What a full day bursting with excitement here at DMU, with the Queen's visit this morning - a which point I hadn't realised it was International Womens Day. I got up early and wandered into the square to see what was going on, joining the then small crowd by the barriers where she would arrive. There were quickly several more rows of people behind me and I realised it was a choice of moving to see what else was going on (the 3 minute lectures sounded interesting but wouldn't start for another hour or so) or staying put and treating it as an exercise in stillness and a few hours to do 'nothing'. Quite a treat - usually there's the nagging feeling that I should be doing 'something' with the time. There were moments of curiosity about crowd behaviour, people's desire to be filmed and the power of a single cameraman to have the now-packed crowds screaming and cheering and waving flags with just a wave of his lens. And the Queen, when she arrived several hours later (but of course spot on time) was pink and smiling and the crowd response was something of a mix of endearment, wonder and disbelief - 'Queeny', 'like a little granny' 'I saw her, i saw her!' 'did I really stand here for 4 hours just for this couple of minutes of being squashed and not seeing anything before she went into the building out of sight?' Most stunning (apart from the huge roar of fandom for Kate) was the sea of arms reaching up as soon as the royal car pulled up - not waving flags as they had been to the earlier cameraman, or any other seeming moment of interest from passers by on the other side of the fence, but with outstretched cameras and mobile phones, all pointing up into the space above the red carpet... impossible to see was visible a few minutes before, as the crowd turns into a heaving tidal swell, bodys rising inches higher than the next, shoulders full and arms extended overhead, aiming their single eyes in one direction. And then gone. Quite a few people left rather than wait the 20 minutes for the party's exit, so there was a much better view the second time around. I enjoyed the aftermath, a bit like the credits at the end of the movie, where the lesser stars get highlighted - a woman squeezes forwards to photograph her silver dancing niece, and the DMU shoe design students face a moment whereby one (Becca Hill) becomes a celebrity for a day, maybe more if the shoes she will now produce for the Duchess of Cambridge carry forwards more than royal feet.
So that was the excitement of the morning, and it was a joy to be part of a campus so buzzing and patiently waiting and celebrating, if a little confused.
my afternoon view of the Queen, being unexpected and incidental, was the one that touched me most. Walking into town the roads were closed with that heavily policed feeling of 'something or someone unusual is about to pass through here'. The first time I had that in Leicester was a month or two ago when about a hundred coaches were escorted out of the city along the road edging my neighbourhood after a sports match (rugby I suppose).
This time I knew who it was and what to expect - a lot quicker than the coaches! But the lovely thing was that most of the passers by walking along that pavement didn't know, and as the cars left, smiles and waves were shared, and the road returned to normal, unknown people were walking towards me with grins on their faces, 'I saw the Queen!' 'it was her' and a piece of Leicester came alive with a rather magical glow like in a fairytale.... something special and unexpected had just happened in the normal course of walking down the street.
A little further on the crowds at the Cathedral were just beginning to disperse.
After a few hours in town in the cafe that houses many artists and phd students writing up research, I headed back to DMU for the guest lecture, a fascinating and inspiring, deeply moving account of the research, book and stories uncovered by Jane Robinson of the Bluestockings. Definitely a book to recommend.
So that was the excitement of the morning, and it was a joy to be part of a campus so buzzing and patiently waiting and celebrating, if a little confused.
my afternoon view of the Queen, being unexpected and incidental, was the one that touched me most. Walking into town the roads were closed with that heavily policed feeling of 'something or someone unusual is about to pass through here'. The first time I had that in Leicester was a month or two ago when about a hundred coaches were escorted out of the city along the road edging my neighbourhood after a sports match (rugby I suppose).
This time I knew who it was and what to expect - a lot quicker than the coaches! But the lovely thing was that most of the passers by walking along that pavement didn't know, and as the cars left, smiles and waves were shared, and the road returned to normal, unknown people were walking towards me with grins on their faces, 'I saw the Queen!' 'it was her' and a piece of Leicester came alive with a rather magical glow like in a fairytale.... something special and unexpected had just happened in the normal course of walking down the street.
A little further on the crowds at the Cathedral were just beginning to disperse.
After a few hours in town in the cafe that houses many artists and phd students writing up research, I headed back to DMU for the guest lecture, a fascinating and inspiring, deeply moving account of the research, book and stories uncovered by Jane Robinson of the Bluestockings. Definitely a book to recommend.
"A lecture by Jane Robinson, author of Bluestockings: The Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education
Based on Jane’s acclaimed book Bluestockings: The Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education, this lecture will chart the history of university education in Britain from 1869 to 1939. The book was chosen as BBC Radio 4’s ‘Book of the Week’ and attracted rave reviews, described in the Press as ‘inspiring, funny and thoughtful’ and ‘a gem of a book. Social history of the best kind.’ "
And the final part of the event was a five-minute lecture on the corset through the ages, with displays of historical and current corsetry in the reception area.
"The changing shape of women
After Jane’s lecture, we invite you to join us for this networking reception which will include a speed lecture on the history of the corset from Gillian Proctor, Contour Design Programme Leader and Principal Lecturer, and an exhibition of catwalk pieces from our Contour Fashion students."
Three very different takes on women in the world, curiously juxtaposing each-other and enriching the spaces in-between.
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