The Colonel's Story ~:~ Episode 1
You may wonder how it is that a chap old enough to be the father (or grandfather) of most of the Regiment came to be in the society in the first place? - and indeed, how he reached the exalted rank of Colonel.
The answer to the first question is contained in the early history of the Regiment, and here is my recollection of that.
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It is 1973, I am 54 years old, married to Joan, and have four children between 17 and 23. My Daughter Dee is in the Sealed Knot.
She and her then boyfriend, Mike Plunkett are working in Somerset, and together with Mike Warman decide to start a new Regiment in Bristol called "Sir Thomas Lunsford's Regiment of Foot" with the intention of joining Count Nicolai Tolstoy and Grenvilles, who have broken away from the Knot and started "The King's Army in the West".
On a visit home to Norwich she recruited her three brothers and all their mates. They all went off to "The Battle of Nunney" in Somerset on 8/9 September 1973, and came back full of enthusiasm for this new hobby.
On 30th September they went to a small "do" on Petersham Fields at Richmond, Surrey, and Joan, and I, being at a loose end, decided to go and see what really went on.
Now in those days there were no bounties or other contribution to expenses. The only thing the members expected was some free beer at the end of the battle. Joan thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon, and wanted to go again. When I saw a free barrel of beer at the end I thought
"Well, I'm only here for the beer" anyway, so I was prepared to try it too.
The youngsters enjoyed themselves so much that they formed the Norfolk Company of Lunsfords and decided to hold their own Banquet on November 10th 1973. The tickets were £2 each, to include a hot meal and wine, and a free gallon of Abbot Ale per man. Now in those days I was very partial to Abbot Ale, and expressed an interest in this bean feast, and my wife, Joan, and I were invited to go provided we paid a membership fee. And so we became members of the Regiment, even if it was once again a question of
"I'm only here for the Beer" Needless to say, the banquet was not a financial success, and my assistance was required
“to sort things out” so when they decided to run a major muster at
Earlham Park in Norwich in June of the following year I thought it advisable to sit in on their discussions. Remember that at this time I am 54, whilst the rest of the Regiment are in their teens and early twenties, and that four of my children are active in the organisation, so that in the event of a financial disaster I am likely to be hit hard. I had no particular role, and certainly didn't want to get involved on the battlefield, so they asked me to take over as Camp Commandant.
In those early days we basically did everything, found the site, did the advertising, organised the campsite etc. and the only thing we expected the charity to do was provide stewards and gatekeepers on the day. At the end of the event we paid all expenses out of gate receipts, and any surplus went to the charity.
In the event, the Lunsford organisation was very good, and the publicity prepared by members was superb, but the battle was in a roped off area of a public park, and the sponsor's gatekeepers/money collectors didn't turn up till just before start time, so that most of the audience got in without paying and we finished up in debt to the City Council for the hire of the park. Lunsfords paid this debt off later on by putting on another show completely free.
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So this explains my membership, but what about the transformation from Camp Commandant to Colonel?
There are three little anecdotes about Earlham Park that may begin to answer that question.
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The standard pike in those days was 8ft. long octagonal deal, which was very prone to breakage. A supplier of mine wanted to do me favour (OK bribery and corruption if you like) so I was able to obtain a supply of 12ft. long 11/2 inch. diameter ash pikes which were fearsome weapons. There was a Roundhead mob called the Black Watch, complete thugs, who used to come on the field armed with pickaxe handles and cause complete mayhem. However, once they came up against our 12ft. long "pickaxe handles" we never saw them again.
The 8ft. long pike
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My middle son Mike was at Langley School in Norfolk, and I was on the Parent's Committee. Langley Hall was the home of the Beauchamp Family, and an early Beauchamp had commanded a ship at the Battle of Trafalgar. On the terrace of the Hall were three guns from his ship, on the original oak carriages. These carriages were pretty well rotted away, but once again, by a bit of bribery and corruption, I was able to get new carriages made to the original drawings, and I presented these to the School, on the understanding that I could borrow them for battles, and their first appearance was here at Earlham Park. Later on I found that there had been two more guns, but the carriages had disintegrated completely and the barrels were being used as ballast on the roller for the cricket pitches. These were also recovered and refurbished so that ultimately we had five authentic guns available, a great asset to the Regiment and to the Society.
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We obtained a licence and ran our own bar in an old army canteen hut on the site. As Camp Commandant I had a caravan at the troop's entrance to the site, and a little team of volunteers to man it twenty-four hours a day. Now I happened to be on duty there some time after the official closing time on Saturday night, when I saw a police car coming down the long drive to the gate. I managed to get a quick warning to the bar, which, of course, was still going strong, and I managed to hold the car, which was full of the most senior policemen in Norwich, at the gate for long enough for the bar staff to quickly close the shutters and apparently be within the law except, maybe, for an infringement of the drinking up time. When the police finally got to the bar all seemed to be in order until one of the Officers said to me "you aren't looking after our Duty Constable very well are you? He hasn't got a drink" So we opened up the bar again, and some very happy policemen drove home in the early hours quite satisfied that we were a respectable society apparently under the command of an elderly businessman.businessman.
A few of the Norfolk Lunsford's 1973