Iron Mum and Bushcraft

[Seoras]

Hi all

Had a great time volunteering at my wife Alison's Iron Mum event this weekend in Bramley (Hampshire).

Alison runs a local charity raising the fitness of local women and they have an annual race (run/cycle/sprint) at the end of each training season (this is the 5th)

I get involved in the marshalling and doing Bushcraft at the Fun Day part.

Thought I would share a few pictures of my day.

This was as much as I saw of the race. Once I had the marshalls sorted and the ladies were off it was down to Bushcraft for me. I was assisted by my friend Michael Dann who ran the Atlatl for me.

I ran Bowdrill with the kids and Dads

Plenty of brews

A bit of Bale throwing next door

Went through a few drills (Picture courtesy of Apple Photography)

Bowdrilling with my son (Picture courtesy of Apple Photography)

3 five year olds being very protective over their well earned coal (Picture courtesy of Apple Photography)

Puff the magic dragon (Picture courtesy of Apple Photography)

A bit of Atlatl thrown in

The girls got painted up for the event as well (Pictures courtesy of PDM Photos)

Hopefully got a few of the Dads to look up the BCUK site as well.

Cheers

George

 

[dave53]

hi george looks like you all had a good day great pics regards dave

 

[crosslandkelly]

Great pics George. Love to see the kids doing new things.

 

[Paddytray]

I wish I knew this was happening .
I used to live in bramley and would of loved to have took my boys and met old mates at there same time .
It looks like you all had a good day .

 

[Seoras]

Cheers guys

Everyone had a great time.

Very weird doing bowdrill with all these ladies sprinting around us at the finish

George

 

[Ogri the trog]

Brilliant photos George - especially the "Puff the magic Dragon" one. You can see his snout just below your ear, his eye in front of your and about to stretch his wings near your nose!

One for the fire spirit collection methinks!

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Seoras]

Brilliant photos George - especially the "Puff the magic Dragon" one. You can see his snout just below your ear, his eye in front of your and about to stretch his wings near your nose!

One for the fire spirit collection methinks!

ATB

Ogri the trog

Cheers Pete.

My original thought for the title of that picture was to do with my son and his face paint.

Now that you have spotted it I can see it as clear as day.

I have added it to my Facebook album on Fire Faces with a tag to you.

Maybe we should have a sticky on here for Fire Faces (if there is not one already) as quite a few folk are posting up Fire Faces now. What do you think?

Cheers

George

 

[Dean]

Great pic's George, looks like a great time was had by all who attended.

 

[Macaroon]

Happy kids learning stuff - what more d'ya want? Always makes my day...............Great pics of the kid's faces, and +1 for the Puff the Magic Dragon piccy - that's a gem! Oughta be in the Photo of the Month comp for sure!

PS Both the girls in the last two pics seem to have large hairy arms for children of their age - and the same taste in watches, too!....................atb mac

 

[David Morningstar]

Great pics! What is the spec of your atlatl darts? We find that 5 feet of 9mm dowel tipped with a heavy 11/32 archery field point works well for youngsters. If you can get the atlatl to counterbalance the dart when loaded this helps a lot.

 

[Swallow]

Brilliant photos George - especially the "Puff the magic Dragon" one. You can see his snout just below your ear, his eye in front of your and about to stretch his wings near your nose!

One for the fire spirit collection methinks!

ATB

Ogri the trog

Oh Wow! thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Seoras]

Glad you like the Puff the Magic Dragon picture. I will post it in the competiton post - You never know.

Re - the Atl's David - To tell you the truth I mostly use bamboo darts as I am teaching kids a lot. They do not have points and I have various sizes as some of the kids are as young as 3.

I use various types of Atls depending on the age of the kids. I particularly like the Innuit style with the support at the front with a locking mechanism on the dart. This negates the need to pinch the dart.

Here are a few pictures.

From left to right:
1) Standard quick Atl (Pointed)
2) One Stick Willow Atl (Split Stick)
3) Squaddie Proof Atl with bolt rest (Pointed)
4) Lovelock Cave Atl (reproduction) (Split Stick)
5) Cheddar Gorge Atl (reproduction) (Split Stick)
6) Yew Atl (Pointed) with rawhide handle and antler point (wrapped in sinew and pine pitch).

What I call a Squaddie Proof Atl (great for the younger kids as well) - Not very natural but does the job.

A more traditional looking one.

A few others can be found here on my Photobucket site.

http://s1065.photobucket.com/user/Bushcraft_Days/slideshow/Atlatls?sort=6

Cheers

George