A “glorious summer with this son* of York”
* [I know… sorry-not sorry…]
James Gillray, Hyde-Park; - Sunday, - or - Both Hemispheres of the World in a Sweat, 1789
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1981.25.1093: https://collections-test.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:42542
As we go to press, we are apparently on the cusp of another drastic change in the weather at Wrightington Towers. Regular Denizens will know how much views on what is an optimal climate vary amongst the three of us, and since we “came out” on this, we’ve learned that you, O Denizens, are similarly split! Whether you are a sun/heat worshipper or not, we hope that you are enjoying/enduring whatever the capricious climate is currently sending your way.
As some of you have noted, we are surprisingly close to a summer hiatus, but fear not - we have plenty of suggestions should you wish to while away some hours amidst your other summer entertainments! You already know about the imminent Camille Pissarro: The father of Impressionism (this term’s final Short & Sweet) and The Mongols (online), The Pre-Raphaelites (online), and The Northern Renaissance (at Pickering) which are our “live” courses between this term and next. But wait… there’s more entertainment, should it be of interest to you…!
Several of you have asked whether we’re planning to open up our archive of previous courses’ recordings again, as we did at the end of last year, to tide you over during high summer.
This is something we’ve been pondering for some time now, and we’re still not sure whether we should do this as a standard model, or how to do it if so.
We are, however, delighted to announce that we’ve decided to conduct another experiment, by offering you access to two items on our archive shelves, which were very well-received at point of “broadcast”.
We therefore present unto you, for those moments when some respite from the weather - whether dreadful-hot or sad and sloppy - might be welcome…
Blast! The birth of British modern art
We know that some of you were eager for us to schedule a repeat “run” of Byzantium last year and were disappointed that it transpired that you couldn’t make its second outing. Similarly, we know that many of you were sad to have missed Robert’s take on this particular chapter of modern art, so we hope you approve of our choices!
As this is an experiment, we’d like to offer these at a slight discount with a flat fee (£100 and £36 respectively), regardless of whether you’re solo or à deux.
For details of each, please click the images below.
Our final summer entertainment suggestion is a new departure for us.
You may recall that we enjoyed a course for small businesses with Strive earlier this year. One of the many welcome things which arose from this is that we met lots of other fledgling businesses and lovely people, and we’ve been working on how we might collaborate with two of them.
We’re very happy to announce one element of the first of these, which may be of interest to those of you who are based in York and its environs and those of you who are planning a visit here (as we know several of you are!).
As some of you know, back in the mists of long-ago, Robert was a ghost tour guide. We were, therefore, especially drawn to the ghost story-based interactive walking puzzle quest which Ryan, of Openworld Quests, has developed.
It’s a kind of mash-up of a ghost tour and escape room experience (if you’re not familiar with the latter, ask your children/grandchildren/young neighbour, who will be!) - on the streets of York, rather than in an actual room! - which works for a ‘team’ of 2 or more people, is suitable for children from 8 years old, and is highly recommended (click on the image just above to find out more). The fabulous Ryan has kindly agreed to offer 25% discount to Denizens of Wright History (thanks, Ryan!).
![The home of anyone who lives in a place which is nice to visit during school holidays aka James Gillray, Les plaisir [sic] du mènage , 1781](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Les_plaisir_du_m%C3%A8nage_by_James_Gillray.jpg)
So if you’re visiting York and would like a couple of hours in which to stretch your legs as well as your mind, if you’re a Yorkie and fancy a new way of seeing your city, or if you’re a Yorkie looking for something to entertain visiting family/friends so you can get some respite in the calm of your home (come on… we’ve all felt that, right?!), you can now do so with a 25% discount!
Just use the code WH25 at the checkout when you book.
Finally, I’m afraid I have some very sad parish news, as Linda Cieslik passed away last month. Having been a long-standing stalwart of Robert’s pre-lockdown courses at Wigginton, Guppy’s, and Bishopthorpe, Linda quickly overcame her initial trepidation about online courses and was, from our inaugural Wright History course, an unfailingly happy and much-loved Denizen, whom we got to know very well both in-session and via our regular and lovely email conversations. Even though she was her characteristically happy self on a course and in our email chats just last month, we are already missing Her Lindaness terribly. Her family kindly invited us to her funeral service, which took place on Friday. It was a glorious celebration of a wonderful woman, and it was good to be able to pay our respects - and, by extension, to also represent those of you who knew her. Vale, Linda. x