A dinner lady abducted by aliens was returned to earth last weekend after ruling her adopted alien nation as queen for 26 years.<br><br>Barbara Greenhorn, interplanetary marmalade making expert, was reunited with fellow earthlings at St Luke’s Primary School as part of a special art and drama project that tied in with Family Learning Week.<br><br>The school was transformed into the site of a mock alien spacecraft crash-landing, which was ‘sealed off’ by two invented government agencies, ‘Friends or Foe’ and ‘Probe’, who were responsible for investigating the situation. <br><br>The audience – Islington school children and their parents – was treated as a group of local dignitaries, officials and journalists, invited to inspect the scenario. <br><br>Rose Lloyd who attended the event with her two children said: “It was fantastic and the best fun we have had on a Sunday for ages.”<br><br>Friends or Foe (the suspicious government agency responsible for security) screened people as they entered the site while the scientists from Probe focussed on investigating the phenomenon of alien life forms.<br><br>Barbara’s plight was just one element of the story introduced to the audience as they were led around the scene. Barbara’s marmalade making ability assured her the pleasant life as queen because the aliens used the precious golden preserve as their energy source.<br><br>Once through decontamination, the audience was taken into a briefing session with the lead scientist and Agent Zero from Friend or Foe before crawling through a white tunnel into the crash site.<br><br>Each tour culminated in a press conference where Barbara’s story unfolded and a man, mysteriously linked to a family owned marmalade empire, took Barbara’s place as alien leader.<br><br>The event was produced by local business Eudemonic together with Gensler and Bite.<br><br>Islington Council, as part of Family Learning Week (8 to 16 October) celebrations, provided funding for two workshops for parents and children on Thursday 29 September and Thursday 4 October to make the costumes for Crash Landing.<br><br>The workshops gave participants the opportunity to interact over a common project and then see the results of their work used in the weekend event.<br><br>Executive member for communities, Councillor Laura Willoughby, said: “We have received excellent feedback on this event from children and parents alike.”<br><br>“This event provided a fun, positive atmosphere – an ideal environment for people of all ages to interact and learn together.”<br><br>Crash Landing was open to all Islington children aged seven to 11 and their families and was held between 10.30am and 3.30pm on the weekend of 8 and 9 October at St Luke’s Primary School, corner of Radnor St and Bath St, EC1V 3SJ. <br><br>Photos<br>· aliens in spaceship.jpg – four aliens in the spaceship<br>· friend or foe agent.jpg –Friends or Foe – suspicious government agency responsible for security at the site<br>· friend or foe scanning children.jpg – screening people as they enter and providing a decontamination service as well as plastic hats, gloves and shoe covers<br>· probe inspecting ears.jpg – scientist from Probe detecting for possible traces of alien lifeform<br>· probe scientists.jpg<br>· queen barbara with subjects.jpg – Queen Barbara with some of her loyal subjects
Page Last Updated: 17 December 2009