Military Odyssey - Detling 2011

By Ashley Holt

Military Odyssey 2011 saw one of our largest turnouts for this event with seventeen members in attendance, not to mention the old hands, or should I say paws: Frazer the rabbit, our canine companions Sian, Sukki, Badger and Pepper, and last but not least Bramble the ferret.

The weather toyed mercilessly with us over the first two days, with short sharp showers alternating with chilly breezes and bright sunlight. One never quite knew what to wear. We were caught in a particularly heavy downpour on our way to the arena on Saturday, but five minutes later we began the display in a field steaming in the sun! The weather improved over the three days and we were able to pack dry, which was the most important thing.

The site felt smaller this year, but then, we do continue to grow. With seven tents erected we certainly filled the space and the degree of ‘overlap’ added a pleasant depth to the display. The Association tent again provided home to the illicit brewing of tea, much appreciated in the fluctuating temperatures, and sleeping room for several of us. The sail tent proved its usefulness when the inevitable rain came down, and the newest addition – the Scythian yurt - looked a treat with its wood carvings, wall hangings and general coziness – it was certainly popular with the public!

Talking of popular, the Russian Cossack group stationed down the road were very keen to photograph our Scythians – or was it just to photograph the ladies? But despite the language barrier they made it very clear that they appreciated this aspect of their culture.

The event itself was a little smaller this year with the effects of the recession touching re-enactor, public and traders alike, however, there was still plenty to see and do, and of course the odd purchase that simply couldn’t be turned down. Groups continue to evolve and the engagement with the public makes the event fun for all. We delighted in the antics of the loud, mock-drunken pirates during the day – until they became really loud and really drunk pirates during the small hours of the morning! A salutary lesson to us all as to the effects of the demon drink. One HA member showed us all the frustrations caused by not setting up one’s bed before the evening’s entertainment and was found asleep at the wheel of their running car! Names have been removed to protect the guilty!

One of many highlights of the weekend was to meet up with Paul Roberts – a former member known to all as Dreddie on account of his dreadlocks. He is playing with modern history as an auxillary for the Romans, but even more shocking is that he no longer has dreadlocks! Many reminiscences were exchanged and it was certainly good to catch up. Stuart Rabson was able to drop by to chat before heading off to fight in the English Civil War again.

Sadly the event was marred by a car-fire on the plastic camp which took out two tents, and in a separate event a fellow re-enactor tragically died on the battlefield due to a heart attack. As was mentioned by many, at least he died doing what he loved.

The evenings and mornings quickly settled into a routine with members alternating between cooking, washing up, getting on with little projects or just relaxing and much fun was had by all. Despite the camp being a hive of activity there never seems to be enough time to get everyone’s work done. Most amusing was the presence of an electric sewing machine.....on a site with no electricity.....such was the desperation to get things prepared for Marathon!

Our arena events looked especially good with the numbers we were able to field and I know we were all sneaking a look at our reflections in the windows of the indoor market – boy did we look good! The extra volume of arrows at much greater range with some running archers made for an effective scene. At this point I must apologise for not appreciating the range my new bow would give me when the hoplites thought they were safely out of range – take heart, the audience enjoyed the way you all suddenly ducked down under your shields! Reece and Pat made their first appearances in the arena - Reece as a Spartan shield bearer and Pat as a Scythian archer – and both acquitted themselves well. We hope to see them both in kit again at future events.

This year we were treated to the appearance of several new characters, partly due to many rotating roles in the arena display, but special mention must be made of Datis, the Persian commander, portrayed by Steve. He certainly caught the eye of the public! I think you need to see the pictures to understand why! The Saturday night ball saw the HA field a Phantom of the Opera, a mermaid, Blanch’s naughty sister, Pretty in Pink and Van Helsing – although Steve insists that this is his normal look and it’s just a leather hat and long raincoat.

The woodpile provided the marshals with something to talk about – those of us with wood-burning stoves descended like a plague of locusts on abandoned woodpiles when the event ended, and when the marshals spilt a large load opposite our camp they were only too pleased to leave it to us rather than clear it away themselves. Within two minutes the pile was picked cleaner than a carcase in a pool of piranhas!

The mystery of the lost trousers was never solved as a pair of ladies trousers were found in the Association tent – everyone was wearing what they started the day with so all I can say is that if no one can remember how they came to be there, it must have been one heck of a night for someone!

T-shirts for the intrepid crew heading to Marathon were distributed. They were historically accurate Spartan T-shirts... accurate because, like the Spartans, they were late coming! 81 years late to be precise due to a typo that changed the date from 490 to 409BC, but this was fortunately spotted in time and Pat kindly ran the reprinted T-shirts to us in time to hand them out.

All in all, a fantastic event and we’re looking forward to the winter’s training sessions with many projects planned: Jewellery, leather flasks, arrow-making, spara building, sandals, linothorax to name but a few. With a little hard work we’ll see our camp continue to grow.

Repacking took much longer than normal but this was because the contents of several vehicles had to fit into Steve’s van in preparation for the  marathon drive to Marathon (sorry, had to fit that in somewhere!) With military precision Steve filled every nook and cranny and to our genuine amazement he did eventually get everything on board – although none of us actually saw him and Jax both in the vehicle at the same time! We all wished Steve and Jax good luck, as the next time we see them will be after they have driven across Europe to take our gear to Greece. Marathon or Bust!