Ignite Lights

Hello teachers, friends and artists! We're excited to announce that Ignite Lights has officially merged with Brave Words CIC! You can still book our history and drama workshops by going to www.bravewords.co.uk, emailing [email protected] or calling 07868323105.

BRAVE WORDS Here at Brave Words we tell inspiring stories and ask what we can learn from them. We teach children and young people to explore their own lives through stories. And we make learning exciting, accessible and adventurous through educational workshops.

We're looking forward to delivering these prizes to the winners of the zoom youth theatre Christmas Jumper competition! Merry Christmas from Ignite Lights, working for Brave Words this winter season.

Despite the lockdown, Ignite Lights is available to bring history, drama, art and creative writing to your education setting! Virtual youth theatre sessions are carrying on as normal. To book an in-person session, contact Fran at [email protected]
In the meantime, we're gathering nature resources and story-starters!

Here at Ignite Lights we're looking forward to Halloween, even though it won't be quite the same this year. To keep the spooky magic alive, you can still book a covid safe Room on the Broom workshop for your school or community setting by calling 07868323105 or emailing [email protected]

Children in Viking workshops: Weaving is soo hard!!
Long legged dogs: Hold my honey mead!

Here at Ignite Lights, we've been loving working with the Brave Words South Leeds Youth Theatre through lockdown! Just planning tonight's session and I'm so excited about how the story is taking shape. The creativity of these kids is wonderful to see. Cant take a picture of the kids for obvious reasons so here's my sunny planning partner!!

Phew! Just completed a bespoke Y6 Production, tailored to the interests of a specific class. This lovely class will be able to enjoy working on a play created just for them - as part of the process, I spend time getting to know the individual children and discussing their hopes and dreams for the future. This particular class are keen on football and singing and think lying to your friends is one of the worst things a person can do. Cue 'Off Pitch', a brand new take on growing up, moving away and never forgetting where you're from.
Interested? You could have your own bespoke performance from as little as £200!

At Ignite Lights, we've been saying this for years! The arts engage children and enable them to develop so many transferable skills. It is so important to keep quality arts education running through every key stage.

'Arts teaching could become more important than maths in tech-based future' – education expert Researcher Andreas Schleicher has told a House of Commons inquiry that he believed young people could benefit more from the skills gained through creativity than test-based learning

Phew! What an incredible half term it has been for Ignite Lights! Frances has lectured at Leeds Beckett University, built some great new relationships with schools in South Yorkshire and rolled out a new selection of culinary workshops! We're very excited about these - children get to experience authentic ancient cuisine and explore the processes early civilisations used to create and enjoy their food. From the Ancient Egyptians all the way through to the Victorians, taste history like never before with a culinary workshop! Email [email protected] for more information on these, or any other workshop. Happy Easter!

To ensure your kids know exactly how mighty Viking women could be, why not book a Viking workshop with a strong Shieldmaiden? Workshops start from just £55!

For more than a century, archaeologists had assumed the remains of a high-ranking Viking warrior discovered in Birka, Sweden belonged to a man. Now, researchers have used DNA testing to confirm that the warrior, who had been buried with military honors, was actually a woman. The study by a team at Stockholm University, which was published on Friday in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, confirms that women held high roles in the Viking military and demonstrates the impact that s*xist preconceptions can have in scientific research. As the authors observe, since the grave site was first excavated in the 1880s, researchers never considered that the warrior might not be a man: “This image of the male warrior in a patriarchal society was reinforced by research traditions and contemporary preconceptions. Hence, the biological s*x of the individual was taken for granted.”

Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, an archaeologist at Uppsala University, described the grave site, which contained all of the trappings of a high-ranking Viking officer: “Aside from the complete warrior equipment buried along with her – a sword, an axe, a spear, armor-piercing arrows, a battle knife, shields, and two horses – she had a board game in her lap, or more of a war-planning game used to try out battle tactics and strategies, which indicates she was a powerful military leader. She’s most likely planned, led and taken part in battles." The researchers added that these new findings "provide a new understanding of the Viking society, the social constructions and also norms in the Viking Age."

The researchers also note that archaeologists and historians'’ attitudes towards the s*x of the remains reveal a lot about our own culture: “As long as the s*x is male, the weaponry in the grave not only belong to the interred but also reflects his status as warrior, whereas a female s*x has raised doubts,” they write. “This type of reasoning takes away the agency of the buried female... The results call for caution against generalizations regarding social orders in past societies." They further hope that the confirmation that there were high-ranking female warriors in Viking society will encourage more research using modern techniques aimed at creating a more accurate picture of historic cultures: “This study shows how the combination of ancient genomics, isotope analyses and archaeology can contribute to the rewriting of our understanding of social organization concerning gender, mobility and occupation patterns in past societies.”

To read more about this new discovery in Smithsonian, visit http://bit.ly/2f0BHDB

For books for children and teens about sword-wielding women, check out our blog post, "16 Books Starring Sword-Wielding Girls and Women," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog/?p=9960

For a few of our favorite books about sword-loving Mighty Girls, we recommend the picture book "Brave Margaret: An Irish Adventure" for ages 5 to 9 (https://www.amightygirl.com/brave-margaret), the award-winning "The Blue Sword" for ages 9 and up (https://www.amightygirl.com/the-blue-sword), the fantasy classic "Alanna: The First Adventure" for ages 11 and up (https://www.amightygirl.com/alanna-the-first-adventure), and the graphic novel "Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant" for ages 13 and up (https://www.amightygirl.com/delilah-dirk)

And, for books about women's diverse role in history, from ancient times to the modern world, visit our "History & Biography" section at https://www.amightygirl.com/books/history-biography