Why we love reenactments

By Kelly Allen

If you’ve met us or follow us on social media, then you’ll know that AJ and I LOVE taking part in reenactments. Our specialist topic is Italian WW2, and we attend shows across the UK each year to share our knowledge about this period of history. Here’s where we’ve been this year!

Suffolk Military Show

We love this show so much! It’s the only show of its kind in the region and their third ever show, and we’ve been to all of them. This year, it was held from Friday 26th July to Sunday 28th July, and our entire group attended. See here for details of this show…

I usually dress as a field nurse and run a hospital, providing information about medical equipment and how the Red Cross helped behind the lines. However, this year, a German group dropped out at the last minute, so our battle started to look a little sparse…

For the first time in many years, Pepe made a return! I put on my male uniform, painted on a beard using a burnt chianti cork, and went into battle with my group. I manned the machine gun and died spectacularly in battle. I also had a great time playing with The Lone Rat group (this group pay homage to those who fought in North Africa).

Military Odyssey

This well-known show is the best of the best and the biggest multiperiod reenactment in Europe. Held from Friday 23rd August to Monday 26th August this year, my group has been attending this event for 15 years. It’s by far our favourite! See here for details of this show…

Sadly, the weather was pretty bad on the Saturday, resulting in fewer members of the public in attendance. Also, as it was not safe, all of the battles were cancelled. However, the weather improved on the Sunday, and for the first time my parents made the journey to spend the day with us. It was great to show them around, and let my Dad have a go on a few of our weapons…. Dad was smiling like a kid in a candy store!

I had not planned to “Bob Up” (this phrase originates from a specific Blackadder episode). However, The Lone Rat group told me they’d missed me in the Sunday battle! So, on Monday, Pepe made another return to man the machine gun once again! After dying spectacularly, I got dragged around the battlefield as a rather convincing corpse…

And our newest member to the group attended her first show too… 3-month-old Odett! Her amazing parents, Olivia and Pete, even made her a little nurse uniform to fit right in. Cute!

Victory Show (Cosby Air Show)

This year, the show was held from Friday 30th August to Sunday 1st September. As a result, this meant a very fast turnaround for us, as we only had 3 days between this and Military Odyssey! But as it’s only 15 minutes from our home, it was an easy drive, and the best thing was that we could bring our dog, Hela! See here for details of this show…

Hela loves being outdoors and quickly became a true reenactment doggo! In fact, I think I talked more about her than the WW2 kit… The public wanted to fuss her, and they loved hearing her heart-wrenching story. Of course, Hela loved all of the attention too!

At this show, we were joined by an extra member of our group, who even made us dinner on the Saturday night. They provided the public with amazing stories and insights about WW1 Italians and the Dolomite mountains.

As it was our last show of the season we all got together to make plans for next year. We did a bit of admin, and we started to plan our full admin weekend away in the off season. As our group live all over the country (and some live out of the country), we only get to see each other at shows. We are like a family – a weird, nerdy reenactment family – but a family none the less! And booking an off-season break with AirBnB is something we all look forward to.

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