Once again, silence from the blog most certainly doesn't mean De Vey has been inactive! It has been another busy year both for local events and national ones.
Upcoming events
Harby Country Show
Next weekend, 12-13 September, we are back at Harby Country Show. This is a lovely country show in the Vale of Belvoir which we are really looking forward to and which is well worth a visit. As you can see from the photo below, it was a little damp last year so we're hoping for warmer weather this year!
Our final show of the season will be Sherwood Through the Ages at Sherwood Forest, on 3-4 October. We've attended this show since it began and it's always a fantastic end to the season. What could be better than camping in Sherwood Forest in early autumn? Morning mists, vibrant leaves, and the smell of campfires through the trees. Sadly this is the last year the show will be running so don't miss this chance to enjoy it. Check out Red Zebra's photographs to whet your appetite.
Events so far
Rufford Abbey
De Vey was back at Rufford Abbey for the Grand Historical Bazaar in April again. This is another favourite local show featuring re-enactors from all periods. Unfortunately every time I changed into modern clothes to take photographs it rained so I've only got the one shot below.
Toki explaining about grain is ground. Photo copyright by Caroline Williams.
Magna Carta at Sherwood Pines
The Friends of Thynghowe brought Regia back to Sherwood Pines for the third year this year, this time to celebrate 800 years of Magna Carta. It was another storming show with a strong De Vey presence. We're very much hoping to be back again next year! Several De Vey members got a mention in the local press as well!
Elkesley Village Fete
This was a fabulous local show, based on celebrating the historic tradition of walking the parish bounds. It was a really great event and we're delighted to have been invited back again next year. The provisional date is 16 July 2016 so put it in your diaries!
Talking to the public on the wic. Photograph copyright David Askew, organiser of Elkesley Village Fete.
Poser. Photograph copyright David, organiser of Elkesley Village Fete.
Combat. Photograph copyright David, organiser of Elkesley Village Fete.
King John at Newark Castle
Newark Castle is another one of those sites that you just can't beat for a show, and Regia was lucky enough to be invited to do a Magna Carta show there in July. As it's local for De Vey we were able to contribute plenty of displays including cooking (mmm, thirteenth century food!), an ecclesiastical display, spinning, weaving, embroidery and net-making. Our glorious group leader also portrayed King John and oversaw the tourney. We had a wonderful time with lots of interested public both days, despite the rain on Sunday. Many thanks to Floss for hiring us and we're desperate to come back!
What a sight to wake up to. Photo copyright Caroline Williams.
King John and the bishop. Photo copyright Caroline Williams.
The lovely ladies. Photo copyright Caroline Williams.
Plenty of public at our food display! Photo copyright Caroline Williams.
A quiet moment. Photo copyright Caroline Williams.
Our fire at night. That's what it's all about. Photo copyright Caroline Williams.
The month before De Vey held a local training event at Newark to advertise the national show. We're so lucky to have this fabulous site in our land grant and thank you Floss for letting us train there!
Where else would you want to spend a Saturday? Photo copyright Caroline Williams.
Setting up early on Saturday morning. Photo copyright Caroline Williams.
Wychurst and Detling
Wychurst continues to be Regia's pride and joy and various group members have been going down throughout the year to work on the Forge and maintain the longhall and surrounds. A small but perfectly formed contingent went down to join in the annual work week. Over forty Regia members braved the M25 to make it down, coming from all over the country. I sadly wasn't one of them but do look at the construction diary to see the work that has been done this year.
Straight after the work week is Detling Military Odyssey where Regia puts on its biggest living history display of the year. As usual a couple of De Vey members made it down again this year.
Regia was pipped to the post for Best Living History display by the Desert Rats this year, but I think Regia's display is still pretty impressive. Above you can see a video shot by a member of the public showing "the beach", i.e. a section of the display. The boats shown in the video are all Regia's and members regularly have the opportunity to sail them.
Aside from the above, De Vey members have also attended the national trainings at Islip (January) and Ashby (March), participated in the Jorvik Viking Festival, and attended lots of local shows run by other Regia groups. All in all a busy year with something for everyone, whether you're into combat or living history.
Thynghowe last month was a fantastic national Regia show, organised by the Friends of Thynghowe and held at Sherwood Pines. Sherwood is part of Conroi de Vey's land grant and so we had a really good turnout from the group, with about twenty adults and ten children on our wic alone.
The Regia camp (out of hours, hence the closed tents).
As Thynghowe is believed to be a Thyng site, a place where the local community gathered to settle disputes and discuss the law, the afternoon featured a Thyng, convened to settle a dispute over land between existing settlers and some of the remnants of the Viking Great Army.
The new settlers bid for their land in front of the lawspeaker (right). Photo by Rosemary Watson.
The local jarl, Toki, is not impressed with their claim. Photo by Rosemary Watson.
This was clearly never going to end well. Photo by Rosemary Watson.
Unfortunately, the parties concerned did not accept the Lawspeaker's decision and the disagreement ended in battle. Photo by Rosemary Watson.
After the battle, the warriors did a demonstration of weapons training, including one-on-one fighting. There is a penalty for winning this...
The Regia children form a spear-line.
They may be small, but there is strength in numbers.
The dateline for this show was 877 which is at the start of Regia's core period. You will notice many of the women wearing hangerocs and not covering their hair and neckline fully, as Viking women of this period did not necessarily do so, not being Christian.
Two ladies in hangerocs. Photo by Rosemary Watson.
There was a great deal going on outside the battle, but unfortunately I don't have photos of it all.
We ran an archery range both days, which was very popular with the public and which large numbers of De Vey used. Archery seems to be one of the most popular activities in our group at the moment, and four of us entered Sunday's archery competition. Toki won the men's competition, and young Arnbjorn came a very close second in the women and children's competition, narrowly pipped to the target by our friend Emma from Grantanbrycg.
Regia put together a great living history display, including a young hawk, the faering (a small boat), a boat burial, a moneyer, and a wide range of crafts from spinning to wood-working.
For our younger visitors, there was also a mystery to solve. A silver cup had gone missing, and there was a lot of finger-pointing and a wide array of shady characters who might have been involved.
You can see more photos on flickr and one of our visitors was even excited enough to blog about it!
