The weather stayed nice, though it did rain off and on (it is Scotland after all), so we headed around to the museum after the kids Saturday morning stuff had been dealt with.
We'd missed the first part of the show by the time we got there, but with about 10 guys milling about in the Napoleonic uniforms of the 42nd, and a mix of WW1 and WW2 vehicles on display the kids were happy. Then we found out there was a cannon being fired later.
It actually wasn't much of a re-enactment as there were no French in site, but when they actually got to fire off the gun, which was a small 3 pounder, I was totally surprised by how bloody loud the thing was. They fired it three times and my blackberry failed to catch a single shot as the video cut out each time. A few car alarms in the nearby car park also were going off, and the shots seemed to loosen the rain out the clouds, which meant the second part of the afternoons event, a musket demonstration, failed to spark.
Best part of the day for me was getting a few pictures on my phone - I just wish I'd taken the proper camera.
For those of you painting the 42nd - the tartan is VERY dark in real life. When the sun is shining on it brightly the colours are clear, otherwise I'd just paint your kilts a very dark green with a hint of blue.
Here's the best of the pictures from the day (Please bear in mind that I used a Blackberry, so the quality is not great) ...
1 comment:
42nd or Government tartan has evolved over time. The very dark tartan is a comparitively modern development- well, late C19th. In the 18th century the tartan was lighter and was composed of smaller squares. Check out the Hewgill waterclours- or rather prints thereof- and de Loutherbourg's 'Battle of Alexandria, March 21 1801' at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Some of those re-enactor bonnets are shocking!
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