EDITORIAL
Hi welcome to our new edition of Reprise and let me introduce myself as the new editor. My name is Shaun Taylor and I have served within the RAF for 15 years, formerly at Kinloss and Lossiemouth and now at Boscombe Down. I took up fencing at the rather mature age of 26 and throughout this time have helped run the fencing clubs at Kinloss and Lossiemouth and now run the club at Boscombe Down. I have always been a member of local clubs and now regularly fence at Salisbury and Warminster as well as any other place that will let me!

I am currently looking for contributors to the Reprise so if you have an interesting story, funny tale or embarrassing incident please forward them to me at any of my contact details below along with any suggestions you have for future editions. Remember this journal is about you and for you , and to this effect I will be introducing a new feature. It will involve members of station fencing clubs, who I will be approaching and asking them to contribute an article on any aspect of fencing.

The first contributor for this edition has provided an interesting article on Fencing in a Small Club and was written by Flt Lt Ruari Henderson-Begg. On page 10 you may want to enter our snapshot competition where you can win an Allstar voucher to the value of £30.

I would like to thank Phil McNulty who was the previous editor for many years for all his effort and I only hope I can justify my position in a similar manner.

Email - hol-a.hsmu@boscombedown.RAF.mod.uk
shaun.taylor@baesystems.com
Telephone - 01980663134

FENCING IN A SMALL CLUB
by Flt Lt Ruari Henderson-Begg

Running a small fencing club is a lot like an experiment in nuclear fusion. There is very definitely a ‘critical mass,’ or number of fencers. Below this number it is very difficult to get enough regular attendees to make running the club worthwhile; however, once you get above this number, the club becomes much more viable and self-sustaining and, of course, other problems crop up to occupy your time. So, what is involved in running a small stn fencing club?

For the last 4 years, the club at RAF Lossiemouth has ambled along with just enough fencers to get by and, in this way, I guess it is much the same as many clubs on stns throughout the RAF. The club has about half a dozen regular attendees, of varying abilities and fencing different weapons, most of whom had done some fencing before coming to Lossiemouth, but some of whom are complete beginners.

Our main problem is getting enough of the club members together on any one day to make running a full session productive. Some of the fencers are aircrew and so subject to the whim of the programmer, some are engineers and therefore only available every other week, some are admin staff and therefore fairly flexible and our newest recruit is a chef, who is working at exactly the time the rest of us want to fence. There is no easy way around this unfortunately. What happens in practice is that fencers turn up when they can and we make the best of it. Mobiles are an invaluable tool in helping arrange training, as is a LOSNET account. To make things easier we have just moved training sessions to 1800. This enables anyone finishing work at 1700 to get there in good time, or to eat at the JRM if necessary.

Once everyone is there, the trick is to get as much as possible out of the session. We generally start with some stretching and footwork. This enables any latecomers to catch up and is equally valuable for foilists epeeist and our poorer cousins. When the warm up is over, we try to arrange individual or group lessons for everybody. We tend to split into individual weapon groups for this and accept the fact that we will have a wide spread of abilities in each group. In effect, everyone gets something out of the sessions as the less advanced learn something new and the better fencers work on improving their technique. Those fencers not involved in the group work have the option of doing individual work or getting on the electric boxes for some competition practice.

Of course, with a small club, you quickly learn how everyone fences and bouts start to lose a bit of value. Unfortunately, apart from Kinloss, our nearest club is 40 miles away in Culloden, so it takes a bit of dedication to get over there on a regular basis. Those of us who do launch ourselves into the bigger gene pool soon reap the benefits and become much better fencers. This is true of the Scottish circuit as well. There are 5 Opens in Scotland over the year. Apart from the Edinburgh Open (Coup de Nord) none of the opens have many of the top fencers there and are very friendly events so fencers of all abilities can get a good days fencing.

Periodically one other problem rears it’s ugly head. Postings! This summer we lose at least 3 of our fencers. This is always a problem and our loss will be someone else's gain, as long as there is a club at their next stn, but losing almost half of your numbers does put a damper on things. There is only one solution and that is another recruitment drive, hoping to coax some old fencers out of the woodwork and to attract some new fencers to the sport. So there you are; fencing on a small scale. A lot of hard work and dedication but, as always, you only get out of life what you put in and the results are worth the effort.

Finally a plea. When you get posted, whether it’s to Lossie, or to somewhere else, speak to the P Ed Staff and find out where and when the fencing club meets, then get along and be part of it. Enjoy.

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

SPOTLIGHT ON A COMMITTEE MEMBER
by SAC Paul Hosking

G’day

For those who don’t know me (which I’m sure is not too many, as my ego is bigger than my fencing ability). I’m your Junior Member on the Executive Committee. I have had this role for the last year, and I’m slowly but surely getting to know my way around a piste.

I was very keen to start fencing 4 years ago, it was not because I was bored at Cosford and had nothing else to do in the evenings (except Wednesday night bop. I really fancied a sheila (that is a woman to you—you non Australians) who also did fencing. You did something so you will have something in common with. Well, all did not go to plan; however my fencing has improved over the years.

If you have heard on the grape vine that I’ve been called “Stiffy” by a dodgy Old Dutch man. But, that is another story for another day.

As your Junior Member I’m here to put forward any issues or concerns that you may have to the Executive Committee. My contact details are:

ITMS, JARIC
RAF Brampton,
PSTN 95331 7507

NOW FOR SOMETHING NEW
The influx of technology in fencing is increasing each year, items such as new masks with clear visors, lights on masks are clearly visible in today's fencing and the concept of wireless fencing keeps on being bandied about. So I thought I would see what else is out there and came up with a little tool that is geared only for referees and tournament managers.
Arbitre is a piece of software developed by Planche.de for PDA’s or mobile phones that helps referees. The software allows the referee to run a pool from his or her mobile or PDA. Fencers names can be entered, it also gives a list of bouts as well as showing you the pool layout in a results screen. Fencers can sign the PDA after the pool has been completed. Arbitre also gives a display allowing the referee to enter the hits scored during the bout as well has starting and stopping the time. Once a pool as been completed all the information can be transmitted wirelessly to the tournament computer. This should stop Phil from nagging about bits of paper and stop watches not working.

For further information and download a preview see WWW.Planche.de

A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS

DUTCH INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TOURNAMENT
by Wg Cdr George Liston

On 17 Mar 05, a 4-man RAF Fencing Team competed in an international military epee tournament organised by the Koninklijke Militaire Schermvereniging (KMSV) and held on the Dutch Army Training Garrison in Weert, The Netherlands. The team members were: Wg Cdr George Liston (Eng & Supp Wg, RAF Wittering—Team Captain), Flt Lt Ruari Henderson-Begg (XV(R), Sqn, RAF Lossiemouth), Cpl Shaun Taylor (HSMU, RAF Boscombe Down) and SAC Paul Hosking (JARIC, Brampton).

The Belgians remained undefeated to win the competition, with BIMS securing 3 match victories to take second place. The RAF Team finished in a creditable third place by virtue of a superior difference in hits. In the individual event, Hosking was placed 13th, with Liston 6th, having beaten all those placed in the first 3. The day ended with a dinner for all participants, followed by an exchange of war stories in a near by bar.

All enjoyed the experience, benefiting from their exposure to a different fencing environment. Results obtained were good, with the team proving competitive in every round, securing overall third place and winning the support from the organisers for its competitive spirit.

COMPETITION TIME
Here’s the chance to WIN £30 worth of vouchers to spend at our sponsor’s Allstar Uhlmann UK. All you have to do is send in a funny caption for the picture on the left. All entries must be received by the 19 August and can be sent to the Editor, contact details below. The winner will be picked by Susan Taylor and will be published in the next edition of the magazine.

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

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

Telephone - 01980663134
- 01252662232

NEXT ISSUE
The next issue should be out at the beginning of September, workload permitted.
Things to look out for are the competition results who has won the £30 worth of vouchers.

More things you can do with your PDA and I’m trying to get permission to print the design for a fencing dummy (see the picture below).

Articles from a new committee member Fg Off Graeme Hart and the first part of a three part serialization from the Station Club Brize Norton.

Let me introduce you to Frankie, when I was based at RAF Lossiemouth we had him built from designs found in a fencing book. I’m currently negotiating with the author for permission to print their designs with the modifications we made.

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 want to take up 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.