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March 2006

EDITORIAL
Hi and welcome to another edition of the Reprise I want to thank all the people who have sent me articles to be published.

The rumour is that a number of male fencers got dressed up for a evening out at the Inter-Services held at RAF Cosford ???? Why have I not yet received incriminating evidence to support this rumour. There must be some budding journalist willing to put pen to paper or even have photographic evidence.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who helped me proof read the magazine namely Susan Taylor Cpl King, and Cpl Reed.

Further thanks goes to all those people who supplied me the names for the photo, I’ve included the photo and names in this edition on page 14 so go and have a look. If anybody has anymore photos they would like me to print just drop me a line so that we can make the arrangements. The photos in this edition are from a recent deployment made by the Combined Service Fencing Team to Canada, read the article on page 11 to see which RAF fencers were selected and how they got on.

IF you have any ideas on how the magazine could be improved or you want to see different articles included please let me know. I was toying with the idea of putting the magazine onto CD, but the feedback I’ve received indicates that people would still like the magazine in paper format so this is the way it will stay. On this note is there anybody who could help me with printing future magazines? See all you RAF fencers at the Seniors in May………………...

Editor Contact Details

Cpl Shaun Taylor Editor
HSMU RAF Boscombe Down
Amesbury
Wiltshire SP4 0JE

Email - hol-a.hsmu@boscombedown.RAF.mod.uk
shaun.taylor@baesystems.com
Telephone - 01252382783

COMIC STRIP
Cartoon kindly printed by permission of Lisa Lagergren
Http://homepage.ntlworld.com/davidtcook/lisa/strip/index.html/






COMPETITION TIME
There were no correct entries for the last competition, I’ve highlighted the hidden words so you can all check to see if you answered correctly . So no winners of the key ring 3 weapon tester, therefore the prize carries over into the next competition

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There were no correct entries for the last competition, I’ve highlighted the hidden words so you can all check to see if you answered correctly . So no winners of the key ring 3 weapon tester, therefore the prize carries over into the next competition

Throughout the magazine I’ve put random face pictures like the ones above, all you have to do is spot the two RAF fencers who were part of the Combined Service Team that went to Canada last year. I’ll give you a clue, I’m not one of them. So entries to the usual place, me, and they must be in by the 28 June when the winning entry will be drawn. Good Luck to you all.

BAYONET FENCING IN BOMBER COMMAND
Bayonet Fencing in Bomber Command or, Why did the Russians Tremble? by 4183804 SAC Thompson, E.H.

50 years ago (yes, 1956!) I was posted to RAF Lindholme, then home to Bomber Command Bombing School. Three or four of us used to wander along to the gym of an evening – P.Ed. was a casual business in those days – to play with the kit there, particularly the rifle-and-bayonet equipment. This may not be familiar outside re-enactment circles, so let me describe what I can remember of the gear:

We wore heavy full-length breeches and jacket like an épée fencer under a kind of plastron that had great fat padded ridges like the Michelin Man. Hanging below came a brown leather protector like the mother of all sporrans. On the left hand went a sort of boxing glove, and on the right a conventional fencer's gauntlet. The ensemble was topped with a thing like a kendo mask without shoulder flaps but having a substantial throat guard.

The rifle was about the size and weight of the old Lee-Enfield 303, with a pretend bayonet mounted on a spring inside the dummy barrel. The business end was a padded leather button an inch or so across.

Someone must have shown us the basic guards, and the simple thrust, lunge and lunge out – enough at all events for us to clown about merrily poking and prodding at each other with these things.

Then the preliminary rounds of the Royal Tournament (Fencing) came along. The Bomber Command event was scheduled to take place at RAF Lindholme, and some bright spark noticed that while the station had an active fencing team for the foil, épée and sabre events, there was no-one to take up the bayonet for Lindholme.

An impromptu barrage was held for those of us who had been playing about with the Michelin suits, and I seemed to be least bad, making me the station rifle-and-bayonet champion. A week or so later the foil and épée fencers and sabreurs from other stations arrived to compete for a place in the Bomber Command fencing team. Funnily enough, no other bayonet fencers turned up. So without getting into my plastron and sporran, I found myself elected Bib to the Bomber Command. ('Bib' was the name of the Michelin Man in the adverts, from Bibendum est = time for a drink . I had no problem with that.)

And in due course we went off to St Athan for the RAF championships. Here a disadvantage of my outfit emerged. Where the real fencers could pack everything into a modest case, I had an enormous carrier to hold my massive helmet, sporran, plastron etc. Plus of course the pretend rifle. It was bulky, it was heavy, and it attracted comment everywhere. At Cardiff I heard one child say: Look you, a guitarist! Her friend replied that it was never a guitar – a double bass, maybe .

At St Athan it got worse. Search as our team manager would, he could not find the venue for the Bayonet competition. It turned out that there was none to be found. The event had been withdrawn, or the RAF had withdrawn from it. Someone told me it was because the Royal Marines always won. Supposedly they could hold the rifle out with one hand and whip through a double-disengage without breathing hard. No-one ever got near them.

I was probably relieved, but must have looked disappointed. They took pity on me and let me have a stab at the team épée. I doubt if I scored a hit, but the bug had bitten and within a couple of years I was back at St Athan as a bona fide member of the RAF Germany team. They were ten a pfennig, though, whereas there's not too many with a line in their CV that says Rifle-and-Bayonet Fencing Champion, RAF Bomber Command, 1956 –

THE BRAILSFORD PAPERS
By JT Gary Brailsford

After the Sussex open the next on my long list was Leicester. My weekend started 6pm Friday helping to set the venue up. The Saturday for me started fine I arrived early at the venue and had no problems checking in. My first hint of a problem was when the pool sheets were recalled. The new sheets soon came out and myself and SAC Ben Kerry (who by the way had just come from a 51 st at the British Cadet & Junior Championships 2005) started fencing. My fights didn’t go to well, with lots of 5-1’s and 5-3 defeats. It was going to be a quick foil comp this year I think. Ben in his first big open put up a brave fight, making his opponents work for their hits but like me failing to win, though his opponents did say he was showing a lot of promise. My day almost took an unexpected surprise for the better in my DE as I took a lead into the final period but my opponents’ greater experience took its toll, as he won the fight 15-12. Now thanks to the way the day was going I just managed to make the check in for the Sabre. To cut a long story short after various problems the Sabre was stopped, a meeting held which resulted in around 20 fencers walking out and a re-check in being required. With the sabre starting again around 4. Like the foil I failed to win any fights and lost my first round DE very quickly. SAC Allan Reynolds in his first open faired slightly better with his results, but the final outcome for both RAF fencer was the same a long and interesting day. The Sunday dawned and feeling refreshed after an enjoyable night with my fellow Cornish fencers and Al it was off to the Epee. After talking Al into doing the Epee we both faired badly with both of us not making the cut. Into the plate we went unfortunately we both went out early but for part of the day we enjoyed our fencing. Overall a disappointing weekend for many reasons but I’ll be back next year to do better.

Next on my list was the Welsh open. Unlike other years I was only doing the Epee this time. It was another large entry for the Welsh with 145 in the men’s event and 115 in the women’s event. The level of fencing in my pool was high but with some close fights I managed to win 2 out of my 3 fights meaning for the first time in 3 years I had made the cut. This set me up with a last 128 against Steven Batemen from Reading Fencing Club. In the first period it was a close fight with both fencers scoring good hits. With Steven taking a 2 point led into the first break. As the second period started Stevens greater experience and training started to tell as he slowly stretched his advantage, eventually taking the fight 15-9. It was the comment paid to me by my opponent that made me feel better after this fight, when on chatting after the fight that the score didn’t reflect the fight and it should have been closer and only a lot of luck on his part had stopped it being a lot closer. All in all after the Welsh I was feeling better about my fencing, I’d fought well and made my opponent’s work for their hits finishing up in 84 th . As for the other RAF fencers George Liston finished in 23 rd and Andy Alcock just missing the cut in 115 th . In the ladies Sarah Chambers finished 96 th and in the Foil Graeme Hart finished with a 24 th out of 150.

Now any sensible person living in Cornwall would of taken a rest now but not this idiot. The weekend after the Welsh I found myself in the London area to attend the little Sir William Perkins. With a small entry in the Epee of only 25 I was looking forward to a fun days fencing. With 2 rounds of pools I managed to win 6 out of my 10 fights, beating along the way a top 100 fencer in the way of Vilya Harvey. This set up a DE fight with my old friend Lian Rugheimer who I’d fought on may occasions. After a fun back and forward fight, old age and cunning beat youth and daring, with Lian winning 15-13. Leaving me in 18 th place this is a good little event for anyone wanting to start on the open circuit. A friendly venue and well run on the day I would recommend this to any RAF fencer who wants to get out and enjoy their fencing.

The last event of the year now came round the Hereford & Worcester open. Unlike a lot of other opens this one has the Epee on the Saturday. With an entry of only 129 the numbers were down on other years. The up side of this was all this people missing were the Cadets and Juniors so no small people to fight for once.

With just one round of seeding I wanted some good results. Once again my inability to keep a lead let me down wining just 3 out of 6 when I should of won 5. Though I wasn’t the only one having a bad day as I found out when I saw my first DE match. I found myself against a top 135 fencer Dominic Beaven. I can’t remember too much about the fight till the last period when with things very close at around 11-12 to me or 12-12 Dominic went for his 5 th or 6 th foot hit, quickly moving my foot out of the way I got a lovely hit on the arm, unfortunately as I landed the hit I also stood on Dominic’s blade, this had a telling effect and seemed to put him off, letting me take the fight 15-14. A very hard fight that could of gone either way. Still on a high from that fight I then found myself drawn against a top 50 fencer in the form of Ben Measures the number 5 seed. Well I’ll give him a hard fight and make him work for the win I thought. Again things were close as first I took the lead then it was level the I took the led again only for Ben to draw level again, this carried on all the way to 14-14 when with the final attack of the final period I managed to parry Ben attack but failed to land the repost. As the clock ran down Ben was defending like mad trying it seemed to run out the clock. With only seconds left my attack seemed clean through only for a desperate parry repost to hand victory to Ben. The only bad thing I took from this fight was the only time Ben was leading was when he went to 15-14, I was kicking myself but not to hard as I’d taken the number 5 seed to the very limit and it told on him as Ben crashed out in the next round 15-6. A happy way for me to finish my year with a 51 st . George had a good result to finishing 10 th . The 2 other RAF fencers Andy Alcock and Alan Woodward finishing 102 nd and 113 th .

HAPPY 2006
And the first event of the year is the Cambridge Winter Tournament. Still suffering a little from the Christmas excess, I found myself a bit slow on the piste for the 2 pools only wining half my fights over all. With only 57 fencers it was going to mean a higher seed in the first round. To make matters worse I end up drawn against on of the fencers who beat me 5-0 in my second pool. This could be over quick. Now was time for a pleasant surprise as from nowhere I discovered how to fence again, running my opponent up and down the piste, trading hit for hit. Though it was all too much to late for me as for the 3 rd DE fight in a row the score ended up as 15-14 but this time to my opponent. Another good display from George as he finished in 5 th place with Sarah finishing in 20 th . Yet another good little comp for people to do. Run the same weekend as the Scottish open a lot of the big names will take the trip north.

Almost at the end now, with just the Plymouth left to go. At last I thought a local open, I don’t have to travel the night before. Foil is the first order of the weekend with 2 rounds of pools and an incomplete 64 to look forward to. The first round of pools went ok with 2 wins and 3 defeats, setting me in mid table for the second round of pools. With me warmed up and getting the hang of this Foil thing. The second round carry’s on where the first left off and only gets better wining 3 out of my 5 fights.

With some good results of 5-2 and 5-3 for and 5-4 against I seed in 19 th place, setting up a last 32 with Andrew Mcleod from Gwent. The first period stars well with hits being traded 1 for 1. With the score at 5 all at the first break. Unfortunately Andrew is the better foilist and soon starts to work out a led landing some good hits to my shoulder and side. He eventually took the fight 15-9. Still not to bad for Foil and a good warm up for the Epee on Sunday. A good curry and an early night seem a good way to warm up for the Epee and it seems to work as I win 2 out of 5 in my first pool. The second pool fails to live up to all the early promise. Winning my first fight 5-1 and losing my second 5-4 to the best in the pool, my next two fights are both defeats of 5-4, again I fail to land the killer blow. The up side is a second win in my final fight 5-0. Still I can’t complain, seeded joint 20 out of 34. This sets up a fight against the number 14 seed who just happened to beat me 5-4 in the second pool. A storyteller couldn’t of written it better. As my opponent Adrian takes and early led of 3 point into the break. A change of tactics sees me claw it back to 14-14. Yet again another 14-14 situation, just this time the luck is with me as we both miss our attacks, I get me arm back quicker to win the fight, setting up a last 16 with Andre Jooste from South Africa. Unfortunately this fight goes with the seeding as Andre the number 4 seed repeats his win over me in the first pool wining 15-7. Still I can’t complain, he beat me 5-0 in the pool and I’ve moved up from 20 th to 15. The one other RAF fencer there was Shaun Taylor (ED) who I’m afraid to say I didn’t get to see fence but ended just outside the last 8 in 9 th place.

Well how to sum up. Some good results, some bad and a lot of close ones. Overall I’m happy with the last few results and hope it is the start of a trend. We’ll find out soon, next stop Slough.

THE COMBINED SERVICES FENCING TEAM
A team of 14 fencers from the Combined Service Fencing Association deployed to Canada in Nov 05 to participate in the 36th Royal College Kingston Invitational Tournament 2005, in which the team attained 3rd place. The tournament was officially the largest fencing team event in the continent of North America with over 150 reams participating. The RAF was represented by Flt Lt Sharon Booth, Fg Off Graeme Hart, Sgt Phil McNulty, Cpl Kat Jolly, and Cpl Shaun Taylor.

RAF BRIZE NORTON FENCING CLUB
Hello to everyone out there in Fencing Land! Those old enough, and not yet succumbing to senility, will remember that I once produced an article for this esteemed publication about the highs and lows I experienced founding and running my own fencing club at RAF Uxbridge. I believe the time is now ripe for a sequel describing the events here at RAF Brize Norton and the adventures I’ve had resurrecting the club from its hibernation.

A Brief History

I got here 12th February 2002 to what turned out to be a rather superb posting at 216 Squadron Operations, as with any posting it’s always better to knuckle down and concentrate on being proficient at the new job before trying to take on extra duties. At the back of my mind for the first 4 months at Brize were the memories of watching previous Brize teams winning at numerous Junior and Senior championships and thinking a posting there would be good opportunity to join an established club and improve my fencing. Obviously this was not to be, with numerous postings etc., which is a fact of Service life, the club had been in mothballs for some time when I got here. B*&%!$ks!

Knuckling Down to Some Work

Still, undaunted I made contact with Tom Lamb, now OIC the club, and had a look at the equipment available and sat down to discuss what needed to be done to kick-start the club. Although I was now in almost the same position as when I arrived at RAF Uxbridge there were a few significant differences:

1. Brize had plenty of equipment, admittedly some of it had seen better days but there was a lot of it.

2. There were other fencers here, Tom and Sharon Booth to name but 2.

3. There were other clubs in the close vicinity where I could get coaching.

4. Tom, as OIC, could handle administrative solutions the club would need, i.e. sports grants, establishing accounts, booking gym time etc..

How to go about reviving the club? That was the question. For those who are in a similar situation and may have noticed the successes Brize Norton Fencing Club has enjoyed over the last 2 years I will outline the thought processes I had to go through to get Brize to where it is now.

Okay, it’s not as difficult as it sounds, “thought processes”, I mean, and to be honest a lot depends on character to make things happen.

Establish the Facts

I sat down with Tom and went through the full list of equipment available and identified what could be used and what had to be discarded as past its useful life. We established what funds we had and storage facilities available. No money but a really useful store room, as it turned out!

Planning

Once the facts were known we then established and listed what we would need to get the show on the road. We had plenty of kit but some of it was almost unusable, the masks were verging on illegal and some of the weapons were showing signs of fatigue so I drew up an equipment replacement programme. We were also re-forming a club and a club needs more than 2 people to function so we’d need jobs for those who joined and were willing. Using this information I drew up a list of responsibilities and duties that go with the infrastructure positions (nothing to do with the Kama Sutra) any club requires to function, even on a basic level.

Now, there is a way to sell this idea of taking some responsibility for the running of a club to newer fencers who may just want to have fun and fight, a club duty will also count as a secondary duty and can go into a F6000 Annual Report. Try explaining that this’ll look good for any Junior Rank joining the club, my own has me as 2 I/C, Coach and Team Captain! To give substance to the idea of Brize Norton Fencing Club I had a stab at writing a Constitution, believe me I’m no shiny back-sided admin’er but I like to think I did a reasonable job. Using this information we then drew up what was effectively a business plan laying out on paper the resources available and what was needed.

Working to the Plan

Having established in our minds what we had and what we needed, then laid it out before us, all that was required was to actually carry it out. Now, this goes back to my comment earlier about a lot depending on character, to get this club up and running was my objective, all I had to do was my part of what Tom and I had worked out. It’s as simple as that. I may be stating the bleeding’ obvious but think about the point I’m making: I got off my a*** and despite working 5 days a week, receiving coaching at 2 other clubs and competing at weekends I made sure I did what was needed for the club regardless of how tired I was or how much else I had to do and try to have a personal life. This is summed up in one word: commitment. Computer programmers have a saying (stated matter of factly to blank faced users who can’t get the bloody things to work nbjkhjb): “Crap in, crap out”. If you’re not prepared to put in the effort then you won’t get the results.

Let me go into a few specifics here to define the areas Tom and I looked at:

What We Had

A full list of equipment.
A store room.
A limited amount of manpower.
Other clubs in the area.

What We Needed

Apply for a grant.
Establish an account.
Apply for a gym slot.
Create a training programme.

Replace worn out kit and equipment.
Recruit more members.
Generate income.
Buy in additional kit and equipment.
Build a club identity.
Engage the services of a Coach/Master.

How to Get What We Needed

Apply for a grant from the Station Sports Fund to kick-start the equipment replacement programme. Tom did all the paperwork and I attended the meetings and we got nearly £600 which I spent replacing the masks that meant we could start fencing.



BLAST FROM THE PAST


Back row left to right
Stefan Kapuchinski, Allan Fowler, Ivor Puglsey, John Crouch, Angus Cameron,
Neil Mackie, David Warren (Chairman), Mike Wylie, Maggie Tulloch Senior Women's Rep, John Warburn,
Lyndon Wall, Ron Simpson, Dave Jerry MBE, Chris Silvey, Mick Meyer Bill Manning

Front row left to right
Vanessa Mitchell, Joe Kirke, Louise Ward, Sally Warren, Mo Stewart, Hilda Puglsey

I’ve now started archiving the photos from the Quinquintenial Dinner, if anybody has photos or stories they whish to add please forward them to the Editor.

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN TAKING UP SWORD FENCING
There are many people within the Royal Air Force fencing fraternity, who are more than willing to answer any questions about fencing that you have. If you fancy a shot at this sport, please feel free to contact any of the Station OIC’s or if your station does not have an OIC, a good source of information is the RAF Fencing web site www.raffencing.co.uk .

Station Contact Details
RAF Boulmer Plt Off L Shelley 95818 Ext 7163
RAF Cottesmore Fg Off K Linton 95341 Ext 7569
RAF Cranwell Sgt M Gumley 95751 Ext 7560
RAF Fylingdales Flt Lt Chambers 95893 Ext 2350
RAF Kinloss Plt Off G Hart 95131 Ext 7631
RAF Leuchars SAC G Morris 95151 Ext 7371
RAF Marham Cpl D MacDonald 95951 Ext 6713
RAF Norholt Cpl S March 95233 Ext 8337
RAF St Mawgan Sqn Ldr C Ackroyd 95423 Ext 7321
RAF Uxbridge Cpl K Jolly 95232 Ext 6326
RAF Wittering SAC D Duffy 95351 Ext 7269

You can always contact the editor who will attempt to answer any queries you have or will know someone who can help you.