12th Century in The Castle, 14th - 15th April 2018

Day 1: Glorious day weather wise, and very impressive visitor numbers as well... Lots of show and tell in the Keep, with scaled down combat display, worked well and was very well received by the public; opening up the new rooms in the Barbican to allow demonstrations, greater visitor access and interaction worked very well with Morag, Jenny and Fiona taking over the new Matilda room... the loom drew lots of interest and having three crafts on the go really brought the room alive; in addition to having George naal binding in the Stone Hall and Papa in the Court Yard with full leather work stall there was plenty for people to see and do (note; Papa's leather lamella armour, 70 hours of hand stitching, is awesome).

Archery competition on the American Lawn to finish the day off was a great hit to the visitors sitting out in the sunshine... well done Master Johan (John Steels) for being top archer...All in all a great day... My thanks to all those who were able to attend today... Here's hoping for another excellent day tomorrow.

Day 2: Reinforcements arrived although sadly not bringing the back the sun. Another great day interacting with visitors, combat and crafts galore.

My thanks to Morag and Ania for bringing to life the Matilda Room, and Georgina and Jane for braving the hoards in the Stone Hall.

Some great combat in the Keep and on the American Lawn, and some excellent shooting by the archers to finish the day... My Lord of Arundel once again waved his behind in the archers direction was justly rewarded with some bruising...

Another two very successful days at the castle, with lots of positive comments from visitors and staff... Very big THANK YOU to all who were able to attend and support the event.

Cheers All.