ACP visits the medieval town of Andover

On 12 July the presentation team of Michael Smith, Chris Marshall, Mike Stokes, Lee Mason and, of course Spot, under the guise of ‘Speakers for Schools’ (https://www.speakersforschools.org) visited Andover in Hampshire, a Town that dates back to at least 950 AD as a Saxon Village of about 500 souls. Indeed, it was mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086) and was quite large for its time having six watermills grinding flour. By the 14th century it had grown to a population of 1,200 as a small market town with the main activity making wool, the most significant industry of medieval England. Today, Andover is a thriving town of over 50,000 people, and was the site of Agatha Christie’s Poirot mystery, the ‘A.B.C. Murders’.

Our host was Winton Community Academy, a member of the Academies Enterprise Trust. The team would like to extend their very considerable thanks to Nicola Wilson who organised the day, and to her colleagues, such as Rob Elsey and Mr. A Head, who all ensured that we were supported so well and that everything went so smoothly. There was an audience of 130 students who became deeply involved in the hands-on activities we take with us – plus asking Spot questions in Finnish, Portuguese and French as well as English, and receiving his replies in those languages – and 15 staff, all of whom made the day very worthwhile indeed!