Jackie Herring |
My guest today is Jackie
Herring. She has been involved in some form or another with the Jane Austen Festival in Bath since its creation 12 years ago. This
will be Jackie’s 5th in charge and as Festival Director, a job that
covers all aspects from choosing and booking the artists and venues, writing
and producing the programme to fixing banners to railings and washing up at the
end of the Soiree. With an honours degree in and love of History, plus previous
administrative, sales, computing and personnel experience – this is Jackie’s
dream job. How many people have the opportunity of talking about their
favourite author, researching and putting on entertainments for others that they
enjoy themselves, dress in glorious costumes, appear on the television and get
paid for it!
If you want to know more about the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, if you dream of beng there next September, join our chat below and ... enjoy!
Welcome
to My Jane Austen Book Club, Jackie. It’s a great pleasure and an honour to have
you as my guest and have the chance to ask you a few questions.
Thank you for asking me.
Is
everything ready for this year festival in Bath?
Not
quite, the diary is pretty full but there are still lots of things to be sorted
out before I can write the first draft of the programme.
What
are these year’s September dates?
From
Friday 14th to Saturday 22nd September 2012
When
did the event start and who were the founders?
The
Jane Austen Festival started in September 2000, so this is its 12th year and it
was the brain child of David Baldock the owner of The Jane Austen Centre in
Bath who was also the first Festival Director. The first year it was over a
weekend – 3 days including the Friday.
Apart
from the traditional Regency Costume
Promenade, what are other important moments in the next September Festival? Is
there a special topic/trail you follow this year?
There are lots of really special moments,
small gatherings and the larger ones but in particular this year the Promenade
will follow a different route and Bath City Council are going to close the main
shopping area, Milsom Street, for us to walk down. I am working on something
that will be held in the Assembly Rooms on Sunday 16th but can’t say what just
yet, there is a whole day of Regency and Baroque dancing on Monday 17th, coach
trips to Hampshire and Stourhead (where the 2005 Pride & Prejudice was
filmed) costume workshops, harp workshop, embroidery workshop.... there is a
magical evening on Friday 21st with a reception around the torch lit Roman
Baths, followed by a Regency Costumed Masked Ball in the Pump Rooms. This
spectacular event was extremely popular last year.. Plus so much more.
Is
there any special or new feature you
want to tell us about?
We
have two theatricals being performed using the venues themselves as the ‘stage
and scenery’ very exiciting and quite new to Bath and the audience sit in the
action rather than view it from afar.
What
are the most exciting aspect at working for this incredible event?
Meeting
so many talented people and a plan coming together.
What
are instead the hardest moments in the preparation for it?
Just
the amount of things that must be done for it succeed.
What
is it so special in the atmosphere of the Festival in Bath which makes it
different from any other National or
International meeting for Janeites?
I think there are probably a great many
similarities with other meetings but probably the venues we use and the amount
of costume events, plus Bath is a small place where people can meet and make
lifelong friendships.
What
is it that you especially like in Jane
Austen’s world?
The
slower pace of life – I can understand why Jane Austen wrote particularly when
she moved to Hampshire, there was nothing else to do!
When
and how did you become fond of her work?
At
the age of 16 my best friend gave me her copy of Pride & Prejudice and
said, ‘you’ll like this, it is better than Jilly Cooper!’ I did and I was
hooked.
Why don’t you tell us about your favourite
story, hero and heroine?
Pride
and Prejudice is my favourite, it is so complete I wouldn’t want to change any
part of it plus I married a Mr Darcy!
Jane
Austen and modernity. Isn’t her success at present stunningly surprising? What
is the appeal of world to modern readers?
I
don’t find it surprising, each generation basically like the same things and
Jane Austen’s novels are, to put them in their simplest form, romantic - will
they won’t they novels – which also make stunning films and tv series’.
I
suppose you know and meet lots of
Janeites every year and, maybe, all the year through, not only in
September. What kind of people are
Jane’s admirers? Is there a common feature they share or are they most a
miscellaneous fond crowd?
The
common denominator is that they all love Austen’s work, whether it be reproduced on film or
they read the books. Other than that they are from all walks of life, male and
female though the majority are female, of all ages and come from all over the
world.
Now,
my last request is... How would you
invite My Jane Austen Book Club readers not to miss the event and visit Bath in
September ? You’ve got 50 words!
The
2012 Jane Austen Festival, nine wonderful days celebrating all things Austen in
the beautiful Georgian city of Bath. Attend the world famous and record
breaking Regency Costumed Promenade, plus workshops, talks, soirees, and more
and don’t miss the magical and spectacular Masked Ball. Full details available
from the website www.janeausten.co.uk
Thank you so much Jackie for taking the time
to answer my questions. Keep up with the good work and great success with your
Festival!
4 comments:
I would love to see my daughter wearing one of those costumes! The pictures are great. I only wish I lived in Bath. Thanks for sharing!
isn't that a fabulous invite?!
i loved this Maria ~ Thank YOU!
I can just imagine it...
I am thinking of attending this year, my first time, since I learned about the Jane Austen festival just a few weeks ago. Where can you get regency dresses? If anyone would oblige me?
Is it a little over the edge to learn etiquette from the 1800's?
Thank you for the invite...I hope to be there! Wonderful post! I can't wait!
I will visit Bath for the first time during the coming JA festival. I can't wait! It must be so special to be there with lots of other JA lovers!
Monica
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