Bumping the Sikhs

Over on Facebook fellow blogger PK has shared some photos from the History Live! event at Kelmarsh Hall, Notts (hopefully he'll blog about it once he's recovered).  History Live! is English Heritage's flagship event where history from the Romans to the C20th is celebrated through displays and re-enactments.  It sounds like great fun.

The photos that caught my attention were those of a group from the National Army Museum's 'War and the Sikhs' project.  This has involved training up members of the Sikh community as living history re-enactors (as the 15th Ludhiana Sikh Regiment, who will be travelling around the country doing educational events commemorating the Sikh contribution to World War I - more details on the NAM website.

The following photos come from The National Army Museum.

The big feller was obviously 'excused boots'!

Other re-enactors are available...

For some reason, Sikh troops have always caught my imagination.  I'm not too sure why - despite being brought up in an area with a large second-generation Punjabi population, I don't know any Sikhs.  Perhaps I read a book or saw a film at an early age which impressed the image of a bearded, turbaned warrior on my little mind.  Perhaps it's because (like highlanders) they're that little bit 'different'.

Anyway, I'm going to bump my Perry Sikhs back onto the painting list.  (I put them on one side when the Analogue Painting challenge started last December, and haven't revisited them since).  It doesn't mean that they'll get done, but it's nice to remember that they're there!