From the 24th August to the 26th the Sealed Knot is putting on a Muster at Newstead Abbey. The Sealed Knot page lists the muster as a Huge Muster. Being a bank holiday you can expect it to be a large muster but I have only seen them listed as Minor or Major.
I am of course hoping this will be hosted by my old Regiment the Kings Lifeguard and I will be there for at least one of the days. The price of admission is just £10 per car and includes access to the gardens, access to the House is just another £1 per person so all in all its a really cheap day out.
For those that do not know, the Sealed Knot is an ECW re-enactment society and at a Major Muster you get to see quite a lot of re-enactors as many as 1000 or more. This event also has a living history village so you can see and smell what it was like in an armies camp.
If I get lucky I might get the chance to catch up with some old mates. Lots of changes since I was last involved, most good but one very sad in the loss of my old Regimental Commander Keith Walker who had become Army Commander. I think this is the first muster since Keith died so it's bound to have an effect on all who knew him. My best memory was after getting my nose broken (again) Keith grabbed me and asked Fair or foul? My expletive answer was soon rewarded with Keith supping a little payback with a knee to the nuts in the next push, bless him :-)
My old Company Commander now has the Regiment and my old Sargent now runs the Company. I really feel the tug of wanting to rejoin and when I am more together I hope to get the whole family involved. It may only be a dream but if so I can almost taste it!
I am sure I would not like to "smell" some aspects of the camp! Wish I was in the UK, looks like a blast!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun day, hope you are able to make it. Have fun and cherish the good memories.
ReplyDeleteAn inspirational organisation, long may it continue.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry for the loss. You wrote this post well. And ten bucks car sounds pretty good too.
ReplyDeleteSounds like fun, not the broken nose or knee in the goolies!
ReplyDeleteYou need a kick in the goolies Ironsides, met some of this lot at a wargames show many years ago!
Delete@ Styx, Your right there. Even the 21st cent sealed know camp could be unpleasant, the portaloo's come Sunday morning for one
ReplyDelete@ Mike, well the muster is about 10 miles away so the only question is how many days to actually go to see it :-)
@ Michael, I think the Sealed Knot will survive for as long as there is real ale to fuel it
@ Happy, Thanks, I know Keith's daughter has access to this blog via Facebook and if she read it I hope it gave her reason to smile, top bloke that he was
@ Ray, the old nose had been really badly broken way before so broke real easy. Once broke it resting on the back of the guy in front of me in a push (I was knackered) and the push hit sooner than expected and band broke again. After that it was doing it all the time for ages, even broke it a few times in bed asleep :-)
@ Fran, We seem to pop up at shows (I ran one at Derby) but not sure if you ever get any interest
Ian