How It All Began
In 2012 when I was living in West Yorkshire a good friend of mine called me out of the blue.
Me - “Oh hi Steve, how’s you? what can I do for you? “
Steve - “ Fancy doing WW1 cavalry re-enactment? “
Me - “ Yes “
And that’s how my interest in the Yeomanry Cavalry of the Great War of 1914-1918 began and yes I know technically it finished in 1919.
I’ve had an interest in the military and military history since 1982 and the Falklands War, it took place at a very formative period in my life. I’d just left school and was in my first job, I was learning about adult life and this plus lots of great music was a major part. I started by collecting bits of modern militaria, I collected in a scattergun manner, any period any country and after a short time I had a whole load of ex military junk. This left me thinking I needed to find a way to use my ‘junk’ and I started looking around for something to do. I then found a group in a magazine, probably Exchange & Mart of something similar (pre internet days) and dropped them a letter and a few days later a reply arrived on my doorstep with an application form for the WW2 Battle Re-enactment Association (BRA)
I duly sent off my form and a cheque for the membership and waited for a reply. I’d applied to join the US 1st Infantry Division (North) which had members all over the North of England and Southern Scotland. I started collecting the right gear and clothing and took part in my first event at Blackpool Airport in 1983.
I stayed with the BRA for about 4 years until I met my first wife and priorities changed. I sold my kit and settled down to married life.
My wife had always loved horses and so one year I bought her some riding lessons at a local School. I drove her there and watched a couple of times and really wanted to have a go at riding too. Damn I loved it, I loved having the power of a horse, I loved being so high up and controlling such a big beast. I then wondered if I could combine my military interest and riding. In the early 90’s military re-enactment riding was divided into camps, English Civil War and Napoleonic period. I’d never had any interest in the ECW so I found the 15th (Kings) Light Dragoons who were just starting up and offering start up uniform and kit. This sounded perfect so I joined in 1992. The next 8 years saw me spending a fortune on kit and uniform, travelling a lot in the South of England and generally having a great time with the XVLD. 1996 saw the birth of my daughter and a slowing down of events and spending and eventually in 2001 I left XVLD and once again sold my kit (always a bad idea)
A divorce and a second marriage brought me to 2013 and the phone call mentioned at the start of this. In the next blog I’ll talk about my interest in the Yeomanry and how my passion for the North Somerset Yeomanry began.