Team Godwin - act out Victorian Prisons!

Today, we went outside and took part in a simulation of “Hard Labour” undertaken by prisoners in Victorian Britain. Hard Labour was used to further punish inmates across England’s prisons. They were arduous, yet sometimes pointless tasks. We lifted chairs in a pattern without a break for 7 minutes – beginning to feel what inmates would have faced when they lifted a cannonball in rotation repeatedly. This was known as Shot Drill. We also simulated The Crank (turning a wheel to earn meals for the day) by pulling a skipping rope tight and walking around in pairs. Finally, the third activity that got us thinking about how awful prison really was, was The Treadwill. Prisoners would have to move huge iron wheels with steps, so we stepped up onto the bench again to see how tiring constant steps can be! 

Team Godwin were great and really got into the mindset of the unfortunate Victorian prisoners.