Joining the ECWS

 So it is about 40 years since I got recruited into the ECWS. I was canvassing in an election and I knocked on the door of the man on the right Gordon Usher. I noticed he had a back and breast and a morion on a stand in the bay window so I asked him about that. 'If you are interested you can find me in most Wednesday evenings' he said and pretty soon every Wednesday I would go round for wargames and chat. Mostly WRG ancients. Frome where I lived had quite a lively ECW scene but I was determined to not join a Royalist regiment. Gordon had a peagreen VW van and we went to wargames shows and events in it. The first event was a Monmouth Rebellion march this being 1985. Despite being on opposite sides politically we became friends and I learnt a lot about reenactment and wargames and this continued until his untimely death in a road traffic accident. These pics are from my first battle at Basing House with him and his son Nick.