A Woman's Prerogative

So, I was chatting to a friend shortly after the Musgrave event and whinging and bitching about the sorry state of things, and he said that things are the way they are because people have no competition since our (very spekky) group folded a few years ago (shortly after I and the other mover and shaker left, funnily enough)... Now, I have me doots about the veracity of that theory but it was sufficiently flattering and enough of a challenge that I started to wonder - how hard would it be to get back into re-enactment again and give the buggers something to compete against?? Not that I'm a sacrificial lamb type at all (being dragged kicking and screaming into something I don't especially want to do simply to improve the Movement as a whole is SO not me), rather I see getting back into re-enactment as a golden opportunity to show off (yay!!), and a chance to take up a hobby again that interests me and this time do it right - do the parts of re-enactment that I enjoy (researching and making stoof) and stay well away from the parts that I don't (admin and politics). LOL see how long THAT lasts!


So a week or so after the fair, I sat down and did a Feasibility Study (yes, I am a Sad Little Monkey) of getting back into re-enactment, worked out I could do it, do it better than last time, have more fun...


Sooooo.... I'm handsewing another tent (okay pavilion - the bloody thing's 4.8 x 3.2 metres and about 3.4m tall), and getting together all the stuff I'll need to put on a passable display at fairs. I figured that I'd stick with the place and period I was re-enacting before (because it still interests me, not because I've still got the gear for it - I sold pretty much all of it when I gave up re-enactment 5-odd years ago), and I'd do a 'new-and-improved' version of the static display I started playing with in the old group.


I figured on doing it by myself, just me and a tent full of handmade, living history samples of textile production, games, eatin' irons, and assorted bits and pieces about the lifestyle of the period; then my Dad thought it'd fun to come along and preach History to the Heathens; then my children decided they wanted in, too... so I've ended up with a group after all! So much nicer than a solo tour.


Oh, the place and period? Late twelfth to early thirteenth century (i.e. Third Crusade) Cyprus, the Melting Pot of the Mediterranean!


(Pics are of the tent about 2 weeks ago - it's now all painted and hemmed and I'm sewing the roof together)