Newsletter Number 79
May 2003
From The Colonel
Dear
All,
It's
that time again for me to write a few words, but I'll try and keep it short so
as not to bore you all too much. (Oh! Cheers George!!!!! Ed.)
I
understand from those of you who went to Berwick that it was quite a successful
weekend and, hopefully, something major might come out of it in the future.
Although
there are no major musters in the pipeline at present we do have an event to go
to each month, the next one being at Romford on 14th 15th
June. It is being organised
by Chip and therefore as much help as possible will be needed in setting things
up and dismantling everything afterwards. As
I have said before, someone is working hard to organise an event for us so the
least we can do is to give them our support!
Not
much else to say at present so I look forward to seeing you all on 14th
15th June.
Editorial
Welcome to your favourite comic especially now that the
season is well under way and thus far seems to be going great guns. Cheriton
naturally provided us with our first meet of the year and once again the weather
Gods smiled on us in that benevolent ways of there’s by freezing us over night
before entertaining themselves even further as they roasted us during the march.
As usual though the beer was good, the scenery idyllic and the company
excellent, although this year we did miss the sheep, as all the land has turned
arable. Presumably the result of Foot and Mouth!
The following weekend saw the hard core make the trip from
all over the south, upwards to the far flung and highly unlikely setting for a
civil war muster, that of Berwick upon Tweed, a mile from the Scottish border.
Although it wasn’t an authentic muster as such, I must say it was a very
enjoyable weekend, the local’s were hospitality personified despite some
dampening and ungracious rumours the previous week by a certain colourful
cavalry Officer, mind you it was helped when we were billeted in the T.A. Hall
in Berwick with the resident regular army internee keeping the bar open for us
until 6:00am both mornings. We even did exactly as we were told on the Saturday
by going round to all the hostelries in town to see if they were hiding Scottish
spies and despite some dodgy navigation by yours truly, our party hosted the
best pub in town and steadfastly refused to be relieved by the relief crew when
they came staggering along about three hours later. Bit of a pity that our
Sergeant Major retired somewhat earlier than usual, but what the heck it was a
good afternoon.
Enclosed with this newsletter is the warning order for the
next event, that being Chip’s muster in Belhus Park, naturally it would be
great if we could get as big a turn out as possible and, as it sounds like a fun
event you could even think about bringing along that new recruit you’ve always
been promising yourself to bring along. Actually thinking about it, this year is
as good a time as any to bring some new blood to the regiment being that we’ve
got quite a lot on this year (see below), and there are (reading between lines)
some more possibilities in the pipeline for later on.
14th
– 15th June 2003 – Romford, Essex.
Living
History, Skirmish – Hopton’s – Confirmed.
(Warning Order Enclosed).
*******
19th
– 20th July 2003 – Misterton, Notts.
Large Skirmish – Blackwell’s – Confirmed.
2nd
– 3rd August 2003 – Pulham, Dorset.
Living History, Skirmish – Tydesley’s – Confirmed.
24th
– 25th August 2003 – Lytchett Minster, Dorset.
Living History, Skirmish – Hopton’s – Confirmed.
*******
6th
–7th September 2003 – Corfe Castle, Dorset.
Living History, Drill display – Hopton’s – Confirmed.
A
couple of Eventplan weekends to pencil in your diary, please note both are
unconfirmed at the time of going to press
13th
– 14th September 2003 – Sheffield, West Yorkshire.
Living History, Skirmish (History in Action type thing) – Unconfirmed.
*******
10th
– 12th October 2003 – Bolingbroke Castle, Lincs.
Siege,
Living History – Unconfirmed.
Letters and Articles
Message
from the Membership Secretary
Thank you to every one who coughed up at Cheriton, it was fairly painless for everybody involved I think. Could members who haven’t paid yet, please pop a cheque in the post to me ASAP. Hoptons will be fined £2.00 for every late membership received after 30th April. The regiment has far better uses for it’s limited resources than paying fines. So please think of your regiment and pay by the end of the month.
Ale!
Or: my brain hurts more than yours!
Pubs,
like Tiggers, are wonderful things.
Include
the muster beer tent in your thinking, and the prospect of going to, the act of
sitting in, or the sheer terror of it closing, occupies an inordinate percentage
of brainpower amongst members of the society at our events.
Before
the Romans came our way, the blue rinsed battalions of Celtic warriors were well
remembered to have gone into battle fired up on mead, but with a surge in
population during the days of empire, not just here but throughout northern
Europe, a substitute had to be found when the supply from the bees couldn't keep
up with the demands of the people. The solution devised was to adulterate the
mead with malted barley3, an easily grown and plentiful grain. As
years went by the honey content grew less until sometime in the dark ages a pure
malted barley drink emerged. The Germanic tribes called it "Alu” the
Saxons “Ealu” and, in the fullness of time, the English called it “Ale”
The
problems with this brew were mainly twofold. Firstly it didn't keep very well,
often going sour quite quickly (there are several old songs glorifying ale when
it was 'new'); and secondly a major lack of consistency in the taste and
strength. Being a cottage industry in many villages, the people who managed to
keep to a good recipe were valued for their brewing, while others tried to sell
a few gallons of home brew irregularly. The malt was also used more than once,
resulting in a fine, strong ale to start with, and the subsequent brewings
becoming weaker and less tasty. The storage headache was solved by adding hops
to the brew (as early as the 11th century) which vastly increased its
longevity, but naturally the embryonic CAMRAites of the time decried the
adulteration of their ale, and the drink was consequently termed
"beer".
The other half of the subject is the Pub. Yet another Roman invention, the drinking house has gone through many guises (and disguises) through history, but by the seventeenth century it was present in three very distinct forms:
The
Alehouse of the period was literally that: a house that sold ale. Away from
major towns the job of brewing at that time fell to the women of the village
(except for special occasion 'church ales' and the like) as a part time
occupation. Consequently the brewer's house would be opened for passing trade to
sell her home brew. Every village had several, none were permanent, and the
wares could easily produce the 'staggers', 'trots' or both at the same time! The
Tavern was an altogether different animal. A permanent establishment, often
buying and storing ingredients for as long as possible, it was a place to eat (as)well,
not just drink. Usually without accommodation, it catered for more passing
trade, and was somewhat more concerned with the quality of its products.
At
the top of the tree was the Inn. An hotel to travellers with money, the inn was
firmly out of reach of the common man, exclusively the preserve of the gentry.
The quality of its food, ales and wine was excellent for the times and, prior to
the great travelling revolution of the eighteenth century, a place of quiet!
In
an army on the march, as well documented by several diarists, there was a very
rigid social strata. Consequently if the army came upon a town the
establishments had their own sets of visitors:
On
the Lostwithiel campaign the King usually honoured the local squire by taking up
residence in his house the senior generals, peers etc. stayed at the local
inn…..the other officers enjoyed themselves in the tavern .....and the common
soldiers, if they could get permission, removed every dubious barrel of ale
possible from all the alehouses in the neighbourhood, and sat on soggy ground
getting inebriated around a camp fire!
Sound
familiar?
Martin
4.
Martin, the article is wonderful and obviously, exceptionally well received,
but I can’t let this one go! The latter day Camra members have ensured that
Mild is all too often served in plenty of good establishments all over the
country and is also the subject of a Wetherspoon ‘monthly mild’ festival in
February (I think). You’ll have to come out with me again and get yourself a
degree in mild drinking. Also where would ‘Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild’ fit into
your equation? (Ed!)
Pip
Hopton’s Address
Book
Since
you have received this newsletter, it should be safe to assume that most of you
have realised, at least at some time in the past that we, (being the
officialdom:-)) have all of your addresses, phone numbers date of births etc.
Obviously we keep them as secret as possible and don’t give them out to
anybody else from within the society unless we think it prudent to do so. And if
you believe that etc etc………. Anyhow I intend over the next few months to
compile a list of everybody’s name, address, telephone, email and reproduce it
in every newsletter much the same as we do for the officers on the front page.
I’m sure this
would help one or two people during muster time to locate and arrange lifts,
pick ups, liasing for beer rations and everything else, without the need of
looking up the membership secretary or Georgie or more importantly……..me!
Therefore if anybody has an objection with their name
being included on this list. Or any other piece of information that it may
include (remember you did gave it in the first place!) please let me know and
I’ll not list it.
Pip
Of
Mice and Mars
A
long time ago in a county far far away a band of brothers decided that the time
had come for things to change. This came to pass because of a sudden and
communal revelation, aided by the consumption of mood altering but entirely
legal substances such as Guinness TM, that the prestige of the
regiment was not being as enhanced by the spectacle of the Public Formation
Drinking Team (Pubfor) as had been the case in the past. "Time has moved on
and the audience has changed, they have become critical and demanding, expecting
actual entertainment for their money," was the communal battle slur.
"From this moment on Pubfor is no more, it is an exdisplay, If it wasn't
leaning against the bar it would have fallen over."
Then
one amongst them who shall forever after remain nameless swayed up and declared
the formation of a council of Whore (WHOse Round Eh!!) to decide what had to be
done. After a long and reflective silence it was decided that only a select band
should embark upon the quest for 'postures new'. They hoped that keeping the
numbers few would allow them to pass unnoticed under the fiery gaze of the
mighty and feared Fairfax and achieve their goal.
Long
and hard did these men of mighty sinew battle against ignorance and derision and
their determination never faltered despite ill informed prejudice. "We are
doing this for you all not for our own selfish pleasure," they cried,
"You must surely see that we would not have ordered another round except
for needing more pint glasses so that we can model how twenty pikemen and twelve
musketeers wheel to the right about."
At
long last they knew they had found it, it felt right, this time it would work.
The fruits of their labour were unveiled to public acclaim and Mars Bite Size
The DisplayTM was born.
Many
years later it has come to pass that one of our 'furry' friends has been seized
by the same desire. We wish them well and hope to save a small portion of their
collective livers by detailing our tried and tested solution to the problem.
The
display is divided into four sections.
1.
Basic
drill.
In
this we demonstrate
a) Opening order.
b) Doubling ranks
c) Marching by
divisions
d) Facing square
in divisions
e) Forming the
order of march
f) Wheeling by
division into order of battle
2.
Postures
of pike and musket.
The
number of times this is performed with both divisions simultaneously going
through the postures is dependant on the size of the display area and the
position of the audience.
3.
Battle
formations.
The
demi-hearse battle
The
sconce battle
4.
Salute
Using
a prince of Orange Wheel manoeuvre to bring the front proper facing the audience
salute the crowd and march off in column of march.
………………..Was
I supposed to fill in the blank ISBN number? If so I’m terribly sorry but I
don’t know it. Don’t you remember the rush to seize the booklets when they
first came out? I was trampled under the rush of drill hungry new recruits in
their desire to have a signed copy of the book, meanwhile I had to trudge off to
the beer tent to drown my sorrows with a signed first edition copy of Harry
Potty’s Philosophy on Drill!
Ed
Future Warning Orders
Pip