About Us
We are a family run business based in the North West of England. We have been providing living history experiences since January 2002. We are a mother and daughter team, Carol & Jane. Our philosophy is simple, enthusiasm & passion are contagious.
We are passionate about what we do and about every subject we teach. We pride ourselves on providing the best possible experience for you and your school that we can, at the best price we can! We never get tired of the looks of awe and wonder on the faces of every child we teach.
We believe we have got just the right balance of historical content, humour and experience of a period in history. By this, we mean, we pack as much content as we can into our workshops, but at the same time immerse ourselves, and those we teach, through costume, artefacts and role-play in a total historical experience that we hope you will remember for many years to come.
We make and maintain our own costumes. This keeps costs down and quality high. We have developed our workshops to ensure unique experiences and high quality. We have done this by including the history curriculum’s stated aims and objectives. Our objective is to make our workshops as much of an aid to teachers as possible. Our aim is to ‘cover it all’ in one workshop, plus, we are continually adapting and developing to keep up with new findings and new requirements.
We are eccentric, you’ll have to forgive us, but to do what we do, day after day, with refreshed and renewed enthusiasm, you have to have a little eccentricity. Equally, we were one of the first in the country to offer this sort of experience and you have to be a little mad to pioneer something that no one has tried before.
We love what we do and we hope you will too.
Read more about each of us and a little more of the history of History Alive below…..
We are passionate about what we do and about every subject we teach. We pride ourselves on providing the best possible experience for you and your school that we can, at the best price we can! We never get tired of the looks of awe and wonder on the faces of every child we teach.
We believe we have got just the right balance of historical content, humour and experience of a period in history. By this, we mean, we pack as much content as we can into our workshops, but at the same time immerse ourselves, and those we teach, through costume, artefacts and role-play in a total historical experience that we hope you will remember for many years to come.
We make and maintain our own costumes. This keeps costs down and quality high. We have developed our workshops to ensure unique experiences and high quality. We have done this by including the history curriculum’s stated aims and objectives. Our objective is to make our workshops as much of an aid to teachers as possible. Our aim is to ‘cover it all’ in one workshop, plus, we are continually adapting and developing to keep up with new findings and new requirements.
We are eccentric, you’ll have to forgive us, but to do what we do, day after day, with refreshed and renewed enthusiasm, you have to have a little eccentricity. Equally, we were one of the first in the country to offer this sort of experience and you have to be a little mad to pioneer something that no one has tried before.
We love what we do and we hope you will too.
Read more about each of us and a little more of the history of History Alive below…..
Carol is the founder of History Alive. She was originally trained as an industrial chemist and holds two degrees in this subject. She worked in industry for many years and while doing so she was asked to visit schools across the region and talk to teenagers about the industry she worked in. This is where her ability to easily connect with children and young people and enthuse them in a certain subject was first unearthed. Carol left her profession to become a full time Mother. During this time she developed a passion for history. She began working for the local authorities in museums and local historic buildings.
Through doing this Carol saw a great need for hands on history experiences to be taken into schools. Over an 18 month period, while still working full time in museums, she wrote and developed her first workshops, sourced her artefacts and collected her period costume. In 2002 History Alive made its first appearance in schools. Carol has now proudly passed the torch of History Alive to her daughter as she retired in July 2025 at the age of 68. She misses teaching and seeing the wonder in the children's faces and helping enthuse the teachers. She is grateful for her daughter Jane taking history alive forward for hopefully many years to come.
Jane grew up watching her mothers satisfaction with her work and wanted to be a part of it. From the age of 13 she worked along side Carol where ever and whenever she could. Although very academically able, she chose to join History Alive full time at the age of 16 (2005). Alongside her initial years of training with Carol she studied History, Accountancy, English, Law, Business Studies and Drama. A testament to the hardworking attitude she still holds today. Jane is now proudly carrying on Carol's legacy. She is an engaging performer and is naturally able to hold the attention of a room. Particularly when holding a Cane in her hand as her Victorian alter ego, Miss Banks.
Now, having 20 years of experience, visiting hundreds of schools, teaching thousands of children, her love for history and bringing it to life is stronger than ever. Her passion for delivering high quality history experiences is unparalleled. She even spent a week in the summer of 2025 living like it was the 1950s as research for her new 1950s workshop. Now that is dedication. (Footage of this week will soon be available on the 1950s worksop page when it is launched in September 2026).
Jane has been praised by teachers for her enthusiastic and engaging approach being describes as mesmerising and captivating on multiple occasions. She is regularly praised for her excellent classroom and behaviour management. A key skill in schools today.
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