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:
Adieu
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