We found we had a new Commanding Officer, Maurice's second in command. Christopher Peterson-Royce. WHO? was our cry, for we had never seen him at two years worth of Musters. We didn't see much of him as Commanding Officer either. By this time I was in effect second in command (probably only a Sergeant) and we had decided amongst ourselves to change our uniform and our weapons I informed the new C.O. and his non-response was considered a YES.
OUT went the braided PVC buff coats, the PVC bucket tops and the little gold lions on everything. We actually obtained muskets ... Well, I say Muskets, they were actually modern shotguns. I managed to alter the wooden parts slightly so mine looked slightly less like a shotgun, but it wasn't easy loading with the nature of the weapon being obvious. If one turned one's back on the public, the shotgun could be broken and the cartridge inserted without being spotted. Misfires were relatively rare occurrences. We were actually issued with shotgun blanks at powder issue and were constantly being moaned at for not picking up the spent cartridges which always littered the battlefields.
In a relatively short space of time the appearance of the Regiment had changed. Now wearing burgundy wool doublets and sporting muskets (of a sort) we had reached the same level of authenticity as most of the other Regiments in the Knot. From this time on, there has been a long and gradual improvement. Every time a piece of clothing needed replacing, it was replaced with something a little more accurate. Muzzle loading percussion cap muskets replaced our shotguns, to be in turn replaced by good reproduction 17th century muskets. The Fencing sabres were replaced with safer, heavier swords and the pink sashes were replaced by red, but for officers only.
Our new commanding officer lasted about a year in his new position. There was a sort of coup, with some members of the Regiment having a stir and a lot of support from the top by John Richards (who had helped the Regiment organise a muster at Mount Edgcumbe near Plymouth) and the Captain Generall himself, who promoted me to Major at the Mount Edgcumbe Muster. I suddenly found myself as commanding officer.