Temple Combe demo
Jun. 3rd, 2013 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
abendgulesBefore Christmas Duncan Forbes asked Robert to take part in a demo in Somerset - an annual bash mostly for reenactors, but to which they'd invited the SCA to 'feature' for combat. He agreed and we got a commitment of a small core of people to attend, including Sir Vitus and Master Paul.
It was added to the Society calendar as an event, so those of us who don't like demos could treat it like an event-in-public, which is how we treat our events at Hospital of St Cross, and at CADW sites in Wales. This is the way I can make demos palatable to myself: I'm not trying to recruit people, we're just doing our hobby where the public can see us. In this case, the public were a mix of people attending to be entertained, and reenactors having a weekend 'off'.
The SCA attendees were the core previously mentioned, plus some of the 'new' Coventry members - 'new' now meaning 'been around for about 2 years but still struggling to establish a stable shire'. Unfortunately one of their core members has taken his ball and gone home (don't know any details but that's the jist) which has left them annoyed and combat-marshal-less.
Duncan and Abhilin (now heirs to the principality) have put a lot of time and effort into this Coventry group. It has reminded me of how remarkable our club is - it emerged from student culture, and the best groups still have student enthusiasm and cheery willingness to have a go. Sometimes the best you can do is get out of their way.
They succeeded in both making me feel a bit old and crusty, but also hopeful for the club at the same time. Recruitment needs are looming large in my head these days. Hopefully Robert and I can get there in the autumn, to make ourselves useful to them.
Several people from southern Insulae Draconis daytripped for Saturday; it was a bit of a surprise to realise we wouldn't be packing up by noon Sunday but would have two shows to complete (Sunday is the big day for punters), and the encampment stayed up til closing time at 6pm Sunday. So our weekend ran a bit later than planned! but it worked out ok.
This event proved to be 'where reenactors go to let their hair down and drink' - not that they don't drink anyway, but noone was getting paid for the event, so it was distinct from most reenactment displays. The venue includes a custom-built battlefield with a palisade and rampart, and room for both jousting and gunpowder displays. The public paid to attend, and the proceeds go to the charities of choice.
The SCA demo focused on combat - unsurprising as most reenactment is focused on combat. Here's how one of the SCA-reenactor members explained it to a mostly-reenactor crowd:
http://www.livinghistory.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=32009
To give it structure, it was broadly modelled on a King Rene tourney, with a ladies' gallery as judges, tenans defending and venans issuing challenges for the pleasure of the ladies, sometimes for single combat, sometimes for 2 on 2 or 3 on 3. A structured tourney also is familiar to our audience, who are used to having a script. The heralds introduced us briefly, but compared to typical reenactment narrations explained little, and let the fighting speak for itself.
We had a good mix of people wearing very authentic kit top to toe, with newer fighters wearing plastic and tabards, which is representative of the Society.
Each demo was booked for half an hour, but they got shorter as the heat rose, and our numbers dropped over the two days. This was the warmest sunniest weekend of the year so far, and there were a lot of red noses and necklines by the end!
As an 'official' lady, I got to keep score, advise Abhilin who was doing well, and support her in her newfound job of being Lady of the Isle (princess in waiting). We chatted afterward about things to think about to prepare for being prince and princess, and reminded her of the value of good relations with her signet :-).
I realised that in some ways the demo was very 'traditional': for some it would look like the ladies only got to sit and watch, and at times I wish I still fought, to prove this view wrong. But we did have![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nusbacher as herald on the first day along with two women fighters. If we do this next year, a fencing demo would be a great asset.
My sweetie says the appeal is the violence; for an audience of reenactors, this is fast, unscripted and full-contact, all features they avoid explicitly on their battle fields. It's surprising and attention getting, and there's no mistaking the good blows.
In the evening, Sir Vitus prepared a meal for everyone: soup and dumplings, beef stew, mashed veg, chicken pies with rasperry-mustard sauce (brilliant) and meringues with mead. Man we're spoiled by good food in our circle.
Unexpected bits: we didn't bank on this taking place just a few weeks before Coronation/20 year, on both of us being sick, on Robert's surgery.
But it proved an excellent 'shakedown' of our camping routine, and of travelling with the Vitus-vagon (our main means of getting our encampment anywhere in Drachenwald). Vitus and Robert and Paul repacked the trailer carefully and efficiently, so we all now know what's in the trailer, and what we still have to sort out.
The biggest downside was camping next to what proved to be the gunpowder platform, so the 3pm show of a 15th c battle between Duke of Somerset and Jacques de Molay was punctuated with cannon fire basically right overhead at what felt like random intervals, with a narrator who made it seem like a violent pantomime. Poor Gracie the lovelynusbacher greyhound didn't enjoy the guns at all and needed a brisk walk away to help her cope; I didn't enjoy them much either.
As we left, the organiser came to say goodbye, and tell us how glad he was we'd attended; he'd only heard good things so far about us. From the fighters' conversations, it sounded like we'd made a positive impression on both the public and the reenactor audiences, and in this way the event was good for friendly relations with them. Having crossover members with a foot in each camp, like Master Paul, was a great asset - he knows just about everyone, and can find people to drink beer with anywhere.
Lord Duncan is keen to do this again. I'd be willing, partly to develop good PR with reenactors, and partly to see if we get any members from it, and partly perhaps to run an event that already has some structure to it - you don't have to find the event site yourself, hurrah!
It was added to the Society calendar as an event, so those of us who don't like demos could treat it like an event-in-public, which is how we treat our events at Hospital of St Cross, and at CADW sites in Wales. This is the way I can make demos palatable to myself: I'm not trying to recruit people, we're just doing our hobby where the public can see us. In this case, the public were a mix of people attending to be entertained, and reenactors having a weekend 'off'.
The SCA attendees were the core previously mentioned, plus some of the 'new' Coventry members - 'new' now meaning 'been around for about 2 years but still struggling to establish a stable shire'. Unfortunately one of their core members has taken his ball and gone home (don't know any details but that's the jist) which has left them annoyed and combat-marshal-less.
Duncan and Abhilin (now heirs to the principality) have put a lot of time and effort into this Coventry group. It has reminded me of how remarkable our club is - it emerged from student culture, and the best groups still have student enthusiasm and cheery willingness to have a go. Sometimes the best you can do is get out of their way.
They succeeded in both making me feel a bit old and crusty, but also hopeful for the club at the same time. Recruitment needs are looming large in my head these days. Hopefully Robert and I can get there in the autumn, to make ourselves useful to them.
Several people from southern Insulae Draconis daytripped for Saturday; it was a bit of a surprise to realise we wouldn't be packing up by noon Sunday but would have two shows to complete (Sunday is the big day for punters), and the encampment stayed up til closing time at 6pm Sunday. So our weekend ran a bit later than planned! but it worked out ok.
This event proved to be 'where reenactors go to let their hair down and drink' - not that they don't drink anyway, but noone was getting paid for the event, so it was distinct from most reenactment displays. The venue includes a custom-built battlefield with a palisade and rampart, and room for both jousting and gunpowder displays. The public paid to attend, and the proceeds go to the charities of choice.
The SCA demo focused on combat - unsurprising as most reenactment is focused on combat. Here's how one of the SCA-reenactor members explained it to a mostly-reenactor crowd:
http://www.livinghistory.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=32009
To give it structure, it was broadly modelled on a King Rene tourney, with a ladies' gallery as judges, tenans defending and venans issuing challenges for the pleasure of the ladies, sometimes for single combat, sometimes for 2 on 2 or 3 on 3. A structured tourney also is familiar to our audience, who are used to having a script. The heralds introduced us briefly, but compared to typical reenactment narrations explained little, and let the fighting speak for itself.
We had a good mix of people wearing very authentic kit top to toe, with newer fighters wearing plastic and tabards, which is representative of the Society.
Each demo was booked for half an hour, but they got shorter as the heat rose, and our numbers dropped over the two days. This was the warmest sunniest weekend of the year so far, and there were a lot of red noses and necklines by the end!
As an 'official' lady, I got to keep score, advise Abhilin who was doing well, and support her in her newfound job of being Lady of the Isle (princess in waiting). We chatted afterward about things to think about to prepare for being prince and princess, and reminded her of the value of good relations with her signet :-).
I realised that in some ways the demo was very 'traditional': for some it would look like the ladies only got to sit and watch, and at times I wish I still fought, to prove this view wrong. But we did have
nusbacher as herald on the first day along with two women fighters. If we do this next year, a fencing demo would be a great asset.My sweetie says the appeal is the violence; for an audience of reenactors, this is fast, unscripted and full-contact, all features they avoid explicitly on their battle fields. It's surprising and attention getting, and there's no mistaking the good blows.
In the evening, Sir Vitus prepared a meal for everyone: soup and dumplings, beef stew, mashed veg, chicken pies with rasperry-mustard sauce (brilliant) and meringues with mead. Man we're spoiled by good food in our circle.
Unexpected bits: we didn't bank on this taking place just a few weeks before Coronation/20 year, on both of us being sick, on Robert's surgery.
But it proved an excellent 'shakedown' of our camping routine, and of travelling with the Vitus-vagon (our main means of getting our encampment anywhere in Drachenwald). Vitus and Robert and Paul repacked the trailer carefully and efficiently, so we all now know what's in the trailer, and what we still have to sort out.
The biggest downside was camping next to what proved to be the gunpowder platform, so the 3pm show of a 15th c battle between Duke of Somerset and Jacques de Molay was punctuated with cannon fire basically right overhead at what felt like random intervals, with a narrator who made it seem like a violent pantomime. Poor Gracie the lovely
nusbacher greyhound didn't enjoy the guns at all and needed a brisk walk away to help her cope; I didn't enjoy them much either.As we left, the organiser came to say goodbye, and tell us how glad he was we'd attended; he'd only heard good things so far about us. From the fighters' conversations, it sounded like we'd made a positive impression on both the public and the reenactor audiences, and in this way the event was good for friendly relations with them. Having crossover members with a foot in each camp, like Master Paul, was a great asset - he knows just about everyone, and can find people to drink beer with anywhere.
Lord Duncan is keen to do this again. I'd be willing, partly to develop good PR with reenactors, and partly to see if we get any members from it, and partly perhaps to run an event that already has some structure to it - you don't have to find the event site yourself, hurrah!
