Anglo-Saxons meet the Vikings
The children step back in time to the 9th Century. The Vikings have travelled by longboat along the Great River Ouse. On the Danelaw/Wessex boundary, they find the Anglo-Saxon village at Chellington.
The activities start with an interactive session in the Ibbett Room where the group explores how we know what the local area around the Chellington Centre was like during the 9th Century. The children become either Vikings or Anglo-Saxons and make their own helmets based upon historical and archaeological evidence. The children choose their shield and can decorate to personalise it, based upon artefacts from the period.
Warrior training out in the field introduces the children to the cries, commands and team work required to succeed in battle. The children choose their foam weaponry to complete their preparations and practise their formations and strategy. Dressed and prepared, the children use drama to re-enact a battle down on the river meadow, based on the old English poem ‘The Battle of Maldon’. Will the Viking raiders be victorious? Or will the Anglo-Saxons protect Chellington?
Children take their helmets home! All other resources are provided by the centre for use on the day.
This programme will normally cost £100 for self-led, but this year we are able to offer it for free thanks to the funding we have been given to develop educational resources. 
