Sunday, 21 September 2008

Owain Glyndwr Festival

Today found us just outside Abercrave in the fields behind the Ancient Briton Pub for the third annual Owain Glyndwr festival.
The guild were running a demonstration there and we were asked to dress medieval-ish. No problem for me, I wore my Christmas ceilidh dress. A square of muslin tied on with a plait of yarn served as a headdress and I was good to go. I do so love dressing up.

Unfortunately my louet, though it runs beautifully and is incredibly versatile in the yarn it can produce, is not the most beautiful of spinning wheels. I have been thinking about getting an ashford traditional to take to demonstrations (Deb is using an ashford pictured in the centre) or maybe even a mazurka if I could find one at a reasonable price.

Here are the archers. These chaps meet in Margam Park which is quite close to us. We have been thinking of joining a re-enactment society for ages but haven't found a suitable one yet. These are certainly close but I think V wants to do sword work rather than just archery. I love the long bow but I find them utterly impossible to use, they are a clear foot larger than me for a start plus you need a wrist of sprung steel to bend it even a little.

These are the chaps for us I think - The Freemen of Gwent. It is unfortunate that they meet in Chepstow, too far for a weekly meeting, but we could probably make it once a fortnight. They seemed a nice friendly bunch too.

and so good with kids!

8 comments:

Kim said...

Gosh Sian, already I love your new blog, it's truly enchanting (especially the blackberry whiskey, gonna give that a go!)

Kim x

Anonymous said...

Takes me back in time .glad you enjoyed the day.

Anonymous said...

Looks like loads of fun! I always wonder, though, about being a knight in all that gear, what if you suddenly had to...oh never mind. And I got a chuckle out of alan pardoe's comment - alan, how old are you??? (hee hee, couldn't resist)

Technodoll said...

Once again, I come here on a grumpy Monday morning and leave with a huge grin on my face. Awe! :-D

Nicole said...

Oh, how fun! I need to go to more of this stuff, it's something I love doing, too.

Anonymous said...

deb so old can't remember.going by my daughter sara and sian's family i was there when the wheel was made.

Technodoll said...

Sian, did you check out Gil McNeil finally? I can send you my copy of In The Wee Small Hours but it's the third of a trilogy (didn't know that when I got it, LOL). Still an awesome read though :-)

Wayfaring Wanderer said...

Glad to hear you had a great time, looked like fun!