A little over a year ago I came away from a living history event with the seed germ of an idea. I’d been knocking around re-enactment groups for about twenty five years and I was feeling a bit jaded. Definitely looking for some new scenery. I was starting to get into Steampunk, an aesthetic that I’ve always liked but all the events I went to seemed to be about shopping and promenading in fancy clothes. The music scene wasn’t really grabbing my attention but I did like the retro look. Victoriana with a bit of creativity.
What I was looking for was some camping and outdoor life with that Retro \ Steampunk vibe running through it but I wasn’t finding it.
I talked to lots of people that said they wanted something like that as well but I couldn’t find anyone actually doing it.
I started sounding out the idea online and found considerable interest in the Steampunk community but also amongst re-enactors and the Bushcraft community but still found nothing happening.
When an opportunity came up to get a beautiful camp site in the Midlands, complete with a Scout Hut, for the early May bank holiday weekend. I took a huge risk and booked it.
Almost instantly, most of the people that had shown interest online from the Re-enactment and Steampunk communities backed away saying they had other things to do. It was easy to see why nobody had tried to do this sort of thing before.
I was almost tempted to give up, there and then, cut my losses and forget the whole thing, but a few of the bushcrafters were still intrigued.
I held my nerve and pushed on. I think somebody once said “If you build it, they will come.” I had fairly good idea of what could be achieved but it would be down to us to prove it.
We organised a small photo shoot on the Halloween weekend. bushcrafters are not put off by a little cold weather, and with a handful of decent pictures we started promoting the idea on here and on FaceBook.
The interest certainly grew but there was not much sign of commitment really.
In the end it was a small gathering, not much larger than the photo shoot but we were treated to the best weather anyone could have hoped for.
Many people in the bushcraft community already enjoy a traditional approach to camping. Low tech, retro styled equipment combined with a make it and modify it yourself attitude are, in many ways, perfectly in tune with the Steampunk ethos.
I knew the practical side of the event would be no problem but I didn’t know how things would balance between the simple old school camping and the more eccentric aspects of Steampunk.
When Steve had finished pitching his tent and hung his newly finished Iron Hat over the entrance, I knew I had no worries.
What was great to see was how many people had been gathering paraphernalia and making their own clothing.
We’ve all taken our first tentative steps into a new environment but the sheer enthusiasm and curiosity on show from everyone here was very encouraging.
A new type of event is always going to be a learning curve of course. I think I probably learned as much as anyone over the weekend but one thing that is almost universal amongst the camping fraternity is the easy comradeship of the camp fire.
New friendships were made and old ones refreshed. Most people were perfectly capable of being independent but the communal fire rig soon became the beating heart of the camp, as I hoped it would.
One thing I must say. After thirty years or so of camping with Re-enactors, Larpers, Bushcrafters and many others, I have become used to the early morning ritual of cleaning up the campfire circle. Removing bottles and beer cans, plastic bags and fag ends. Sadly, it’s almost universal.
Imagine my surprise then, when rising early on the first morning, as is my custom, to find the camp spotless ! Not one thing needing to be picked up ! and not just around the camp fire but throughout the whole camp. I could have wept with joy. After all these years, these are exactly the sort of people I want to camp with.
We had decided to hold a best dressed tent competition for a bit of fun and Damian and his brother produced some fabulous medals a set of chips that people could cast their votes with. Debs and I disqualified our set up as we had been at this sort of thing a bit longer than everyone else and when the chips were counted on Sunday the results were clear. In traditional order.
The Bronze medal went to Phil’s amazing collection of equipment, all squeezed into in the smallest tent of the camp.
The Silver medal when to Pete, with possibly the largest tent but sadly I olny seem to have taken a picture of the table outside.
Another fine collection of interesting stuff though.
The clear winner on this camp though was Colin with a mid sized wall tent laid out in simple but very effective style, well done to all the winners.
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