A very Civil War
Posted: 30/07/18 (12:21pm)Sue and I had a great weekend. We've taken advantage of this glorious summer and done something new and interesting every weekend in July. Last weekend we were in Northampton for the "Singing Sticks" didgeridoo and world music festival and this weekend we were at Thirlestane Castle where the Sealed Knot had mustered to reenact battles from the English Civil War.
It is the first time that we have attended either event and both were excellent. The Singing Sticks festival is a showcase of amazing didgeridoo talent from around the world and is held annually. This was the festival's 10th anniversary, and despite playing the didgeridoo for quite some years now, it was a real eye opener for me. I had not fully appreciated how versatile the didgeridoo can be. It is far from being just a droning backing instrument. The Japanese techno-didge sounded amazing and was incredibly, well, technical. I was quite literally blown away. I really wanted to upload some video to this blog but the file size is just too large.
The Sealed Knot Civil War reenactment and living history camp were fascinating, entertaining and very educational. Again, I had intended to include footage of the clash of arms and roar of cannon and matchlock as well as scenes of camp life but even short clips exceed the allowed file size. I'll have a word with my web guru and see if he can't increase the upload size so that I can add to this blog later. For now, here's a photo of some of the Scots Musketeers. The Scots fought on both sides during the Civil War, even changing sides during the course of battles!
Sue and I learned a great deal and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The attention to historical detail was impressive, so too was the knowledge of the enactors and their presentation of camp life during the Civil War.
I whole heartedly recommend both events.
So, what next? Iron Maiden tomorrow night at the Metro Arena in Newcastle. Variety is after all the spice of life!
