Viking Medieval Market, Botanic Gardens, Knotty Ash, Liverpool, posted by Naima

The 21^st May 2016 found us at our second new venue of the season, and a first for the Vikings - Knotty Ash – but alas, not a single Diddyman in sight!

We had a slightly soggy start and were in fear of the whole day being a complete wash out, but the Ya Raqs girls are ever optimistic! We managed to put up our little tent and had it looking warm and inviting in no time at all.   The weather may have prevented us from performing at our allotted time in the program – but it didn’t dampen our spirits, despite now being almost ankle deep in water! After a mug of hot tea and a bacon butty we were raring to go!

Still slightly wet underfoot, but if it's good enough for the Vikings....

At one point we thought we were going to have to do our performances in our little home from home, but hey presto, all of a sudden the rain stopped and the sun actually appeared.  So we wrung out our very wet floor coverings and jingly belt, threw them over the bushes behind us to dry; got the music box going and started doing what we do best, performing for our adoring fans. There was a slow but steady stream of people now venturing out and making their way through the muddy gate.

Naima, Meroe and Phoenece - a bit soggy but still dancing!

We had a couple of extra dancers – the first was a lovely Viking lady, who we had met before at other festivals, the second was a young dancer enjoyed getting dressed up and had all the moves in her jingly belt.

Our new recruits

Our neighbour was Cartoonist George Brooks and Naima thought it would be lovely to have her portrait taken. It wasn’t quite what she had in mind, but oh how we laughed!  It was a very good ‘likeness’ you must admit. It is amazing how in just a few minutes he could capture your likeness even down to the curls in the hair and – dare I say it – the double chin! A very talented man.

Naima with her new portrait and artist, George

It is amazing how we always manage to find cake, even in the middle of a muddy field. Knotty Ash was no exception and we found a stall with a wonderful array of cakes and pastries for a hungry dancer to choose from.  We’ve met the lady who runs this stall before - I am sure she follows us around – but they were just what we needed.

As the sun shooed the clouds away and more people came to see what all the noise was about, we performed our next set of dances. And we still managed to fit in some beautiful glitter tattoos in between our performances.

Meroe doing glitter tattoos

As always there were plenty of photo opportunities and today was no exception. One interesting character was a very important looking man from vikingasaga.co.uk and his body guard Toki Miklasson (aka Shaun) from Travellers Through Time, who took the time out to talk to us.

Naima and Kebi with Viking Saga (aka Ian Uzzell) and Toki Milasson (aka Shaun)

All too soon another fantastic day was over. But, just when we thought we would be able to pack away our tent in the dry, it started to rain again. The joys of the great British Summer – but what is a little bit of water?  We all had a brilliant time and the rain didn’t manage to dampen our enthusiasm for entertaining.  We even had a very nice compliment from one of the stall holders, saying that we had brightened what could have been a very dull day.  Everything will soon dry and we’ll be ready for our next event before you know it.

 Thank you Knotty Ash Viking Medieval Market for having us.  See you all very soon.