The Sandwich Medieval Centre and 'Le Weekend'

This week's blog is a sit-down interview about the Sandwich Medieval Centre and an event called 'Le Weekend' held each year. The trustee member interviewed is the centre's event organiser named Dave Batchelor. Most of the blog post is a paraphrase of the interview with some direct quotes sprinkled in!

Q: What is the Sandwich Medieval Centre and what is its purpose?

A: It is a charitable trust founded in 2018 for sharing of medieval knowledge and craft in and around Sandwich. Volunteers wear reenactment attire from the 14th and 15th centuries and talk about and show what there character would have done. This can be a smith, a monk, clerk and a so on.

Q: What are some examples of what you do at the Centre?

A: We have different displays that we work on continuously such as the Nicholas Project which will be a reconstruction of a medieval ship called a 'cog'. This project started in 2021 and will look like the display seen at the centre.

Cog Ship Display: Sandwich Medieval Centre

We will have different crafts and workshops ranging from mead making, tablet weaving, blacksmithing, gothic style calligraphy, making medieval illuminations found in manuscripts and more!

School visits are also encouraged to the centre where they learn (and see!) about what the centre offers!

Q: What is Le Weekend?

A: We have a yearly event known as 'Le Weekend' which is happening on the 13th and 14th of June this year. The entire town goes French and it is one of the largest reenactment events the centre does. There are interactive topics for the public in living history like tradesmen demonstrating their craft, combat, archery, music, theatre, pottery and much more. To quote Dave directly, 'We have an exceptionally good bar with lots of mead because that's one of the most important things'. The goal of Le Weekend is aligned with the centre's desire for public engagement, active excitement for history, and education.

A pop-up tent at Le Weekend.

We will also have axe throwing and archery tents set up for people to have a go! Something There will be woodturners making medieval game boards for people to have a go at like 'Nine Men's Morris' and 'Alquerque'.

If you have time this weekend or in a year come by Sandwich! The Trust has a website with events and more of the centre's goals. A quote from the end of the interview summarises the event quite nicely, 'Mainly, it's about having fun, and a nice atmosphere. Whether it be a nice drink, enjoying puppet theatre, or live music'.