SWASH
SWASH stands for the Symposium on Western Arts of Swordsmanship Through History. It is a two-day event run at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, usually incorporating the BFHS AGM as well as a gala dinner on the Saturday evening. The Saturday and Sunday daytime sessions are devoted to seminars by international instructors and tournaments in weapons such as longsword, backsword, rapier and smallsword.
Two seminars (or a seminar and a tournament) run back to back, ensuring that there are few slots where there is nothing to interest any given attendee. There is also a dedicated freeplay area where those who choose to do so can pick a fight with random passers-by or get a lesson from whatever fencing masters and other assorted riff-raff happen to be nearby.
SWASH tends to be very varied, with classes on subjects as varied as the Burgundian Pollaxe and Point Control In Smallsword Fencing. 20th-century military combatives (the Sykes-Fairbairn fighting system) have been covered, along with material from the earliest known medieval combat manual and How To Defend Yourself With A Handkerchief. There are also lectures on subjects ranging from wound mechanics to how to scare a dog and other peculiar advice found in fencing manuals.
Two seminars (or a seminar and a tournament) run back to back, ensuring that there are few slots where there is nothing to interest any given attendee. There is also a dedicated freeplay area where those who choose to do so can pick a fight with random passers-by or get a lesson from whatever fencing masters and other assorted riff-raff happen to be nearby.
SWASH tends to be very varied, with classes on subjects as varied as the Burgundian Pollaxe and Point Control In Smallsword Fencing. 20th-century military combatives (the Sykes-Fairbairn fighting system) have been covered, along with material from the earliest known medieval combat manual and How To Defend Yourself With A Handkerchief. There are also lectures on subjects ranging from wound mechanics to how to scare a dog and other peculiar advice found in fencing manuals.
The gala dinner at the Armouries takes place on Saturday night, and is followed by the traditional drinking-dry-of-the-bar.
Backsword tournament 2014.
Gala dinner in the Hall of war
I was a marshal at SWASH. So I got a marshal's hat.
Sabre Tournament
Longsword Tournament Finalists