As I suspected, the visit to The Museum of Lincolnshire life did us the world of good and as a group we felt even more inspired by the stories that surround the Grandstand and Lincolnshire in general. Even though there wasn’t much information on the Grandstand in the museum itself, a leaflet given to us by a member of staff at the museum allowed us to expand on our research (www.lincstothepast.com).
Sam discovered a story about the keeper of the keys at the Grandstand and how he was sent to prison for thieving [1]. We discussed how this man would have waited. For things such as events on this site to start and to finish so he could lock up the building. This discussion led us to creating our own narratives based on the stories of those who waited in the site and particularly the RAF room. As we had gathered information and knowledge on the use of this room, we decided that we would use this to individually write narratives influenced by different story/use of the ‘Waiting Room’; from its uses years ago to what it is presently used for. Alongside this we were aiming to combine some of the answers from our questionnaire and therefore with an aim to create the idea of a fusion between the past and present of the Grandstand’s context within our narratives.
I was given the topic of the RAF and particularly how this room was possibly used as a waiting room for those waiting to test aeroplanes during World War 1. I found it difficult to make up a story but I tried to visualise somebody waiting in that room as a soldier of the war, waiting to train and test some of the planes that were going to be distributed.
The following text is the first draft of a narrative created for the ‘Waiting Room’:
Waiting to fly my plane
Waiting to fly a plane
Waiting to concur
Waiting to fall
Waiting to fight
Waiting to flight
Waiting to battle
Waiting to shoot
Waiting to hit
Waiting to die, ready to die, waiting to die
Waiting to achieve
Waiting to crumble
Waiting to soar, ready to soar
Waiting for the dark
Waiting for the stars, ready to soar, struggle, soar
Waiting for a challenge
Waiting to fight
Waiting to stop waiting
When I read this out in front of the rest of the group, Alice and Katherine said how it reminded her of the RAF recruitment TV advert that she had seen, in terms of the content and how the speech is delivered. I visualized a trainee pilot being anxious waiting to fly a plane to write this narrative as well as drawing on inspirations from the translation of the motto ‘Per Ardua ad Astra’ to ‘Through adversity to the stars’.
The mural on the wall in the RAF/Waiting Room
As this is just a draft, in the next week I aim to do some more research into the Grandstand’s present and past through the questionnaire we set up for our group to develop this narrative. This will allow me to gain inspiration from answers and incorporate them into what I already have. I also think more detailed research is needed on the Grandstand being used as an aeroplane testing site to develop my narrative further, hopefully gaining more insight into the relevance of the RAF mural on the wall in that room.
References
[1] Lincolnshire County Council (2014) Charge, examinations, restitution order and conviction. [online] Available from http://www.lincstothepast.com/Charge–examinations–restitution-order-and-conviction/747926.record?pt=S [Accessed 23 March 2014]