Banafrit and Tameri at the Family Day
After that came the Chadkirk Festival, one of our favourites; and not just because of the wonderful cream teas! This year we set up camp with the Romans just down the lane from the Chapel grounds, and processed up to the main site to perform. Some of the girls also went to visit the well dressing, at St Chad's Well.
Processing (noisily) to the main site
St Chad's Well
Dancing at Chadkirk
The History Alive!! living history festival at Bersham outside Wrexham was a first for us. Dancing in a field is not unusual for us but in amongst vintage cars and old tractors, now that was unusual. Thanks to Ian Woodward for letting us use his photos of the event, you can see more of his pictures here.
Kebi
Meroe, plus some of the vintage vehicles in the background!
The English Heritage Gladiators and Warriors event at Beeston Castle was as well-attended as ever, with over 900 people in the two days. The feedback was very positive . The families loved the gladiator show and the opportunity for the children to dress as either a Roman soldier or a middle Eastern dancer and to join in. I think we hennaed or tattooed half the children of Cheshire.
Wigan didn’t know what had hit it when the Romans invaded. There were Romans all over the place, and we took over the Market Square. The weather was kind up to a point and only rained for the last hour we were there.
Hebba and Banafrit shelter from the rain
We have one more big event scheduled for this year, St Wilfrid’s Medieval Fair in Stockport, which will be a nice way to end the season.
Next year will I hope be even bigger and better. The Roman Festival in Chester on 4-5 June is shaping up to be the biggest in Europe. So watch out for more info in the spring.
