The Bishop at Westminster

Greetings

On Wednesday 23 October the Paladins did an event at Westminster Abbey. This was part of the Anniversary celebrations for the rebuilding of the Abbey by Henry III (I happen to be descended from Henry's brother, Richard, Earl of Cornwall).

We arrived at the Abbey at about 9.00 and changed in the Education Centre in Dean's Yard. Those based in Croyden came by minibus. I decided not to bring armour or weapons and came by Tube.

We then set up displays in the main cloister and in the Chapter House.

I spent most of the time in the Chapter House talking about the arms and armour displays, helping people try things on and keeping an eye on the weapons.  There were quite a lot of tourists and I had to call on my (somewhat rusty) knowledge of French on several occasions, including trying to persuade a very determined small French boy from continually taking hand axes and wandering off with them.

We also did three displays of dancing (to live music on medieval instruments) in the Chapter House.

Here we are in the chapter House

After  we finished and took down and packed up the displays, we were treated to a tour  of the Abbey, ( in our medieval kit) including the shrine of St Edward, the Confessor, the tombs of the Plantagenet kings, Henry VII's chapel, Elizabeth I's tomb and the tombs of Margaret Beaufort, Mary, Queen of Scots and Margaret, Countess of Lennox.

Here we are in the Choir of Henry VII's chapel.

(With thanks to Clare Goodall for sending me photos)

It all went very well. Some people stayed for an opportunity to take pictures in the Abbey church (which is only allowed at set times), but , by then, I decided it was better to try to avoid the worst of the Rush Hour and made my way back to the Tube at St James's Park.

I got the impression the Abbey staff were also very pleased with the way it all went and that they might want us to do events there again.

Until next time

Adieu

Bright Judges 1

Greetings

I have made a clay figure of  one of my Bright Judges characters.

I used aluminium armature wire and small wooden beads to form the figure and built it up with air-drying clay.   The crossbow , shoulder pads and badge were all made separately and the glued in place.

After sanding and finishing it has been painted with acrylic and has been sprayed with matt varnish.

This is Judge Love:

Until next time

Adieu

The Bishop on TV 2

Greetings

I have now seen the National Lottery advert I was an extra in. I watched it on YouTube (I've yet to see it on the TV)

If you look closely, you can just see my helmet behind the chap in the salet holding his visor up with his buckler( on the left of chap leading the knights).

I'm visible for about a second- oh, well, such is the luck of the draw...I'll still get paid (eventually).

Until next time

Adieu

steampunk medals 1

Greetings

I have been known to wear a uniform or two and sometimes these might be a bit steampunk.

Previously I have worn either actual  British medals or replicas.

I decided that it  might be better to wear constructed medals.

I bought some real medal ribbon at a re-enactement fayre and bought (over time) suitable items to use as medals.

I had bought a bag containing an assortment of medal bars at a collectors fayre.

Here is the first medal group that I put together.

Until next time

Adieu

Fimo Judge

Greetings

I have been experimenting with sculpture again.

Here is a first attempt at Judge Lust made from Fimo.

This figure is about 6 cm or 7 cm tall.

I have started  trying to make a slightly larger set of all six Bright Judges in clay.

In other news,We moved the litter tray and Bertie's food into the Living Room and kept Bertie in there, so Malfie could  go out. Malfie was then a much happier cat.

After another visit to the vet, Bertie's last blood test showed his kidney function is back to normal and the vet told us we could let him out( unless he was wobbly due to drugs). We let him out after another day or so.

He continued to get better.

A final visit to the vet confirmed that he is now OK again. We are keeping him on the special food, but he is now allowed a few treats.

Until next time

Adieu

The Bishop on TV

Greetings

on  Monday 23 September I had to get up early and get the car packed and on the road quickly, so I could get to Sandy's house in Balham, pick her up and drive on to Deptford Market to do some work as an extra

But first...Here is a  very old picture I found in my files.This is me a Morden Park at one of the earliest events I attended with the Paladins ( probably around 2004 or thereabouts). I scanned this in from a copy of the local paper and think I still have the original cutting somewhere.

 Anyhow...

We needed to be on site for 10.30, but, knowing what London traffic can be like I left lots of extra time to get there. As it took me twice as long as the Sat Nav estimate to get to Sandy's , I think this was justified.

We packed Sandy's kit in the car and set off, finally getting to the site about an hour early. This turned out to be just as well, as they wanted us to unload straight away into a set of gazebos and then move our cars to the parking they had arranged.

As the parking was at the Greenwich Naval College (some distance away) they had also arranged a minibus to drive us back on site.We then had to spend some time filling out forms and signing consents, before being sent off to get armoured up.

There were nine paladins, five of whom were armoured up. The other four were ladies. There were also three or four guys from the Medieval Siege Society and four guys from another society( not sure which).

It turned out that this was for an advert to celebrate 25 years of the National Lottery. I'm told the advert will be being shown from 17 October.

On chap was chosen to lead and sing a line and we all had charge forward and chant a response, looking happy and unaggressive ( charging forward in full plate). We filmed this several times, sometimes with flags, sometimes without and sometimes running through blue smoke.

Then they gave us lunch. After lunch we had to form a big parade with all the other groups.

There were people in mobility scooters, Caribbean dancers, British Olympians ( including a very well muscled young man in Lycra), female basketball players, a brass band, the Royal British Legion and many others.

We then had march forward looking happy, waving banners, whist the band played -many times, while the took shots from various angles( including from above).

Towards the end of this  a light rain started and this encouraged the director to decide he had enough footage.

We went back to the gazebos and ( with one notable exception from the unnamed group) all helped each other wipe the raindrops off each other armour and generally dry off in the hope of preventing rust.

The filming had been due to go on till 8PM, but the director decided he had enough footage of knights at about 5.30. We disarmed and packed up our stuff and I left Sandy guarding our kit, whilst I was shuttled back to the car. Cas then helped me find the right postcode on my Sat Nav to get back to the film site.

Sandy and I packed up and then I drove her back to her house, helped her unload and got back to mine by about 7.30.

In the end it was lucky I had been released early. Our cat, Bertie hadn't been in the previous evening fro his treats as usual and Teddy said he hadn't come in for supper either.

I was just assuming he might have got himself shut in somewhere when I found him on the sofa.

I picked him up to take him in for his treats and he started to make distressed noises. As he continued to make these noises, even when I wasn't touching him, we decided to call the emergency vet.

It was lucky that we took him in quickly,as he had a urinary obstruction, leading to an overfull bladder that he couldn't empty himself

 The vet has been treating him and he has made a good recovery, but any delay might have caused either a rupture to his bladder, or kidney damage.

I went to see him on 25 September and was able to spent half an hour fussing him. He was much more alert and very happy to see me.

He came home on the evening of  26 September. He's much better and there is no damage to his kidneys. We acted quickly enough, thank God.

We have to give him lots of pills and keep him in for three days ( So Poor Malfie has to stay in too). We also have to introduce a new food for them both, as the vet does not want any other food to be available to Bertie. This also means - no more treats.

Once the new food is fully introduced we will have to pass the rest of the old food and the treats out for the benefit of our neighbours' cats.

We are having to shut them into the sewing room when we need to go out ( as Malfie is very sneaky and very fast)

Bertie is bearing it all stoically, but Malfie does not understand and is quite upset.

Until next time

Adieu

Leatherhead show

Greetings

On 21 September the paladins were booked for a one day show at the shopping centre in Leatherhead,

When I arrived I discovered that not only was the High Street pedestrianised, but it also had a market on it. I also found that we were being set up in three gazebos inside the shopping centre. There was a stage set up at the entrance and an area being cleared where they thought we could fight, but it all looked a little too tight for comfort.

Anyway, once some more of us had arrived and I had been allowed to move my car from where I had tentatively let it in Waitrose car park, we got everything out and moved the gazebos so we were not right in front of a shop doorway.

We then moved the cars to the parking they had set aside for us.

I suggested that we put up hangings on three sides to (hopefully) increase security a tiny bit and (hopefully) stop people coming in from all directions. This was actually very effective in this case and no member of the public pushed in past a hanging, but we still had to ensure that there were two people watching the weapons rack at all times.

I volunteered to be the knight who was armed and stood on the stage whilst Tony and Alex armoured me up. This, unfortunately, meant that I had to dance two medieval dances in full plate, due to the timings.

We then formed up for a parade up the high street and back again, with me in the lead ( as that meant we were going at a pace I knew I could sustain)

There was a local group doing some choreographed fighting and once Tony had watched them, we decided that we could do a bit of fighting if we were careful about distance.

In the end we  did three bouts. Robbie against Fred (his girlfriend) with sword and heater shield, Me against Alex and then Tony fought Robbie and Fred.

For my bout, I fought Alex with hand and a half . This went quite well, except that Alex had forgotten to put on his gauntlets over his gloves and ended up with a bash on the finger.

It was the first time the client had tried to put on a medieval show and, in general, they did OK, though it took quite some time for the sandwiches they provided us for lunch to turn up.

Here is a picture someone took of me and a young punter at Dover Castle:

Until Next Time

Adieu