Sunday 3 October 2021

Wholesome park.

 Hole park!  Some would say the flagship event of the Napoleonic association calender each year.. obviously missed in 2020 how would it go in this post-covid but not really post-covid autumn?

I think the sudden panic about petrol probably effected the weekend more than any pandemic issues.. with some late arrivals and early departures and possibly a few would be visitors staying at home, you really can't get there except by car. 

Being outside covid might never have existed, except for sanitizer in the portaloos and a bit around food, and no longer do bottles get passed around the camp fire, which is probably a good thing on many levels. 



I actually decided a few days before to put on a display table and found someone coming along who would kindly bring a fold out table as I certainly couldn't manage one and three bags on the train part of getting there, and got some pictures/information laminated. 

"What is the parsnip for?" May well have been the most common question of the weekend, usually answered with "Oh, that is for my dinner later."
"What, really?"
I actually thought it would be a conversation piece, but in practical terms it was also a good paper weight. 
No one guessed what the most common ailment in the French army was (scabies), dysentery or syphilis being a common guess and 'Lice' one of the closest. 


The display could of course be left unattended but I felt I had a bit too much spare time at Crouch ridge and then not enough here, I had to wait until the public were distracted by an artillery display to sneak off to the ice cream van. 


Whether I will do a display in future is uncertain, and table dependent, our infirmiere/surgeon already runs a grand display when he is with us although I was mindful of how I cover sickness, disease and medicine more than surgery, yet people do love to ask about bits being chopped off.


It was a good crowd, and the chap who owns the estate was very pleased with the weekend with talk of making the event bigger. I'm not quite sure how that would work, make it a multi period event or add something like an evening concert?


My British counterpart possibly being offered a cup of tea. My other roles of the weekend included Imperial coffee valet and returner of lost cavalry pom poms. 

The battles were in a smaller area than normal for Hole park but there were some wooden barricades and a little faux wood to break up the field. 
Casualties were taken generously on both sides but as a 'medic' I was quite limited in who I could reach owing to the firing lines, a Napoleonic no man's land. 

                
                      "Trust me, I'm a doctor."


Sunday being a French defeat, the last survivors withdraw with the Eagle! 

A novel part of the weekend was the after hours (i.e. no public) skirmish off away from the camp. I was asked to be a secret agent 'Ducos' type character that the British had to capture. If we survived an hour we could make it back to the French camp.

There were eight of us in a wood, and two cavalry, just outside and I decided if the enemy came from the front, half of us should fire and retire and hopefully lure the British into an ambush by the second half. 

After about fifteen minutes of suspense we heard the British band playing and assumed the sound was carrying from the camp as surely our opposing force would be about ten riflemen? They weren't going to have a band playing! but soon the sound was clearly coming in our direction. 
Our piquet line started firing at enemy in the trees as the British cavalry met ours.

Soon I had to fall back and seek shelter, with my attached guard, Simon. 
The cavalry met again near us and it was a memorable sight to see light cavalry fighting amid the trees. The Brits rode away but may have seen us.
Suddenly Brits seemed to be everywhere and running round the top of the wood I got collared. 


Crikey. No wonder our plan floundered. The Brits had about twelve riflemen, 3 officers, twenty redcoats, two cavalry and a cannon and crew! I suspect they had just assigned a brigade to it.

              
 Enemy observation balloon?

I certainly don't think it was a deliberate mismatch as I heard the British continue to look for 'the rest of us' after we had been disposed of.
I then laid on the comedy as it was decided I was such a rascal that I would be shot. 
I obliged by walking away, then just before the order to fire was given collapsed into the long grass, then ran away to the left.
No one gave chase but on another order to fire I collapsed into the long grass and threw my hat into the air. Then again lying on my back with one leg briefly being lifted up that was seen as my death throes.


Once again my trousers died, both flap buttons! I think an evening of fine dinning and a regency dance is more their thing... Three days in camp and on battlefields is beyond them. I intend to sew the whole area shut with strong thread. 


       Make Britain French again! 


The picture above, and indeed all the really good, high definition ones, are by Charlie Richards of Hushpuppy productions. 

And so it was the end of a season, three events, all good ones. The tea and biscuits grandeur of Stanstead house, the windswept rise of Crouch ridge and the estuary and the lively timetable of Holepark with it's dashing horsemen and host of friendly faces. 

Who knows what the future brings? It would be niiiice to see some of our continental comrades next year, small scale events have been going ahead but only within their own borders.  So many events (not just reenactment) have been postponed twice that maybe it will be a busy year, third time lucky.

The parsnip survived the weekend. 


                See you on the other side! 



No comments:

Post a Comment