Basing House was on April 20th/22nd 2019
The weather was better than last year and the Coventry crew arrived on the Monday morning just in time for powder issue, a bite to eat and then off to LH for some sword practice, a game of Goose, pictures and a chat to the public before going off to look for the main army. When it did arrive there was a bit of a surprise in the form of John Addis which could only mean one thing, Lesley would be around somewhere.
I was a little disappointed with the skirmish I am sure that it was shorter than I remember from previous years, the script a little different and we were poorly used by the army commander and the officer in charge of the block Bob and I were in. As the opposition came up the slope we had the opportunity to get off probably half a dozen shots, but instead fairly galloped to close the gap. Needless to say we just fired once from minimum distance. After that we were dragged off to the right wing with the Pike in the centre where we fired two more shots before going in for a bit of hand to hand, one more shot then fall on again. I was beginning to lose the will. Out flanked by a mile we formed up and did some unnecessarily fancy foot drill to march past the enemy as if they were not there and to reform at a safe firing distance. At last a chance to get some shots off, but no we are sent off to the far right of the field where we eventually got off three uninterrupted shots before the day was brought to an end.
I am not sure why we were given the usual 4oz of powder. OK, so we probably missed out on two or three shots at the barn by joining the army at the field but I had made up 18 cartridges and only fired 7. So why as a musketeer (Dragoone) with powder galore would I fire two shots and then go in hand to hand. What a waste. Phil had been in the other musket block with John and seemed to think he had a better time of it, albeit a bit exhausting running up and down the hill all afternoon.
But we could not end the day without seeking out Lesley and spending an hour or so in the pub, the best part of the day!