June 2006

Hello fellow Arkies!

Those of us who attended had a fantastic time at the Wilton House event at the end of May. I must admit I had severe reservations about the tactical. I was worried that "Campaign Style" meant a huge amount of marching. I had visions of the 10 mile charity walk to Colchester a couple of years ago, when Boomer and I arrived just in time to take part in the area battle. But happily it was not nearly that arduous.

There were tactical style battles on the Saturday and Sunday. In the morning we were issued with envelopes containing Confederate money (at last after all these years we got paid!) and a "casualty" slip. The slip contained a number and the nature of the wound: for example temporarily blinded, wounded in the throat, or dead! Periodically the umpire called out a random number - and as in the real war, if your number was up off you went to the casualty clearing station for a set period - normally half an hour. Similarly the umpire would also take note if people were not making effective use of cover and designate them as casualties too. At the casualty clearing station you could exchange your "money" for cakes or biscuits. And of course Yankee money had better buying power than Confederate!!

The battles lasted about 3 hours and were really good fun. If we'd had more ammo they could have gone on longer, but as it was, we went through a large amount of powder. Tony Bullett found a "missing order" envelope and was given a reward - a parcel from home. These parcels are made up for a cost of just £10 and contain a really good range of goodies - including period style stationery, edibles, candles and a little bottle of whiskey. Several of us are going to order a parcel for delivery at the Military Odyssey at Dettling. For those who haven't got a parcel due, I'm planning on making up some "letters from home" and having a proper mail call.

In the meantime the next event is the Bloxham Steam Fair 24-25Th June. You will need the car pass to get in. It is a typical arena event.. a small fighting area, in front of the public for about 20 minutes or so, but after that we'll have plenty of time to look around. For those who like real ales, mead and cider, if last year was anything to go by, there should be ample for imbibing around campfire.

A big thank you to: Elaine Haskett, Sue Tibbles, Tristan Chance and Richard Searle. We had a powder filling session at Elaine and Keith's house at the beginning of June. Fuelled by bacon butties we filled 6 kilos into tubes, which should keep us going a while.

I'm looking forward to seeing you all at the Bloxham Steam Fair. Details are as per the map supplied in the last Bugle Call.

Tim Chance, 1St Sergeant, Co. G, 1St Arkansas.