The eve of the feast of Saints Crispin and Crispianus – what could be more appropriate for the Bowyer’s annual Agincourt dinner, held this year in the Bakers’ Hall. We might not have been ‘few’ but we were certainly ‘happy’ thanks to the fine food and good company. We were entertained royally by our principal guest Mr Tim FitzHigham, who invoked not only his own descent from an Agincourt archer but also Shakespeare’s brilliant speeches. The theatre which Tim has done so much to preserve and promote – the Guildhall of St George in King’s Lynn – has floor boards dating back to Henry V’s reign on which the Bard himself performed.
It was indeed an evening of coincidences. A guest of the master was Neil Constable, former CEO of Shakespeare’s Globe and clerk-elect of the Musicians’ Company. In her toast to the guests, Freeman Anne Curry was able to show that our military affiliates ,Commanding Officer of 4 Mercian and Commanding Officer of 1 Mercian, and Alderwomen Elizabeth King of Cripplegate Ward, all had namesakes at Agincourt. And yes, the Master was there too, by a John Wooton, an archer in the company of Sir Thomas Erpingham who gave the signal for Henry V’s archers to bend their bows and let their arrows fly, with such dramatic results.
