Bushey Park 2011

By Ashley Holt

Chestnut Sunday proved to be a fantastic event, and one that I think we’ll be very pleased to support again.

We were a smaller team this time, with only five of us arriving on the Saturday for setting up: Steve, Jax, Jeff, Hywel and myself. Plus, of course, Fraser the rampant war rabbit. However this meant we didn't have enough people to put up the large tents, so we were obliged to seek assistance. Once again the reenactor community proved generous spirited, and a group of strong lads from a nearby camp soon trotted over to help. After several failed attempts, including a broken roof pole in the command tent and hasty whip round for tools to fix it, the tents were finally up. Our thanks to David, Wayne, Damon and Danny of Rolling Thunder, The Vietnam Experience, for their help.

Bushey Park is a beautiful setting, and as a royal park had security and plenty of attendants. The rule on no fires on the ground was unfortunately forgotten by one resident pyromaniac, whose name shall go unmentioned to protect the guilty. Suffice to say, a blanket was rather strategically placed for the whole show.

How is an ordinary park different from a royal park? In an ordinary park you have to scrape dog mess off your shoes, in a royal park its deer and swan mess! It was eerie to note that the deer were not at all far away and were keeping an eye on us. During our evening meal one even walked along the outside line of our little encampment.

Talking of meals, there was much speculation if venison would be on the menu. It was. Jax seemed determined to go hunting with her new bow and was eager to show us how terrifying she would look when she shot an arrow. Unfortunately for her the bow proved very springy and leapt from her hand to land two metres in front of her. Her enemies died.......of laughter!

Another plus for royal parks is that their portaloos don’t smell like portaloos! I’ve always wondered what a clean one was meant to look like. Now I know.

On the Sunday we were joined by Glen, Ed, George, Tammy and Nippy, plus his very well behaved bull terrier Ruby, and we look forward to seeing them both again. Given that I’m told Nippy has great legs, a career as a hoplite could be beckoning!

The three tents we had brought formed a useful camp layout that stood out amongst the other re-enactors for all the colour. Boy, did we look good! Now, the big impact on the site was Steve and Jax’s incredible work in the ‘Command’ tent. The painting of the tent itself looks great, but the extra work on the furniture is outstanding. Am I exaggerating? Drool over the photos, go green with envy and decide for yourself. Now we all know what Steve and Jax have been doing on all those dark winter nights! We are told that there are more surprises in store, hopefully in time for Broadlands!

And talking of new paint jobs, we were greeted by new shields. Howel’s snake shield design, affectionately known as ‘Lowly the Worm’, has grown up and become a teenager. He’s got attitude now. Howel also brought along his new Gorgon shield – a terrifying sight indeed. Tam has done a stunning job on Jeff’s shield depicting the god of fresh water, Achelous.

We were very popular with the crowds and were swamped at times. Being a free entry park in the middle of London, plus having a funfair on site with the added attraction of re-enactors, proved a massive draw. The weather may also have had something to do with it. All weekend Zeus and Apollo argued over who should rule the skies, and at first we thought Zeus would hold sway, with rain on Saturday night and first thing Sunday morning. But Apollo tiumphed in the end, providing brilliant sunshine for the event. We knew the sun was doing its job when Jeff declared that the trainers he’d left outside in the rain all night were dry enough to wear!

As usual we received impressed reactions and various enquiries as to whether we were the Romans - we really need to work on some signage! However the prize for the greatest intellect goes to the lady who asked “Are you the World War 2 lot?” I think it is fair to say, we were lost for words!

We did not have an arena event, but the day was based on a walk by all groups down the road through the park. The sides were lined with the public and there was a great atmosphere. The parade was rather eclectic with members of a local stable (sans horses), the local Harley Davidson chapter, and a disabled support group being joined by World War 2 vehicles, police cars from the past, veteran cycles and re-enactors from our period through to Desert Storm. I’m told that this was much better attended than last year which bodes well for next year.

Jeff was kept busy alternately sewing a linen bag and acting as an agony aunt for the public with his oracle stones. Perhaps we should ask him to predict the weather for us? We all debated his character’s development and I think it was agreed that Theo is a very pleasant pheasant plucking pheasant farmer.......at least that’s what I think I heard.

Tammy experimented with producing charcoal and ink sketches on parchment. This could be a real crowd pleaser so we look forward to seeing more, Tam.

Ed, George and Jeff practiced their javelin technique on each other. This will really add to our arena events.

At the end of the day we raced the rain to pack in the dry and again managed to completely clear the site in two hours. The slight problem of Steve’s brake cable snapping on his trailer was solved (alright, temporarily botched) with the aid of some duct tape. Is there anything you can’t use this for?

All were agreed that it had been a good event and we look forward to seeing it become a regular fixture.

Volunteer tent erecters: Damon Hatcher, David Hall, Wayne Jenno, Danny Jerran-Smith

Jeff's new shield, painted by Tammy

The oracle... and Jeff

Back row left to right: Ash, Hywel, Steve, Jax, Jeff, Ed. Front row: George, Tammy.