Culloden

Home ed group trip to Culloden Moor today – site of the last battle fought on British soil. They have just opened their new state of the art visitor centre and it was great. There is an amazing room called the immersion theatre where there’s cinema-type screens on four walls and you’re in the middle of the battle. Another dark walkway takes you through the march of the night before… listening to what people are saying. Likewise there’s a war council you can sit in on. An amazing screen thing where you get an aerial view of the day, all the troops movements. Felt a little sad for the old visitor centre, about to be demolished. It’s old film was a bit dry and boring, but you know, you came out really understanding the politics of the situation. That information is all on the walls and within the technology of the new centre but you could miss much of it quite easily. Bit of a ‘education today’ analogy could be played with here… but it would be unfair to Culloden as there were many huge improvements in the exhibition too. Not least was the Jacobite who took us round, showing us where everything was, gave a weapons demonstration and got the children organised into a Highland charge It kept snowing quite heavily which was a shame as the children had arranged to visit friends in Inverness, and we had to cancel that to return home in case of bad roads… mouseover:

We all thought our guide was a Hanoverian but no – not all the Jacobites were Highlanders and were recognisable by the white cockade in their hat

Have finished How I live Now – was really good, an easy read but profound. Continuing to work through the penguins from the book people, am now on Notes on a Scandal – very gripping and quite creepy, characters very well realised… not to mention the school descriptions and comment… off back to it now.