On October 22nd, 2020, Lord Charles Shuttleworth, the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, opened what turned out to be an afternoon of magic, mystery, suspense and adventure as Sir Derek Jacobi read to children across Lancashire from ‘The Heartstone Odyssey’ together with Sitakumari as storyteller. This was the very first online event to be staged by Heartstone in partnership with The Harris Museum, Preston.
Other special guests to open the event included Mr Edwin Booth, Chairman of The Harris Charity, who had funded the involvement of The Harris Museum in the Heartstone project in Lancashire and this event, Mr Ishwer Tailor, Deputy Lieutenant, Ms Veronica Afrin, Chair – PWLREC and Mr Clive Grunshaw, Lancashire Police & Crime Commissioner.
Sir Derek set the scene as he read from the book, relaying the story of the breaking of the Heartstone in India in the late 1700’s leading to a single fragment brought across the oceans to Britain.
Sitakumari then picked up the story from the start of the journey in London in 1796 to the arrival of the mice of ‘The Heartstone Odyssey’ in Lancashire in 1819.
It was this part of the story that provided the foundation from which James Arnold (above), the Harris Museum’s historian, was able to present the stories behind a carefully selected set of their objects which Sailvoyage, as a mouse from India at that time, would have seen and how he would have related to them, thus providing a new insight on local history.
One of the objects presented was a painting from the time depicting the Lancashire aristocrat in whose home this painting was hung and his exploits in India. The inclusion of the elephants, a slain tiger and Indian servants, provided an ideal connection with ‘The Heartstone Odyssey’, its historical context, some of its key characters and the opportunity to see history from an alternative perspective, to see a different story.
Other items included related to the newly founded cotton mill in Preston providing the opportunity to explore the connection with the slave trade, the role children played in the working of the mill, Henry Hunt, the MP for Preston who spoke at the rally which turned into the Peterloo Massacre also in 1819. An early photograph of Preston as another object provided the link to the present time.
As James put it, Sailvoyage would have come to a greater understanding through these objects, which he would have seen at the time, as to why his journey to Britain with the Heartstone fragment was so important.
From real-life history, the event moved to UCLan, University of Central Lancashire, and lead animator and digital artist, Mario Kkounnous (above) presenting a few examples of the stunning artwork created by him and his prizewinning student, Jamie Walsh, inspired by scenes in ‘The Heartstone Odyssey’. These are being used as a central component of the drive to take ‘The Heartstone Odyssey’ to the big and small screens.
The event closed with statements from Cllr Nweeda Khan, Preston Cabinet Member, and Cllr Sobia Malik, Lancashire County Councillor and a Councillor for Burnley highlighting the involvement of children across Lancashire in both locations who will be reading the book from the beginning of 2021 and building to a special Heartstone exhibition event in the summer. With Covid restrictions, even if this is online, it will ensure all ages are involved in the project across the County.
The involvement of Museum, UClan and schools in this project gives Lancashire a unique edge and fitting location from which to take forward the media development of this project. One of the particularly exciting outcomes from this event has been the interest of the Wilberforce Museum in Hull and V&A Dundee both of whom are keen to explore following in the footsteps of The Harris and bring to life other parts of ‘Sailvoyage’s Journey’ which will highlight additional key historical events from the period from a new direction.
