Member Profiles

Joined in 1990 and attended my first battle in August at Himley Hall, Dudley, West Midlands with 4 other new recruits, at the tender age of 19. As I formed up on the battlefield I felt butterflies in my belly for maybe only the third time in my life to that point, and wondered what the heck I was letting myself in for!

As Parliament started to march towards us in wave after wave, coming over the hill in the distance, I really questioned my sanity. By the end of the weekend though only 2 of the 5 new recruits came back for more, and I was one of them! I'll never forget the adrenaline rush of the first engagement with the enemy. It was extremely tough, physical, almost reckless, but fantastic!

I grew up in Old Basing, Basingstoke, with the ruins of Basing House, which saw major Civil War action. I visited it often with my school and saw re-enactments there as a child.

Later in life I worked at a C17th pub in the village, where the Sealed Knot would come to re-enact the events of Basing House and who would descend upon the pub in their masses, standing on the tables, singing weird (but strangely familiar) songs, playing silly drinking games, being extremely noisy, getting horribly drunk, wearing bizarre clothes and drinking the pub dry!

In the end, after much persuasion by the local regiment members (some of whom became regulars at the pub) to give it a try, they eventually wore me down and I thought if you can't beat them, join them, so I did, I loved it, and 20 years later I still love it!

Why I keep coming back ...

• First and foremost it's the fellow members of the regiment. The PRIDE that is felt and the BOND that is struck between the people who fight with a fierce passion, and socialize with wild abandon, together side by side, forges life long friendships that go beyond the normal acquaintances, and forms a large extended family of brothers and sisters, who you trust implicitly.
• Secondly, quite simply, would be the rush I STILL get every time I fight on the field. As Rawdons, we fight fair, and we fight hard, and NEVER give in, no matter what the odds!
• Thirdly, would be the complete escapism from C21st life, for a weekend, somewhere you may never have been before, or may never have gone to at all, at amazing places over the UK.
• Lastly, but by no means least, it is where I met my wife, albeit after about 13 seasons, and having borne me a beautiful boy, (pikeman!), as a family we enjoy the weekends away together with our friends immensely.

Where do I start? I must have been to over 200 events over these past 30+ years with say an average of 7 events per year!

Too many good memories, and too many forgotten memories under the "affluence of incohol". Join up and I'll regale you with some stories over several beers ...

• Promoted to Pike Corporal sometime back in the mid to late '90s because I shouted with too much enthusiasm.
• Then busted back to a regular Pikeman to be given the appointment of Company Standard Bearer only to be promoted back to Corporal immediately afterwards! (Standard Bearers shouldn't have had a rank!)
• Promoted to Pike Sergeant sometime later in the '90s / early '00s (it's all a bit of a blur now, can you tell?)
• Appointed to Pike Commanding Officer around 2004 (I think; who's counting?)
• Appointed to Rawdons Regiment 2nd in Command (2iC) at the end of 2005.
• Promoted to Captain Lieutenant mid 2006.
• Camp Commandant for the Rawdons muster at Ringwood in July 2006.
• Quartermaster for the Rawdons muster at Faringdon in July 2008.
• Promoted to Captain in 2009.
• Appointed to Rawdons Regiment Commanding Officer at Easter 2010.
• Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel at Glynde Major Muster, August 2012