Our Process
The young people had five in person and one online creative writing workshops with Ella in Newcastle West. These looked at writing with prompts from historical documentation and pivotal moments from Sophie’s life. In particular we discussed identity and how when used to describe someone words have immense power. We looked at how we describe ourselves vs’ how our friends, family, community might describe us and at how Sophie spend her life defining and redefining herself until two distinct individuals existed, Sophie Peirce-Evans and Lady Mary Heath. We discussed the careful way Sophie presented herself to promote the idea she was a natural in the skies, and that flying was easy for her, from her devil may care attitude to her customary fur coat and high heels.
In mid-September we visited Weston Airport in County Dublin. Here we were given a tour of the private airports VIP private arrival suites, Air Traffic Control Tower, Hangars and Bristow’s brand new Search and Rescue Helicopter. here we discussed modern aircraft and asw the kinds of craft contemporary pilots lear to fly in. We had hoped to fly in the Stearman, an Open Cockpit BiPlane such as Sophie would have flown in however on the day the weather was too windy. Instead we travelled the short distance to where the Stearman in hangared on Lyons Estate in Kildare. Here Pilot Sean Bennet gave us a tour of the craft and the young people got to sit in the aircraft and experience how vulnerable a pilot would be. we discussed the fuel consumption of such an aircraft and how long Sophie would have been able to fly each day and some of the obstacles she would have encountered, we also played with some hats and goggles and fur coats for our own Lady Mary photoshoot.
Throughout the process the young people have been open and engaging, kind and supportive of each others work and have shown great insight into Sophie and the person she became. Their writing explores these insights and offers them an oppurtunity to compare their experiences as young women in the world with Sophie’s, to discuss what has changed and what has not.