A Welcome and Riddles

A cad, a bounder and a fiend!

First a warm new follower welcome to Robert Audin of Fiends in Waistcoats - jolly good read!

When The Wife and I were on our travels the other week we naturally bought some books.  Mine was one discussing The Hobbit but her's was a study of Early English riddles.  My intention (and this shows how behind I got with the blog) was to post a couple of riddles each day this week.  But the problem is that they are seriously dull: they make "What have I got in my pockets?" look like Dorothy Parker.

Q. What is it that never was nor never shall be?
A. Never mouse made her nest in a cat's ear. 

Q.  Why drive men dogs out of the church?
A.  Because they come not up and offer and also because they shit on the dead. 

Q.  Why come the dogs so often to the church?
A.  Because when they see the altars covered they think their masters go thither to dinner. 

Q. Why doth a dog turn him thrice about ere he lieth him down?
A.  Because he knoweth not his bed's head from the feet 

Q.  What beast is it that hath her tail between her eyes?
A.  It is a cat when she licketh her arse.

Personally I prefer

Q.  What's red and doesn't fit in a fridge
A.  A fire-engine.

Good old Dennis

A Small Plug and Welcomes

The plug is for the competition Loki is having over at his Great Hall to celebrate his third Blogiversary and reaching 150,000 hits.  It's trickier than the usual competition, but then the prizes are much better as well. You have until the end of May to enter. It's quite fun digging out the answers and requires a bit of blog-fu!

Secondly, I want to welcome as a couple of new followers.

• MS Foy is the author of Prometheus in Aspic, which I've recommended before.  In it he charts his Napoleonic and English Civil War wargaming, but also ruminates on the modern life.
• Alastair doesn't have a blog linked on his Blogger profile, but I've a feeling he has one and I should know what it is.

Welcome both!

Edit

And of course, Alistair's blog is  A Wargaming Gallimaufry.

Liebster Award

As I'm sure many of you have noticed, the Liebster Awards are doing the rounds again.  I am flattered to say that this blog has been nominated by Legatus Hedlius from the always entertaining Legatus' Wargames Armies blog.

The Liebster Awards are a purely nominal award in which bloggers recognise their peers.  In that in turn it asks the recipient to make nominations, it is a little like a chain letter.  Given that it doesn't have any of the dodgy moral pressures or other drawbacks of chain letters, and that the aim (to introduce readers to new blogs) is a worthy one, I'm more than happy to accept it and pass it on.

Over time the 'rules' of the award have evolved - some variants and supposedly 'official rules' can be found here.  It the true spirit of the blogosphere, I'm going to pick and choose the elements that appeal to me.

Post the Logo and Explain the Award

Done.

Thank and Link to the Nominator 

Surely this doesn't have to be a 'rule'!  Done.

Answer Questions about Yourself

The Legate hasn't nominated any questions, so I'll answer the same ones he did.

Why did you start blogging?

Quite simply because of a mid-life crisis - my first post was on my 45th birthday.  I'd been off work for some time and was feeling isolated (three weeks in intensive care, another three on the renal ward and 18 months off work, and I didn't have a single visit from a work colleague).

I was concerned that I was loosing my communication and writing skills and wanted to do something vaguely creative (and that's why I eventually plucked up courage to pick up a brush).

I didn't expect to be here all now with so many hits, knowing some pretty decent people and being a hair off 400 posts.

If you could change one thing about the wargaming hobby, what would it be?

I'm not a wargamer and don't know enough about the hobby to start changing things.  99% of the contact I've had with it has been through the internet.  Wargames bloggers are a welcoming, friendly and above all, generous bunch.  Equally, I've not had any negative experiences with the forum (the Lead Adventure Forum) I participate in, and only with one figure supplier.

I do however think wargamers should buy more books!

What is best in life?

The love of a good partner, family and companionship.

And upside-down whippets...

Fame or fortune?

In a fantasy world fame, but in reality there's a lot to be said for over-sufficient income.

What miniatures are you most proud of having painting?

Any I've completed, to be honest.  But it was nice to be able to hold my own in the Analogue Painting Challenge.

How do you deal with burn-out?

Badly.  But I'm a lot better since I've given up drinking.

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

They both have horns on their bottoms.

'Star Wars' or 'Star Trek'?

It's a question of style or substance: 'Star Trek' wins every time.

But I want to say 'Firefly'

If you could only buy from one miniature company from now on, which one would it be?

Artizan or Copplestone - probably the former.

What is your favorite takeaway?

Chinese food.

Nominate 6-12 blogs for the Liebster Award

Because it seems the principal aim of the award is introduce readers to new blogs, I'm going to stick to the "less than 300 followers" rule.

Arlequin's Adventures is a relatively new blog run by Jim Hale.  The strap-line is 'A Blog Devoted To Tabletop Adventure Gaming with Miniatures and the Lighter Side of My Hobby' and Jim's description of what he's doing is here.  Jim also has an interesting blog on wargaming 'more real' historical settings.

Bloggers for Charity.  The content might be a little thin of late, but the concept makes up for that - bloggers and wargamers getting together to raise some money for a couple of worthwhile charities.

Civil War Navy Sesquicentennial.  Remembering the naval history of the American Civil War.

Colonel O'Truth's Miniature Issues.  The Colonel hasn't posted much since moving house last year, but it's well worth working your way back through the blog to see the crazy, marvelous things he has made.  Inspiring stuff!  A love of rivets helps, but isn't necessary.

Dreams of Space - Books and Ephemera.  Non-fiction children's space stuff, 1945-1975

Fiends in Waistcoats.  Gaming Gothic Horror and other interesting Victorian oddities.

Happy Valley.  Grandpa Amos doesn't post to a schedule: he only writes when he has something to say.  And that's worth reading.

Herefordshire 1938.  As good an exponent of A Very British Civil War as you'll find.

Mad Padre's Wargames. The thinking clergyman's hobby.

Mannie Gentile - Toy Stories for Ever.  The American Civil War in old school 54mm.

Prometheus in Aspic.  A lot of thought-provoking stuff here.

The Gonzo History Project.  James Holloway is a wargamer, but here he blogs about how his academic discipline, history and archaeology, interfaces with popular culture - it's worth reading his reviews of (mostly bad!) films and pieces on how the Gothic and archane appropriate historical themes.

Waziristan on a Fancy.  A wargaming project that take a period (the North West Frontier in the 1920s and 30s) and takes an in-depth look at the history and geography behind it.

Pose questions to your nominees

1. How would you describe your blog?
2. Why did you start blogging?
3. How do you relax (if it's not blogging)?
4. What is your favorite holiday destination?
5. Who inspires/has inspired you the most?
6. Why is a raven like a writing desk?
7. 'Star Trek' or 'Star Wars'?
8. What was the last book you read and the last you bought?
9. Who is your favorite fictional character?
10. Which historical event would you like to visit?

Meanwhile, in Asgard...

For domestic reasons I didn't blog about it at the time, but last week Oathsworn Miniatures had a short Kickstarter to test the waters for Project Pantheon - figures of gods  from various traditions (starting with the Norse).

The initial aim of this Kickstarter was to see if there was a demand for Odin riding his eight-legged horse, Sleipnir.  It soon became clear that there was, and sculpting is now underway on the next figure in the project - Freyja astride the battle-swine Hildisvini.

Now, as some of you may remember, I signed up for one of Oathsworn's earlier projects and was very impressed, not only with the finished product, but with their whole ethos and communications.  The picture of Hildisvini is from one of their almost daily updates, giving blow-by-blow WIP reports,

The Odin Kickstarter has ended, but it's still possible to make a 'late-bird' (??) pledge.

New Stuff

Well, a jiffy bag dance today as a parcel from Statuesque Miniatures arrives.  In it is some pulpy goodness.

First up is the new supplement to Pulp Alley:  Pulp Gadgets, Guns and Vehicles

Nice lay-out

Secondly, because I was ordering from Statuesque, my resolve crumbled and I ordered the new Pulp Alley figures (Pulp Girl and the Phantom Ace) and Lillie Poots from the Statuesque Asylum range.  They really are very nice!

And because it was sitting in my Pictures folder next to pulpalley.jpg, here's putin.jpg...

Now the antidote to spending money is to spend more money, but tell yourself it's on a bargain.  Accordingly, I picked this up in the charity shop this afternoon.

Well, We're Home!

Actually, we got home this morning at about 9:30 (if we picked the dogges up before 10:00 we saved twenty quid).  They seemed to be fairly pleased to see us - and very well behaved today as well!

Our road-trip around the in-laws peaked with a wedding in a ridiculously pretty Oxfordshire village on Saturday.

Villages like this don't really exist...

There were only two things that I disliked about the day - first the officiant was one of those CofE clergy who believe that if you say something inane in a loud jolly voice it's 'accessible' and/or amusing; secondly, part of the meticulous planning that had gone into the wedding involved a seating arrangement at the reception that prided itself on mixing people up.  For me, Hell is sitting at a round table in a tent eating small portions of food while being expected to talk to people I don't know.

The Wife tells me that I am intolerant and on the Autistic Spectrum (honestly, she tried to get a psychiatrist to write me a note for work...)

In other news I was able to visit my favorite Cambridge bookshop (now Galloway & Porters has shut).

Anyway, I am back.  I've been to the coffee shop twice, had three flat whites, and spent a pleasant afternoon catching up on blog reading.

A Very British Communist

I'm sorry for what is basically a cut-and-paste post, but this caught my eye and it made me think of my fellow bloggers who are into VBCW.

I'm a subscriber to a 'Life of the Day' from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.  Basically, I get an e-mail each morning with an entry from ODNB.  More than half of them are interesting in one way or another.  You can sign up for the service (other social media are catered for) at http://global.oup.com/oxforddnb/info/freeodnb

The full entry for Wintringham, complete with bibliography, citations and legal notices is at http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/lotw/2014-05-15

I found the section on the Home Guard Training School particularly interesting.  It is often overlooked that the early cadres in the LDV were perhaps the most militarily experienced forces in British history - putting aside those who, like Wintringham, fought in Spain - most had seen active service in WWI.  I'd never heard of Wintringham or the training school before, but they seemed worth sharing.

Wintringham,  Thomas Henry  [Tom]  (1898-1949), socialist activist and military theorist, was born on 15 May 1898 in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, the third child of John Fildes Wintringham (1866-1940), a solicitor, and his wife, Eliza Mapson Workman (1868-1937). Both his parents' families were nonconformist in religion and in politics, and Gladstonian Liberalism was to prove a lasting influence. Educated at Gresham's School, Holt, from 1910 to 1916, he postponed taking up a history scholarship at Balliol College, Oxford, in order to serve as a motorcycle dispatch rider in the Royal Flying Corps. Experience of the western front left him with a keen insight into the strengths, as well as the limitations, of military technology. Deeply sceptical of a hierarchical, authoritarian organization's capacity to wage war with any degree of competence, and appalled by the treatment of his fellow rankers, Wintringham proved a willing 'mutineer' in the summer of 1918. Early in 1919 he went up to Balliol College to read for a shortened course in modern history, which he completed in 1920. 

While at Oxford, Wintringham found time to man picket lines and read Marx, and in 1920 he joined the Communist Party, making an extended visit to Russia. In the following year he graduated and began studying for the bar. A stuttering legal career ended in late 1925 when he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for sedition, the consequence of articles published in Workers' Weekly, the communist newspaper which he helped Palme Dutt to edit. 

After his release from Wandsworth prison in April 1926, Wintringham assumed the editorship of Workers' Weekly now renamed Workers' Life, and then in January 1930 he transferred to the newly launched Daily Worker. In succeeding years Wintringham established his reputation as an essayist, pamphleteer, and poet, writing for Labour Monthly and from October 1934 for Left Review, which he co-edited in his capacity as secretary of the British section of the Writers' International. Publication of Wintringham's first book, The Coming World War, in April 1935 confirmed his credentials as that rare phenomenon, an informed socialist commentator on military affairs. 

Despite Wintringham's key role in the Communist Party during the 1926 general strike, and his subsequent success as a propagandist and polemicist, the 'bourgeois' Wintringham was viewed critically by those members of the party's central committee who were eager to demonstrate their proletarian credentials. Furthermore, throughout the years 1927-35, despite Moscow's indiscriminate labelling of all left-of-centre parties as 'social-fascist', Wintringham remained close to the Labour left and the Independent Labour Party. He urged an early end to exclusivity, and the party's approval of his involvement with Left Review was an encouraging sign. The Comintern's adoption in 1935 of a popular front strategy vindicated Wintringham's insistence that British Marxists could not remain indifferent to an indigenous radical tradition. 

Wintringham's ambitions within the Communist Party were further undermined by a succession of extramarital affairs, rumours of which scandalized a puritanical leadership. In August 1923 he married a fellow party member and future doctor, Elizabeth Emma Arkwright (1894-1973). While still a medical student Elizabeth had been rusticated by her Oxford college after joining her future husband on his visit to Russia in 1920. One of their children died in infancy but responsibility for a surviving son failed to check Wintringham's interest in other women. The couple also had a daughter, born in 1931. The marriage staggered on until their separation in 1937 and divorce in 1941. 

During the 1930s Wintringham established a reputation as the left's leading commentator on military strategy, which the Spanish Civil War offered an opportunity to put into practice. He went to Spain in August 1936, and in February 1937 led his novice troops up the hill at Jarama, a bloody baptism of fire for the volunteers of the British battalion fighting with the International Brigades in defence of the Spanish republic. Wintringham himself was wounded, though he recovered sufficiently to take part in the Aragon offensive in August 1937, when he was seriously wounded and invalided home. Over the next few months he wrote English Captain, a reflective account of his experiences in Spain which received considerable praise when first published in 1939. 

While in Spain, Tom Wintringham met a New England journalist, Katharine Wise (Kitty) Bowler (1908-1966). Whereas Elizabeth Wintringham remained a card-carrying communist until her death, Kitty Bowler subscribed to a highly individual brand of revolutionary socialism which flew in the face of party dogma. The party disapproved of the attachment, and in July 1938, rather than break off the relationship, Wintringham reluctantly accepted expulsion, a breach rendered easier by the murderous machinations of the Comintern which he had observed behind the lines in Spain. The couple married in 1941, Kitty sacrificing her inheritance from her Boston family to do so. Wintringham's second marriage was more stable than his first, and produced a son. The family lived in genteel poverty, surviving largely on Tom's income as a freelance writer and political campaigner. In the first half of the 1940s this was quite considerable, ensuring a lifestyle of Surrey villas and fast cars, but after 1946 he earned little.
Wintringham's dissenting roots proved a powerful counterweight to Marxist-Leninism throughout his eighteen years in the Communist Party. Never having succumbed to the party's narrow sectarianism of the late 1920s and 1930s, he enthusiastically promoted a succession of progressive alliances from the era of the popular front to the onset of the cold war. He remained a highly regarded figure on the British left, enjoying the respect of former colleagues long after he had ceased to be a communist. The party remained remarkably mute whenever he attacked it for denouncing war with Germany as an 'anti-imperialist struggle' during the period from September 1939 to June 1941. 

During the 'phoney war' Wintringham seemed an isolated figure, shunned by loyal communists and ignored by a Labour leadership sensing a share of power. War Office wariness of anyone who had fought in Spain, however expert in military matters, was subverted by Wintringham's swift response to the fall of France. Financed by Edward Hulton, proprietor of Picture Post, the magazine to which he contributed regularly throughout the 1940s, Wintringham set up the 'Home Guard Training School' in Osterley Park, west London. Inspired by the militias that held Madrid in the autumn of 1936, Wintringham saw the newly formed Local Defence Volunteers as the vanguard of a genuine citizen army. His instructors drew upon their experience in Spain to give two-day intensive courses in enemy tactics and guerrilla warfare. By September 1940 a reluctant War Office was obliged to recognize the 'Osterley reds'. Endorsed by those regular officers who had actually experienced combat, the course became the template for Home Guard training nationwide, with Wintringham regularly expounding the principles of a 'people's war' in Picture Post, the Daily Mirror, and a succession of books in the series Penguin Specials. With invasion seemingly imminent, Allen Lane in July 1940 rushed out New Ways of War: a short, practical guide to guerrilla fighting. It later became required reading for many African and Asian nationalists. Like George Orwell and J. B. Priestley, Wintringham insisted that radical politics and a deep love of one's country were not incompatible, and that the nation's united defiance in the face of imminent invasion signalled an early end to the old, now much discredited, order. 

By June 1941 the military had established full control over the Home Guard, but Wintringham had already departed to complete The Politics of Victory, a detailed critique of communist opposition to the war. A hastily drafted preface acknowledged the German invasion of the Soviet Union as a fresh opportunity to build a progressive, anti-fascist alliance. In People's War, a Penguin Special published in August 1942, Wintringham urged Churchill's government to recognize the resistance movements' key role in opening up a second front. Later in the war he wrote two further books: Weapons and Tactics (1943), a best-selling history of warfare, and, under the pseudonym Gracchus, Your M.P. (1944), a controversial expose of Conservative MPs' voting records. 

Despite the party's volte-face in the summer of 1941, Wintringham remained at odds with his old comrades. The communist leadership saw political advantage in respecting the coalition's electoral truce. In July 1942, however, Wintringham helped to found Common Wealth, the independent socialist party led by Sir Richard Acland which fought wartime by-elections and won three seats. In February 1943 he was narrowly defeated in the Midlothian North by-election, attracting 48 per cent of votes cast. He was only marginally less successful in the general election of 1945, contesting Aldershot in the absence of a Labour candidate. By then Wintringham was urging Acland to abandon the party's more strident criticism of Labour in the interest of left unity. Not surprisingly, therefore, he supported the entry of Common Wealth into the Labour Party after the election, but played only a modest role in urging the Attlee administration to 'keep left'. After his move to Scotland in 1947, his direct involvement in post-war politics was constrained as much by distance as by inclination. 

Although Wintringham continued to write, the late 1940s were for him something of an anticlimax. He never regained the high profile he had enjoyed during the war, when in addition to his newspaper and magazine articles he had broadcast occasionally on the BBC. Suspicious of Anglo-American intentions towards the Soviet Union, yet disenchanted with Stalin, Wintringham looked to the United Nations as a future guarantor of global stability, and Beijing or Belgrade as alternative role models for those west European communist parties still loyal to Moscow. He sensed that the left in Britain was biding its time, waiting to coalesce around a dramatic new crusade. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament might have provided Tom Wintringham with a fresh cause to champion, had he still been alive and politically active in the mid-1950s. He died on 16 August 1949 after suffering a massive heart attack while holidaying at his sister's Lincolnshire farm, Owmby Farm, near Owmby; he was cremated at Leeds crematorium. The loss of this uniquely English revolutionary was mourned by close comrades, but was scarcely acknowledged by the wider public. Over half a century later Tom Wintringham's eventful life and innovative thinking is attracting renewed interest, a belated acknowledgement of the high esteem in which he was held on the left in Britain throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

And I'd never realised how subversive this shot from 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' was!

Wynn-Candy replaces Wintringham!

Blogging Hiatus

I probably won't be posting anything for a little while as I am away from home until next week.  I'll be attending a family wedding in Berkshire or Oxfordshire or somewhere at the weekend.

On my side of the family, I am now since last night a Great Uncle four times over (I've been a great uncle for years).  By eck, it's enough to make you feel old!

I Need a Bigger Garage!

My struggles with the local incarnation of the Post Office have worn me down, and after a very tiresome episode yesterday I found a courier service that looked as if it would be very handy.  After a lot of trouble printing out the label (I had a hell of a day yesterday), I went to the advertised dropping off point only to be told they had no idea why people kept bring parcels in!  As it was pissing down all day, I'd got soaked twice and was a tad cross.

The upshot of this is that I went into Town (or as they say around here "the City") today to another drop-off point.  On the way back I went through the twee-er bit of Norwich and was able to have some theraphy poking about a couple of second-hand bookshops and Elm Hill Collectibles (who also have a fairly pointless website here).  If you're ever in Norwich, Elm Hill is a must-see place.  There's also a board game shop (run by a real enthusiast) for those of you interested in these things.

Elm Hill

For a while I've been keeping my eyes open for Lledel cars and vans in the local charity shops, etc.  I was really pleased to find that the shop. was selling them at £1.00 each - the cheapest I've seen them.  Now, whether it's because he's just a nice guy, or he remembered me from his old shop, or because I had to go and find an ATM (yet still came back!), he let me had five for £4.00.  A great bargain!

The question now is whether I go ahead and ruin them by painting or whether the Queen Mum's 90th birthday special or Andy & Fergie's wedding car are worth a fortune on eBay!

This makes them even better value than the Russian cars I picked up in Poundland yesterday to replace the one I gave away last month.

As the title of this post suggests, I need a new shelf (or a box).  I'm also off to pre-order the Pulp Alley vehicles supplement...

The current garage

Tamsin, who has a similar problem, poo-poos my suggestion that she build a multistorey car park.  Did they have them in 1920s Chicago or New York, she asks.  Well according to Wikipedia "The earliest known multi-storey car park was built in 1918 for the Hotel La Salle at 215 West Washington Street in the West Loop area of downtown Chicago, Illinois."  'Nuff said!  Though I can't help but mention that I'm sure I've read of a C19th multistorey for carriages in London...

Talking of recent purchases, I recently picked up yet another Egyptian cat from a charity shop.  This one particularly appealed because of the stonking great jewel on it's chest.

The new one is in the middle

It made me think of the old 'pry the stone out of the idol' routine.  Who first came up with that trope?  It's more India/Burma than Egyptian.  Conan Doyle uses something similar in The Sign of Four (a rajah's treasure stolen during the Indian Mutiny), but that's predated by The Moonstone (a diamond from the statue of the goddess of the moon) in 1868.  I imagine that the story would have been influenced by tales of fabulous riches seized during the Mutiny or by the earlier nabobs, such as Lord Clive.  But where do the tales of curses come from?  It is the kind of question James Holloway approaches so entertainingly on his blog.

This Week's Obits of Interest

Prof Colin Pillinger (d. 7 May 2014)

Planetary Scientist

BBC obit 8 May 2014

Daily Telegraph obit 8 May 2014

Guardian obit 8 May 2014

Independent obit 9 May 2014

Scotsman obit 9 May 2014

Click here to go the Obits of Interest page

Loki's Giveaway and My Diceni Loot

First the interesting bit, Loki is celebrating his third blogaversary, 400th post and 150,000 page view.  He's doing it in the style we've come to expect - with scantily-clad women!  But he's also doing a rather good giveaway.  It requires a little more work than usual, but then the prizes are worth it.  Details here.

Those of you who read the comments on this week's Painting Table post will remember that I promised Mr Awdrey that I'd spend some money at Diceni.  So, what did I scoop up?

First some cheap dice and a couple of Dicini dice from Cymbeline Games, alongside some MDF counters/bases from Bendy Boards.

Most of my purchases came from Fenris however.  Some in the form of a pre-order and some impulse buys point of sale purchases after due consideration on the day.

Everyone needs a TARDIS police box, some useful hatches and a pretty cool runestone, clearly influenced by the Stora Hammars stones.

Also from Fenris was a ruined Pharaoh, some smashed Egyptian masonry and some pots.

And to finish off the Egyptian theme, a couple of mummies from Dark Art Studios.

Diceni 2014

I had a pleasant morning at Diceni in Norwich today (if you're quick you can still get there - it's on till 4pm!).

It was held in The Forum, one of the more successful modern buildings in the heart of Norwich.  It host the BBC and the City Library (which, as they keep reminding us, has the largest foot-fall of any library in the country).

It's opposite the acceptable face of geekiness in Norwich

There were tell-tale signs that something was going on...

Doors opened at 10am.  I got there about 10:30 and found it nicely busy, but not crowded,

There were about a dozen games going on.

Warlord were there with a Black Powder game

JAG (with IHMN?)

Whatever they were playing, it interested the Saxons

A local wargaming club had a (static?) Agincourt table

Icenic Games playing Star Trek

There was also Bolt Action in the jungle, X-Wing, Bushido (which looked very nice) and several Sci-Fi games I didn't have a close look at.

This plus traders' stands.

Fenris not only had the best-looking stand (I forgot to take photos because I was eyeing the goods) in the best position, but they were also getting a fair bit of attention with their 'Hell and High Water' table, the building of which you can follow on their Facebook page (it was subtly different from at Salute, as it had been dropped when being put into storage)

Fenris getting you on the way in and the way out...

Hell and High Water looking very good (how many scenic items can be fitted onto a board?)

In addition there was cosplay (I know several of you have been waiting for this bit!).

The Norwich Star Wars Club and the Norwich Sci-Fi Club were both there (though there were no fisticuffs this time!).  The Star Wars Club were publicising the 5th Norwich Sci-Fi and Film Convention on 8 June.  Chewbacca and an Ewok were kept very busy having their photos taken.

Who knew R2-D2 was a Canary?

Her first event in costume

I'm not sure what Batwoman's club affiliation is...

Some of you will have been waiting to see Boudi, who appeared last year.  Although she is still the Diceni mascot, and there was a painting competition for painting Hasslefree's Boudi figures, the Cosplayer who dressed as her last year came in a different costume.

This is Tabitha Lyons from Artyfakes - she was there with her range of LARP and cosplay props and costumes.

This very helpful lady seemed to be one of the organisers

This year's Diceni charity was F.A.I.T.H. Animal Rescue.