learned that the 2012 Summer Olympics, which will be held in London, will hold the rowing and kayaking events at this new National Water Sports Centre.























Graham is the guest author for the rest of this section of the blog.
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Nottingham is always associated with the tales of Robin Hood especially those presented in the Errol Flynn movie from the 30’s and the TV series of the 50’s (where the “merry men” always found time to sing!). From those, we "know" Robin as a Saxon lord, both a expert bowman and swordsman, who fought alongside Richard the Lionhearted in the Crusades, returning to oppose Richard’s younger brother, John, who was oppressing the people with the help of the evil Sheriff of Nottingham. Robin was aided and abetted by Little John, Friar Tuck, Alan a Dale, a host of “Merry Men” and the beautiful Maid Marian.

Big spoiler:His legend grew from tales told by early troubadours in the Middle Ages, through the time of Henry VIII and on into the 17th and 18th centuries when most of the stories were written down.The early tales were of peasant folks who poached the King’s deer and other game from the forest (which was a hanging offense) and managed to outwit the authorities – very popular in the market places of the time. Robin himself was initially a Saxon yeoman, or peasant, not a Saxon lord. But by the time of Henry the 8th, the tales had evolved and Robin had become the Earl of Locksley and participated in the Crusades representing the chivalry of the knight protecting the innocent. Later, especially with the movies, the story became even more fanciful. The most recent movie version starring Russell Crowe has supposedly taken liberties again with the story.

While I was in Nottingham for a professional conference, we took several tours of the area including an Elizabethan manor, Wollaton Hall,














and the Nottingham “castle” – not the medieval castle which was finally destroyed after the English Civil War but a manor house of the Duke of Newcastle built in the 1680’s.













Both are now public museums (Wollaton is a natural history museum and Nottingham is devoted to the history of the area and the Robin Hood legend). One of our guides is a local historian and actor, frequently playing Robin Hood for events (including our conference banquet) and during the annual “Robin Hood Days” celebrations each fall on the castle grounds. He tried to put the record straight about Robin Hood.
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Conference banquet:
The major social event of our conference was held at the East Midlands Conference Center on the University of Nottingham campus. We were greeted as we came to the conference center by the juggler tossing fire sticks (appropriate because the theme of the conference was on fire investigation, prevention and modeling). The two minstrels (Nonimus) played music from the 13th thru 16th centuries on period instruments. Having brought one of my recorders along for fun, I “just happened to have” it in my pocket so played along with them for a bit. In keeping with the Robin Hood theme, the banquet hall was decorated to look like Sherwood Forest with local actors playing Robin, Maid Marion and Friar Tuck.

The backdrop was a black curtain studded with LED lights to suggest stars with an artificial tree also covered in lights. The room was mainly illuminated by candles on the tables with some spots with green gels in the back. We sat at tables in long rows with Robin, Marian, and Friar Tuck on the dais. Robin served as our MC and “host”. The menu and notes continued the theme (Robin poached the lamb from King John’s herds, Friar Tuck caught the fish for the pate, Marian picked the greens for the salad). We learned about “remove” which when used as a noun in olden times meant “course” (food being removed from the kitchen and into the hall) and we were instructed to call “bring forth the first remove” to start the banquet along with a fanfare from our minstrels.



A large number of servers then brought out the first course (over 300 attendees at the banquet). The minstrels and juggler wandered between the tables entertaining during the meal. Robin and Marian recited the Tale of Robin and Marian written by a contemporary of Shakespeare between the courses. It also included some sword play between the two! We then called for the “second remove” and on with the banquet. In all a good time as well as good food was had by all. The myth of bland English cooking was definitely put to rest with a splendid meal.