Beowulf is very prominent in my sources of inspiration at the moment, inspired by my purchasing of a new version illistrated by the legendary John Howe and also a quick quote search through the Seamus Heaney addition, which ended up with me reading the whole book.
Heres a quick recap of the last couple of shows we did, the first being the very exellent Greenfair at Beacon park in Uppholland which was a local show for our most exellent brethren from the Wirral group.
These last few show were less miliaterily focused than the big national events, which gives more opertunities to work on the crafts sides of the hobby. Having learnt much from the craftsmen in the society I plan to start exploring boneworking and woodcarving, to which end I purchased a whittling knife from the usual source, i.e Ted.
I suppose that now I have the internet there really is no excuse for not writing more often, and what better way to step up the pace than recalling the saga of our adventures amongst the southerners. The ten year anniversary of building at Whychurst, Regia's permenant site, came about and the ensuing cellebrations inspired Ted to introduce his fancy new banqueting tunic to society. Driving down to Kent was a bit hardcore, though nicely interrupted by the flocks of black kites outside Oxford, but within 5 minuets of arriving we were vowing to do it again, as the place was stunnung.
"a great mead hall meant to be a wonder of the world forever"
"The hall towered, gold-shingled and gabled"
"Then it was like old times in the echoing hall, proud talk and the people happy"
This is the command stand from the Bondi spears, there is another stand that butts up alongside to form a shieldwall, more of which later.
A converted hornblower
A personal belief of mine is that digital cameras and battle reenactments dont mix so the images I use are borrowed from Facebook(I dont think this is going to get me into trouble...) and to be honest non of us would bother anyway, so unfortunately there aren't any pics of us as a group in action yet
The previous pic shows the march through York centre leading up to the night fight (below).
Which was triumphantly concluded with a ship burning and firework display.
All in all a great day, the enduring memory was being part of a hundred strong Saxon army, dancing to eighties pop and the prodigy(this was part of a display by some fire jugglers) prior to going into battle. Sunday was a general mooch around York including a visit to the viking market where I picked up a new Seax. This is to replace my last one which broke in battle, fortunately because of a fault in the mettle and not through irresponsible use on my part.
An added bonus is that the new blade fits my old scabbard, which I intend to tart up in the near future.
The plus side to this is a new single handed spear, which thanks to a woefull ineptitude on my behalf during practice will not be seen in public for a good while, however its a usefull toy to have around and I can allready see its advantages. A side benefit of this carpentry found its use at dinner time, when I cooked one of the finest meals known to man, the flame grilled steak. I Heaped up the left over shavings into an old roasting tray and grilled my steak(ribeye, marinaded in olive oil and rosemary) for a couple of minuets. The results were juicy and deliceouse, particularly as the shavings infuse an added smoky flavour.
As well as highlighting my lack of finesse with the new spear saturdays training session also saw me purchasing a new knife hand crafted by Ted, Regia warlord, training officer and all round Dark age guru.
This is quite a spectacular creation as the pic shows and instantly overcame any reservations I had about saving money for York and the fact that I allready have several knives, and learning that the design was found in Dublin only increased its appeal, not only because of my own interest in the Hiberno Norse but also because of the image that some of us in the group are trying to cultivate.
