Living History

CVHF LIVING HISTORY 2013

We pride ourselves on not only having a wide array of historical periods on show at the Festival, but also drawing upon the very best re-enactors and historical interpreters in the country who all believe passionately in educating and bringing history and the past to life.

Each group will have their own encampment, and any one of their number will be happy to share their experience and knowledge, showing how the people of that age lived, ate, and fought, and what clothes they wore and the tools and traditions that were the bedrock of their day-to-day existence.  Each year we will give one period particular prominence and this June it will be the Napoleonic Era.  For this we are particularly pleased to be welcoming the Waterloo 200 Committee and the Napoleonic Association, and have not only a number of talks on the subject, but also living history demonstrations linked to the Napoleonic Wars.

Back by popular demand will be Sword School and Have-a-Go-Archery, as well as a new immersive First World War Trench experience. There will be firing demonstrations, drills and skirmishes in the new Battle Arena throughout the weekend, and a re-enactment of the Battle of Vitoria, which took place two hundred years ago.  This will be the main event in the Battle Arena on Sunday 30^th and promises to be an incredible spectacle.

World War II
This year we will have representatives of most of the major combatant nations.  There will be a Radio Tent, with Allies on one side, German on the other, and will include demonstrations of a real German Enigma machine and secret service equipment.  The site will also include a field hospital, again split between Allied and German.  We will also be running a Home Front theme, with a Police Station and a Child Evacuee Experience.  There will also be a downed Messerschmitt 109, and a large number of other displays, including live-firing weapons demonstrations.  Another feature of the encampment will be a number of vehicles, including Allied and German tanks, Jeeps, half-tracks, and trucks.

First World War
The centrepiece of the this year’s First World War encampment will be The Trench run by the 10th Essex Regiment, although there will be much else to see besides, and we will be welcoming the Essex Yeomanry and the Warwicks back to the Festival, as well as German troops, a Nieuport bi-plane and plenty of equipment and demonstrations.

Napoleonic
In keeping with our Napoleonic theme, we will have a large number of re-enactors from this period, all contributing towards making an impressive encampment. They will be bringing to life the military living, tactics and battles of the period and giving an accurate portrayal of life on the campaign trail. With the support of Waterloo 200 and the Napoleonic Association, they will be giving a number of demonstrations, culminating in a re-enactment of the Battle of Vitoria.

17^th Century Life & Times
17^th Century Life & Times will be making the Sieges of Wardour Castle during the Civil War the focus of their activities at this year’s Festival.  As a group, they set themselves particularly high standards, allowing the use of only authentic items of clothing, equipment and utensils in their encampments.  They will be giving weapons and drill displays and as with all our other groups, will be happy to talk about and discuss any aspect of life during the Civil War and throughout the seventeenth century.

The Plantagenets
This year, to tie in with the talks we have about Bosworth and on the Plantagenets, our Middle Ages encampment will be covering both the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of the Roses up to the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.   We have a number of groups joining us, including the Paladins of Chivalry, Deeds of Arms and the Beauforts Household.  There will be demonstrations, music and food, and plenty of weapons and shining armour…

The Dark Ages
In support of Neil Oliver’s talk on the Vikings and Michael Wood’s event on Alfred the Great and his family, we are glad to be brining the Early Medieval period to the Festival.  The Vikings are the oldest and largest Dark Age re-enactment society in the UK and pride themselves on their accurate and educational portrayal of the period.  In this encampment there will be Norsemen and Anglo-Saxons, who be living, eating, breathing and fighting like men and women from more than a thousand years ago.

SORRY BUT NO DOGS ALLOWED ON SITE

No children will be allowed into the event site unless accompanied by an adult or within a school or college group; this means anyone under 16 years of age. There will be a clearly demarcated Lost Child Point in the Ticket & Information Tent.