This weekend was an arts festival in my city. It has happened every year for about the past four or so years, and features music, dance, comedy and lots of street theatre performances. I'd be hard pressed to choose a favourite event from the weekend but there was a jive party on Friday featuring King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys.



There were lots of well-dressed ladies and gentlemen, some of whom could swing dance in a very impressive manner. Unfortunately as it was absolutely freezing, my own outfit was covered by a coat (must invest in a more appropriate one at some point, but at least I was kept slightly warmer than I otherwise would have been). I did learn how to do the Charleston Stroll though, which I'm pleased to say I'll now be able to join in with the next time it gets busted out at one of the reenactment events.

The events on Saturday took place during the day and fortunately the weather was a bit warmer.. my eye had been drawn to one of the events in particular, "Flights of Fancy" which featured a wonderful contraption called a "Flycycle".

Rufford Abbey "On The Home Front" assorted photos, 2nd September 2012

Rufford today was fantastic as expected, although I didn't have as much time to look around as I would have liked due to having the whole clan along for the ride including WWII Marines veteran Granddad.

Lots of photos were taken once again so I should be able to share those once they become available to me.

The next event I am going to be attending is the Sherwood Through The Ages multi-period event so I will need to start deciding on an outfit for that soon. Although there will be re-enactors for many periods throughout history, the website also mentions 1930s, 40s and 50s dress as being acceptable. Having read some of the information, it appears they have pretty strict rules regarding being appropriately in-character if you are going in period dress, although I'm not totally certain if it will apply to me as I'm not going as an actual re-enactor. Possibly some more research is required before I turn up in vintage garb and end up getting chucked out for using my mobile phone or something. I'm digging some of the earlier historical periods though - if only I could outfit myself in Edwardian or Regency clothing, for example.

Following that is the Papplewick 1940s weekend for which I will be (obviously) in 1940s dress. I'm gradually getting around to sorting out enough stuff to wear at these things.. I do think it's nice to be dressed in something different each time as it was very easy to recognise people at Rufford today who had been dressed exactly the same at Crich.


The above photo was taken by my dad and the car is a delightful Cadillac which just happens to match my trousers rather well (although is a little too modern for a Home Front event!). I've developed a real taste for these re-enactment type events and I definitely have my eye on a few bigger ones for next year. Hopefully I can bribe my parents to keep giving me lifts since I spend all my money on clothes at the moment instead of car insurance. I may not be able to drive then, but soon I will have a wardrobe full of fabulous clothes which is much better, right?