KS1 welcomed a special visitor today... Mrs Wellbake! In case you don't know she is Samuel Pepys' cook and he sent her to Ware especially to visit us. She took great delight in the "Where, Ware" joke!
First of all she introduced us to a few other trades people who worked with fire, There was Alfie the blacksmith, Emily the dyer, Archie the candle maker, Ella the soap maker and of course Thomas Farrynor the Baker. She asked us if we had heard about the great fire and was very surprised when she found out that the news had already spread to Hertfordshire. She pointed out that any of these people could have started a fire in their day to day work - but it was the baker who got the blame.
Then we met Thomas Farrynor's children and maid. We sang Ring-a-ring of Roses, whilst the children played. Amy and Charlie were soon worn out and settled down to sleep. We were so glad that they had survived the plague and could now sing about it.
As the family slept, disaster struck. Fire, Fire! The flames were soon licking at the bedroom door. The family escaped by jumping onto the roof, however the poor maid was not so brave and was the first casualty of the fire.
Mrs Wellbake told us that The Lord Mayor had been informed but he just went back to bed. His maid passed on the news but he was not concerned. There were often fires and they soon died down.
By this time, her master, Samuel Pepys (she was quite taken aback that we knew of him), was interested in the fire and had begun to write about it in his diary. She showed us the inside and we saw the code he used.
He wrote about The King and James the Prince. The King was not so good at putting out the fire but James was very hands on.
Leather buckets of water were passed along a line and thrown on the fire....
...water squirts were used to point at the fire and squirt water and finally .....
...James helped use the fire hooks to pull down houses to make a fire break. Fortunately the wind eventually died down and the fire slowed down and was put out. Mrs Wellbake was able to rescue her cat and the children of KS1 cheered.
We all thoroughly enjoyed Mrs Wellbake's story; the website promised that the children would have lots of fun and be fired with enthusiasm. We have to agree. When asked they said they loved it all, enjoyed wearing the costumes and these helped them understand the characters, loved seeing each other dressed up, enjoyed being the fire and were pleased that Lucky the cat survived! They were delighted they knew who Mrs Wellbake was talking about and could answer her questions.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable show and we look forward to our last week of learning about The Great Fire of London and what the children come up with in response to Mrs Wellbake.
