Posted by steve_pickstock on 07 Oct 2019, 00:49
I get to go again this year!! Yippeeeeee!
I had to miss the last one because of problems with my back, but this year I have a lift and somwhere to sleep so I will be there but not fighting in the battle.
If you are in the area and can make it it is well worth it.
The original battle was fought in 1627 during the 80 Years War, when the United Provinces forces liberated the town from Spanish control.
I have been a re-enactor for forty years now but I have never seen commitment to an event like the people of Groenlo. The old town really gets the treatment with false medieval gates, lean-to's and huts being built around the town. There are campsites of authentic styles of tentage around the place on the old bastions and the site of the old walls.
For the duration of the weekend the streets will be decorated with carts, pens full of animals, fake washing and stalls all over the place.
I know there are a lot of re-enactors from the UK going - look out for Sir Henry Cecil's, and the Blue Regiments, there will be Czech cavalry, Spanish, Maltese, Germans, French perhaps even the Russians will be there again. It's a very international event and well worth the effort if you can make it.
And if you see an old fat clerk/scribe with a walking stick trundling around the place come over and say 'hi!'.