Meet a face of Manchester’s: Pikeman Emma

We spend our summers battling as a team and spending time as a family – but who are the people who make up the Earl of Manchester’s Regiment of Foote? We’re delighted to introduce you to a face of our regiment using some of their favourite photos, as they explain why they love reenacting as part of Manchester’s!

This time we’re introducing you to Emma, who’s a pikeman on the battlefield but off the field is mum to future fearsome warrior Penny and also battles hordes of young minds in the classroom.

 

“Being in a pike block can be exhilarating – it’s a proper contact sport and each push has a clear ‘winner’,” she says. “This is me during a drill display at Nantwich, pre-battle, with a better ‘game-face’ than I EVER have mid-battle! I’m usually looking exhausted or I’m properly smiling…. neither are threatening to the other side!”

“I’ve seen battle re-enactment referred to as an ‘alternative sport’ and I think this photo kind of sums that up,” says Emma. “Because I’m pretty small compared to a lot of the pike block, and like to get right in the middle, I rarely see an action shot of myself so it was nice to have proof that I do indeed get a bit red and sweaty! It was also the first time I went on the front row so I was feeling supercharged for the rest of the battle! This was at Newark: a standard camping weekend with amazing people, plenty of drinks and a great outlet of energy on the field each day.”

“We don’t just get to run around a field fighting each other, there’s lots of opportunity in our regiment to get into some amazingly interesting bits of history,” says Emma. “At the Ashmolean Museum we re-enacted a witch trial; an authentic retelling of a rather horrible bit of history. I did quite enjoy being a ‘baddie’ for the evening… although I don’t expect BAFTA will be contacting me any time soon. Events like these mean we get to nip to the pub in kit after which gets some pretty good reactions!”

“I’ve picked this photo because about 45 mins before the battle, everyone in this pic was in full ladies kit, on a living history camp, doing weaving, sewing, printing, cooking,” says Emma, shown here in her pikemen’s kit. “You can pick up any role you want in the regiment, even if that’s more than one. There’s always a sneaky costume change tent available! I much prefer pretending to be a bloke and hitting people with a big ol’ stick (and being knocked down more than I care to remember), as I think the rest of the utterly fabulous women in this picture do a lot of the time, but it’s great to be able to bring other roles to life for the public too.”

We hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know Emma and that you can see there’s a lot more to this hobby than just the battles! All roles in the regiment are open, regardless of gender, and we welcome anyone looking to get involved and be a part of something different!

If it’s whetted your appetite, make sure you join up now! You can give reenactment a go for just a tenner – and all your kit is provided!

And make sure you follow the Earl of Manchester’s Regiment of Foote account on social media for daily updates of our adventures on and off the battlefield!