Opinion: A History Festival in Guildford? – Why Not?

Published on: 13 Mar, 2019
Updated on: 4 Apr, 2019

Gavin Morgan

By Gavin Morgan

Founder of the Guildford History Forum

We are still waiting to see if Guildford Council’s Executive, on March 19 will approve the next step of the Guildford Museum Project but it is worth speculating further on how the museum could benefit the town.

Guildford Museum should be much more than a great place to visit. It could be the engine behind a range of activities that bring people to the town – and one of the most obvious is a Festival of History. We already have a great starting point in the Heritage Open Days weekend.

Every year in September towns and cities across the UK take part in the Heritage Open Days event. Historic and modern buildings of architectural interest are opened up free to the public.

Guildford has long been one of the busiest places taking part in this nationwide event. With over 100 properties available to see it is frequently one of the top five, in terms of the number of buildings taking part.

Over the years the Guildford’s event has evolved and it is becoming more of a festival with living history and community groups taking part. There are talks, walks around the town and demonstrations by medieval knights at the castle or Victorian soldiers at Henley Fort.

I believe it would be easy to turn this event into a larger history festival and I have been looking around for ideas. The best one I have come up with is a historic music, drama and food festival, ie something for everyone with a historic theme.

We have the perfect town for presenting history. The pedestrianised High Street is lined by some beautiful venues from a range of historic periods. We have a Saxon church in St Mary’s, two medieval crypts, the Tudor Royal Grammar School, seventeenth century Guildford House, the Guildhall and, from the eighteenth century, we have Holy Trinity Church church.

Beyond the High Street are the Castle Grounds and the Norman Keep, not forgetting the 1960s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. Why not put people in costume inside these places to bring them alive and encourage local musicians to perform period music from the middle ages to the rock and roll years?

The steps of Holy Trinity could be used for “Stories from the Steps”

In the High Street between Holy Trinity and Abbots Hospital, we have a brilliant stage for street theatre. “Stories from the Steps” of Holy Trinity is one idea that was proposed to me. Every half hour there could be a short talk or performance to entertain the crowds in the High Street.

We have plenty of music academies, schools and colleges around the town who would hopefully take an interest in such an event. Last year the Rock Choir filled the High Street with sound as they staged a concert from the steps.

A Brooklands vehicle on display in Guildford High Street (Can any reader identify it? – Yes, please see Mike Garrett’s comment below.)

The High Street could also be used to display historic vehicles and marquees from groups or museums wishing to promote themselves. Last year the Brookland Museums showed off one of their racing cars in the High Street and in other years we have had fire engines and Dennis vehicles.

There could be walks and talks and the other year we experimented with a modest procession which could easily be expanded upon. Other festivals run paid for talks as a way of making a profit, rather like the Guildford Book Festival, and we could extend this idea with paid for walks, concerts, films and other events on a historic theme.

Of course, an event like this takes a lot of organisation. There are plenty of questions that need answering. Perhaps September is not the best time of year as it is close to the Book Festival. Perhaps a sister event to Heritage Open Days would be better near the start of the tourist season?

Either way, a new museum taking a more business-like approach can help transform Guildford. I look forward to us taking the next step.

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