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Now it was time to take it seriously, for sure. After the most basic of training in the use of a mediaeval sword and a lot of big talk about previous contact fighting experience I’d managed to talk my way into a full contact swordfight in front of an audience.

Alan swordfighting with Wolf

It was the first midsummer festival of enchantment and i think some of that enchanted fairy dust must have rubbed off on me because i didn’t do badly at all. Well i didn’t get killed anyway. The audience was supposed to have been more important to us than the fight itself but we figured that the best way to entertain was just to go at it hammer and tongs with no choreography involved at all. There were 5 fighters so we rotated in an attempt to keep everybody fresh.

Intense sword battle

The fight format didn’t allow for breaks or stoppages because we wanted to create as much realism a possible and not have a marshall constantly stepping in and stopping the action. Also in a full contact scenario there’s a lot of strength involved and being used so we knew the fights were going to be short affairs, and they were, but we each had a chance to have a breather then get back into the ring. 25 minutes after we’d started, as the music ended we were all shattered but still upright and, surprisingly, still fighting.

Well it was bound to happen. With all the interest in things mediaeval and the festivals going on and meeting new people i’ve decided to apply my previous martial arts knowledge to a study of mediaeval European swordsmanship.

Learning the basics of swordsmanship

There is so much to learn, and the best way to learn it seems to be through applied practice and sparring. Movements and blocks can of course be practiced and, to a degree perfected while training alone but by far the best way to correct any mistakes creeping in to one’s technique is to have a reliable sparring partner who is prepared to literally beat those mistakes out of you.  A good smack on the head is far faster than repeatedly being told you’re making a mistake.

After one sparring session the week before the midsummer festival of enchantment, and a short session on the Saturday morning, it was straight into my first full contact swordfight. Of course we were using blunt swords, but even though i wasn’t going to get my head chopped off it still hurts when you get hit. The boys who’d invited me to come and play weren’t small either.

Well we did it. Big up and praises to all that were involved it was quite a party. Especially Carol who did almost all the organising this time. Thank you.

Bevan

There was everything we hoped for and a bit more too. The fights, the jesters, the forging and even enough toilets for everyone.

We had highland dancers come all the way from Johannesburg, we had draught beer, cold beer, good food and shade.

Even the weather held up and gave us a beautiful day with a bit of cloud and a gentle wind, but no rain until later when it was time to pack up the armour anyway.

The band was Skin ‘n Bone – yes that’s their name not a description and they rocked the place till pretty late, making for a brilliant end to the day.

I still haven’t quite got the hang of putting up lots of photos on the blog but we’ve put up a lot more pictures on the facebook page

With 2 weeks to go to the 2010 Mediaeval fayre things are starting to get frantic in the Magic Stunts office and the strain is starting to show, as it always will just before a big event. It’s unusual, however, for things to be so advanced as far as the organisation is concerned.

A fairy from Taleisin's tribe. In fact the head fairy

We have the live entertainment pretty much sorted out, with the band Skin and Bone along with firedancers, jesters, stiltwakers, fairy, some mediaeval theatre (can’t wait to see this one myself), the armoured fighting, Mediaeval flea market and craft displays which is more than twice the size it was last year.

The Mediaeval theatre and the stilt-walkers are being provided by Taliesin’s tribe, a group of experienced live entertainers that have become very popular at live events here in South Africa and who perform a variety of different items, including firedancing so the evening’s entertainment shows some great promise as there will be at least two groups of fire performers on the field, possibly even three but we’ll wait until they confirm before we tell you who the third group are.

The armoured fighting will be in a display format this time around as a one day event just isn’t long enough to host a full tournament but this is all a build up for next year’s full 2 day event, at which we will have a full contact tourney with prizes offered and some mediaeval jousting.

After all the messing around earlier in the year, it’s quite a relief to finally be here, after 3 date changes and 2 different venues, all of which was of course beyond our control.