livinghistory.ie

I don't usually see the point in lots of messages saying that events were great etc, but this is maybe a bit different (feel free to think otherwise!)
At the weekend myself Paul and Hugh traveled over to Conway in Wales to an event organised to coincide with the opening of the new warehouse/shop by 'The Knight Shop' (Who are online).
In the process of building Bryan built a Western Martial Arts training facility upstairs in the warehouse - something impressive in itself - and then held an event targeted at people who want to learn more about specific aspects of Western Martial Arts, with courses given by some of the leading European instructors.
Elements covered included:

Bartitsu, or how to fight with a gentleman's walking cane with a bit of scientific boxing thrown in. This is a martial art based around a system introduced around 1900 and was not only interesting but good fun to try out. This was given by James Marwood(?)
Dave Rawlings from Boars Tooth gave a really good workshop on Liechtenauer longsword techniques. I already have a DVD of his on the Royal Armouries MS I.33 system and this was up to that standard in terms of presentation
After that was a full contact Longsword tournament wearing body armour and using weapons designed for the purpose. I expected to get destroyed as I have little experience of the specifically WMA style of sparring, but am quite happy with how I fared. Hugh managed to advance to the quarter finals.
On the second day we started a little later.
The first workshop was on the (Italian) Fiori de Libieri system of Longsword given by Matt Easton of Schola Gladiatora. Apart from being interesting to try out the differences between German and Italian systems (which are significant) I also learned some cool new techniques specifically relating to disarms.
The final workshop was relating to Fiori system for dagger combat - the most complete surviving dagger Manuscript, this was given by Colin Richards. It was quite interesting with its focus on lines of attack and how to mess up the opponent with minimal effort

So, 9 to 6 on the first 10. 10 to 4 on the second day (had to leave at 3 for ferry), well worth the effort.

The single thing that struck me most was that the instructors definitely had clearly differing but valid interpretations of the sources, but that during a workshop the instructors word was law and no other instructor interrupted with contradictions. It was good to see how people who disagree can work together.

It was a great weekend of training with very good support - free bottled water and tea all day.
Of course the Knight Shop probably sold more than a little equipment, but it was well deserved for having put on such a good event.

Brendan
PS> I still ache

It certainly was a weekend to remember, and I can't wait to see what Bryan has in store for the future. I certainly came away wanting more....though the way my body feels now I have to ask the question "why does something I love so much, treat me so badly"

The Longsword contest was an eyeopener. We all expected to get our rear ends handed to us on a plate. But as Brendan said we gave a good account of ourselves. I lost my first bout by one point, to the eventual winner, and won my second.

The arena was a circle of about eighteen feet in diameter demarcated by a white band edged with black lines. You could cross the first black line into the white band, but cross the second, and you lost a point.
You gained a point by a dealing a committed strike to any part of the body, but if that was followed by a successful counter to head or torso then a point was awarded to your opponent.

The Stickler (referee) was the same guy as refereed the WMA world championships, and kept everything controlled in the arena. He had an amazing ability to remain invisible to the combatants until he had to intervene. The judging panel completed by three other judges spaced around the circle. Two of these had to agree for a point to be awarded.

There was the very real sense of being in on the ground floor of a new sport. It was run efficiently and professionally. As it is an infant sport, an email went out to combatants and spectators asking for constructive criticism....in fact asking us to be as harsh as we needed. so a real feeling of being part of something and being valued.

As once again Brendan has said, the seminars were well run, with top flight instructors...maybe for some of us a little basic at times, but I never shy away from honing foundation skills, so not really a complaint.

Roll on the next one

ah im jealous its a pity there is not a bigger interest in wma in ireland now i LOVE reenacting dont get me wrong but wma is great too and something i have a huge passion for. i heard about this weekend before and sounded great im just jealous i was not there