May 2011

Welcome to new readers and hello again to our existing readers. April was a very strange month for us, with a long school holiday, and several bank holdays, but now we have got into stride again, and we are getting orders flowing in and enquiries of all kinds.

We have just added a new section about the Great Exhibition of 1851. You will find it here. This was an amazing exhibition, a celebration of all things British, held in the wonderful Crystal Palace. Of course there is a lot of material available from that time, including pictures, catalogues and flowing enthusiastic descriptions from writers of the day. Our page is just a very small taster, but perhaps in the course of time it may expand.

We get a lot of enquiries from museums and historic houses, and we do offer limited trade terms. As time goes on we would love to offer a greater range of suitable items. A number of the items on our website are made specially for us, and we are always looking at more. You may be interested in our latest project, making school canes. We have offered a bamboo cane for some time, but it is not very authentic, because bamboo had knots in it. Real canes were made of rattan, a similar kind of wood, but without the knots. We made an investigation into available supplies, and although the right type of canes was readily available, the price was too high. Fortunately we managed to obtain a supply of suitable rattan, and have spent several weeks testing our hand making production techniques. We have completed our tests and are now busy making supplies. The cane will appear on the website shortly. We are also considering making a miniature cane, possibly mounted on a plaque, which could be used for presentations or just as an interesting display. We have made prototypes, but not quite got it right yet. We are also looking again at producing metal hoops for use in the playground. These were very popular in Victorian times, and of course last for years. We are carrying out tests on hoop size, and finding suitable metal so that the hoops can be made using modern manufacturing processes. It is likely that the price will be a lot more than our wooden hoops, but then think how long a metal hoop will last. When we have solved that problem, then the next item that we are regularly asked for is the ceramic ink well. These used to be made in their thousands, but as far as we know all production has now ceased, and we have been unable to find a modern supplier, so we may end up commissioning them ourselves.

That's it for now as I am off to Birmingham for a week long school visit, culminating in a Victorian Fete. What a lovely way to end off a school visit. Let's hope the weather stays fine!

 

.

New items in the website shop

We have just added a new budget range boy's costume, and I am sure that is going to sell well. Our handwriting book is also likely to be popular. We sell a lot of copybooks and they are very popular with schools for writing practice, although we sell quite a number to individuals as well. To go with that we have just introduced Scriveners' Ink in gold, for that really special finish. Then we have added a wallchart for displaying your own family tree, and if that proves popular we may well add more items to help those doing research into their personal history.

Regards

Stephen Clark
The Victorian Headmaster