Well when it comes to flags I agree with you John but as it happens I will not be a combatant this year, I've been unable to train for a long time so I decided it would be unsafe for me to field. Because of this im going there and have volunteered myself in the capacity of medical officer for the gig.
I fully intend on bringing down all the helms I have so people who do not have a helmet can borrow one. This is not an ideal situation as people should not have to rely on borrowing anothers safety equipment, however given the fact that head protection is optional

its the best option open to me as id rather not spend the day steri stripping head wounds closed or dealing with a concussion should someone receive an accidential knock to the head.
@ Brendan,
yeah that incident sprang to mind but Iwas not going to mention it specifically, but its exactly like you said safety equipment stopped that being much worse than it could have been, not to mention your matrix move, who would have thought a clanky could move so quickly.
Is there anything we can actually do moving forward to ensure that people wear safety equipment? Id love if we could make re-enactment safer but as to how to go about it ....?