At 9.30am the learning team gathers to be briefed on the school visit for that day, and then we head for the wardrobe where we are transformed into our nineteenth-century characters.
As matron I am quite severe, so the paupers had best beware. Throughout the morning, the school children also receive a sharp reminder to show respect to their betters and to mind their manners at all times on their tour around The Workhouse itself. They soon learn that matron will appear when they least expect it and that any pauper found misbehaving will be punished severly.
In the afternoon, matron disappears and I'm transformed back into a modern day learning volunteer, who helps answer all their questions on Victorian workhouse life. But now and then a child will stop, stare for a while, and then say 'It was you wasn't it? You were her'.
Costumed volunteers at The Workhouse get involved at living history events, with school visits and as storytellers who visit external groups.
