Tudor Nursery Rhymes - 12/11/18

At Seagate Rotary’s meeting on Monday it was noted that all 26 Christmas trees for the Portal entrance have now been sponsored by local businesses and organisations.  They will be on display from the beginning of December

Seagate’s speaker on Monday was Catherine Mills, talking about Tudor nursery rhymes.  Many of the well known rhymes, including Mother Hubbard, Little Jack Horner, 3 Blind Mice and Little Miss Muffet date from this era.  They were anonymous political lampoons commentating on the antics and corruptions of the royalty and elite of the day, the equivalent of today’s serious satirical magazines and political cartoons.  As a former primary school teacher, Catherine had no problem controlling her audience and getting them singing along.  She then detailed the background to each rhyme, and its relevance to the actions of monarchs and clergy from Henry the Eighth and Elizabeth to Mary and John Knox. 

After a lively question session, a Vote of Thanks was proposed by Eric Greig.