A selection of photos from Spring Camp overt labour weekend.

A selection of photos from Labour weekend

A selection of photos from the Waikato Waldorf School Fair in 2014

Ildhafn’s winter event generally is also considered its anniversary. As is typical for the event there was a mix of things going on. Heavy combat, Rapier, Arts & Sciences and plenty of food.

This year the event had a roman theme. Both the tournaments had a bit of a gladiatorial theme to them with a wheel of fortune selecting the weapon forms that each fighter would use, with one of them being a ‘beast’.

Another year and another St Sebastians event. This year about 104 people attended the event. It was truly lovely to see so many people enjoying themselves.

This year we were graced by Konungr Þorvaldr and Dróttning Amabilia, our current Crown. It was lovely to see the Crown at an event again.

As usual there were a number of tournaments.

The heavy tournament had 13 participants. After much discussion it was decided that the format would be 4 melees, with the winner of each advancing to the semi finals. The semi’s and final were fought as a best of 3. Konungr Þorvaldr carried the day after a well fought final against Lord Leo

Spring Camp 2025 was held over the long weekend at Braythwayte Manor. As always I love getting to events at the manor. Spring Camp is a fairly laid back affair with people organising the things they want to do, rather than having a set timetable of activities. The main area of the camp is kept as free of modern things as possible, all food is prepared in camp and cooked over open fires, bread is made fresh and baked in a wood fired bread oven. It was lovely to catch up with old friends and meet new people. I spent a bit of time teaching some basic fencing while Master James did more advanced work with the more experienced fighters. The weather was variable but the sun came out before we had to break camp so the tent was mostly dry.

Cluain hosted another magnificent event over Labour Weekend, October 21st to October 23rd. As always this was at the marvellous setting of Braythwayte Manor just outside Rotorua, New Zealand.

We had 3 days of camping, eating wonderful food prepared from scratch in the camp’s open kitchen and cooked over a fire. There was also dancing, music, fighting, archery, games and craft work.

Labour weekend camp is less structured than most and is very much a ‘bring what you want to work on’ style of camp. While my current health doesn’t allow for much in the ways of physical activity I did spend time playing games and talking with friends both old and new.

Another year and another St Sebastians event. This year about 90 people attended the event. It was truly lovely to see so many people enjoying themselves

While St Sebastians is traditionally an archery focused event, we also had both heavy and rapier tournaments happening.

The heavy tournament had a random weapon wheel. Each fighter was weapons were determined by 2 spins of the wheel, one for each hand. There were also some special weapons, such as a haddock, a broken bottle, rolling pin and troll club, that added to the mix.