JANE AUSTEN FESTIVAL 2015
SCHEDULE
(subject to change)
FRIDAY, MAY 29
at Historic Montgomery’s Inn
5 pm – Welcome and weekend registration
6–7.15 – Pre-ball dance workshop, pre-requisite for the ball unless otherwise arranged with the
Dance Mistress
7.15-8 A simple but hearty cold supper of historical foods
8-10.30 – Ball with live music by Playford’s Pleasure
(includes a break for tea, cider and dessert)
SATURDAY, MAY 30
in Old Town Toronto
9.45 am – Day registration at St James’s Cathedral
10.30-12 noon – Lecture, bell-tower tour and demonstration of bell-ringing through the ages at St
James’s Cathedral
Noon – Promenade through beautiful and historic St James’s Park – bring out your best Regency
finery, and don’t forget your top hat or parasol!
12.30 pm – Lunchtime: Picnic and dancing in St James’s Park, or browse the marvellous food
stalls at historic St Lawrence Market, just steps away from the cathedral.
Afternoon session at the Market Gallery, St. Lawrence Market building
2 pm – Afternoon registration opens
2.15 – Karen Millyard – A day in the life of Jane Austen – sights, sounds and smells of her daily
experience
3.15 – Royal historian Carolyn Harris – The Georgian Royal Image
4.15-5 – Elizabeth Webb – Fashions in Austen’s lifetime
5-6 – Visit and shopping at the city’s hidden gem, Toronto’s First Post Office – only steps away
through St James’s Park
8-10 – An evening of elegant entertainment at historic Mackenzie House Museum, including a
performance by harpist Alanna Ellison, music, tea, light refreshments, cards, table games, and
reading aloud from the finest publications of the day.
SUNDAY, MAY 31
A day at Montgomery’s Inn
Registration 10 am
10.30 – Georgian breakfast
11.45 – tour
12.15 pm – Fiona Lucas – In Search of Sugar-plums
1 pm – Jane Austen at Home: a concert of music from Austen’s collection and beyond,
performed by Barbara Ackerman (flute), Stephen Fuller (violin), Susanna McCleary (voice), Dr
Dorothy de Val (piano)
2.15 – break
2.30 – Martin Raymond – The glories of Georgian cheese: lecture and tasting; cold cider will be
served
3.30 – Games and historical newspapers in the bar, lecture on postal history and hands-on letterwriting workshop with quill pen and sealing wax by Kate McAuley Akerfeldt of Toronto’s First
Post Office
5 – A delicious Georgian supper to send us off. Mingle, chat and see you next year!