Dear Mary | 3 August 2017

Q. I’m shortly to host a very large family gathering. Everyone will be related to the same ancestor, so we will have at least one subject to talk about — but then what? We will be a disparate group, hailing from different places, professions, generations and walks of life, and with nothing much in common apart from our lineage. Most of us will not have met before. I am worried that the conversation will run dry as we cannot bang on about our ancestor for three full days.
—Name and address withheld

A. I note you live within driving distance of Bishop Auckland, so during August you can give your extended family another shared conversational reference. Take them on the night of their arrival, to see the (by common consensus) flabbergasting night show Kynren, in which a cast of 500 volunteers perform a re-enactment of 2,000 years of English history. This is staged by Eleven Arches, the vision of philanthropist Jonathan Ruffer, who aims to establish Bishop Auckland as a tourist destination, attracting visitors and investment for the betterment of the area and the empowerment of the community.