Some time the year before last I got sick of the lack of dedicated fighting events in the Isles, and decided to have my own. Thus was born Cruinniú - which in Irish means gathering, meeting, assembly, the participants on a sports field. In January last year, I harassed, cajoled, encouraged and threatened people in Ireland and the UK until we had about twenty people in attendance, as well as a small group from Nordmark accompanying Sir Torbjorn whom I persuaded to come over to teach. We did a lot of melee training, which we don't normally get to do much, and it seemed people really liked it.
Coming up to this year, I had been up to a lot of stuff and wasn't really intending to run another fighting event, until my Knight noted that it would be a really good idea and he would like to see me do it. I had made acquaintances at previous Estrella War, and Sir Donngal and Mistress Iona from Atenveldt figured they would enjoy a holiday in Ireland and respectively teach fighting and Middle Eastern dancing at this event.
You'll note that I talk about importing knights - we don't have any knights on the island of Lough Devnaree, so a few years ago I started talking my high level fighter friends to come over every once in a while to give lessons, and some others have used their contacts as well. Since they usually go to some effort to teach a bunch of provincials (among whom I include myself) I try to make a bit of a fuss of them at the same time.
Unfortunately, just before the event, Sir Donngal hurt his back and was unable to travel. Happily, his friend Sir Sly and Sly's lady Josephine still made it to Ireland, and Sly very generously dropped over on the Saturday to give people some pointers and to teach a class on the spear. Master Alexandre d'Avigne and Crown Prince Vitus provided individual and pair coaching, and the latter gave a class on efficient pellwork. Master Robert spent much of the weekend with complete newbies, running through his curriculum. All in all, we were quite well served in terms of teachers, in the end.
I was very happy that we had about three people who were complete beginners, as well as others who had recently started and were able to avail of the classes. Altogether we had about 18 people in armour, as well as others doing A&S or cooking, so that the full event was about 30 people.
I felt that the morning slot was a bit slow, although we suffered a little from bad weather. People mostly stuck to the paved areas near the main building, which caused a little crowding and I felt it didn't lift the spirits. After Master Alexandre's class on fighting poleweapons was over, there seemed to be a little drifting among the fighters, so at a future event I might need to think of a way to warm people up, get them going, and possibly provide a little bit more directed programming, although I dislike very strict timetables at events. At this one, we had scheduled the meals, and otherwise we had "the morning slot", "the afternoon slot" and "the evening slot".
After lunch, weather was better, and we were able to spread out into a large green walled off area. I felt the afternoon slot went better - two classes took place, and people did pickups and ad hoc training without being prompted. At one point I looked up from my own training, and saw pairs of fighters everywhere around me, with other people talking and watching, and felt very very happy that such a thing was taking place in Lough Devnaree, where fighting had been pretty quiet for some time.
I had wanted to do something special during the evening slot, after dinner, and had asked permission of my Knight to organise a torchlight tourney. In a torchlit Pas d'Armes, a wide path is formed of torches stuck to the ground. This passage is held by a number of tenants, whom the entering venants must fight in order to pass through and to circle back to the end of the line. Typically, this tourney lasts for an hour. There is no winner: this tournament is about chivalry and the joy of fighting: a deed of arms, which is my favourite kind of tourney. I introduced the format to the spectators, and had all the tenants and venants to introduce themselves. Here, the pool of tenants consisted of the Crown Prince, Master Alexandre, Lord John and myself. Of us four, two held the passage at any given time. Our venants numbered approximately six. An hour was quite a long time of fighting in this format after already being in armour for the entire day, and for the last three fights I ran on a less than empty tank. I had the honour to finish the tournament with Master Cernac, during which I learned to tap into negative energy reserves.
Apparently we are running another such event next year - a household member has offered to steward it for me, as long as I organise the fighting. Now I just have to find someone to come over to teach....
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