I walked into the studio yesterday evening at 6.30 with a pocket sized understanding of the Mayflower, 2 hours later I walked out again with my head full of ideas, questions, and contemplations. I was surrounded by a positive and inclusive energy. The group I got involved in is an Inter-generational group and the project name is Charting the Mayflower.

We began by mapping the journey we took to come to Bubble Theatre that evening, which led to mapping the journey our ancestors took to bring us to where we are today. This brought a definite connection between us as ordinary people in 2018 to the people of the 1620s who embarked on the journey of the Mayflower. I felt this brought a sense of unity and equality between everyone because everyone has different backgrounds that we should value and respect.

The previous week everyone was given a name of a passenger who was on board the Mayflower to represent, research and investigate. We were paired up to discuss what we discovered about our given passengers. After about 15 minutes we sat in a circle and shared our stories in a style of our choice, some pairs acted, some spoke in the third person and some simply told the story of their character. I found it really intriguing hearing the stories of the brave women, men and children who set forth to America aboard the Mayflower ship.

At first it doesn’t really register in your mind that every person who left on the ship had a family friends and a life they were leaving behind because they are just a name in a history book but the more you hear and learn about each person made you realize how real and tough their experience was. The session then ended and I made my way home. My body in London but my mind aboard the Mayflower ship.