Hello Fencers!
At the last minute it has been sprung on me that there will be maintenance work on Saturday at our Oasis Academy Brightstowe venue. That means we will have to go elsewhere for just this Saturday. The club session will be at the Dockland's Settlement at the St Pauls's Settlement, 74-80 City Rd, Bristol BS2 8UH. There's a map here. It will start at 10 and finish, as usual, at 12:30. The venue isn't huge but I'm sure our club spirit come shining through. It will be a struggle to bring as much kit as usual, so please let me know if you will be requiring anything. All adult and Secondary School age fencers should go to the above venue. Refreshments might not be available, so please bring your own.
The T1 Primary School Championships will, however be in the fencing sale at Badminton School's sports centre, BS9 3AX (map here). This is the venue for Primary School age fencers. Please bring a packed lunch and water as we can provide neither at this venue.
My most abject apologies for this disruption. The change is only for the 10th November session.
Please call 07981927787 if you need advice or assistance.
See you soon,
John
Club Bulletin # 071117: Clifton College Foil/Epee Friendly Epee Champ For October McNeill Cup Sabre Inaugural Club Foil Championship SW Regional Competitions FIE: Proposals For Rule Changes
Hello Fencers!
We have received a last minute invitation from Clifton College to a friendly match at epee and foil. The match will be at Clifton College from 1.30 pm on Saturday (3rd November). I've proposed we should send two teams of three at each, with some, most or all doubling up at both weapons. This is to be a friendly match, so all levels of skill and experience should feel welcome to volunteer. Last December's match at Clifton was an exciting and enjoyable affair. Please let me know as soon as you possibly can if you'd like to take part in the match as time is short.
Our Epee Championship for October was won by Jon Mason (pictured right), with Nick Scott-Samuel and Patrick Durant respectively second and third.
This is McNeill Cup week, with our usual team slash feast sure to provide its usual share of drama for fencers, veteran and novice, young and less so.
I've scheduled our inaugural club foil championship for Wednesday 7th November and on the first Wednesday of each month thereafter. We'll thus complete our trivium of fencing competitions. Which stands for grammar, rhetoric or logic, I leave you to speculate.
The Bristol Fencing Academy session this week will be a quiet affair as many of our young fencers are away for half-term or engaged in extortion on Halloween. I'll be there from 6pm and happy to give lessons to junior or - for this session - adult fencers but there will be no formal session.
I've received a reminder from SW Secretary, Jane Browne, that there a competitions coming up in our region. The updated calendar is here.
The excecutive of our sport's governing body, the FIE, has made some radical proposals for changes to the rules that affect all three weapons. One is to remove off-target at foil, so it would be like sabre, with off target hits not registering nor stopping the bout. Another is to restore the fleche at sabre in some form. Neither is very likely to happen. Non-Combativity is also up for review, which affects foil and epee.There is a report on the proposals here and the full document is available here.
See you soon,
John
Club Bulletin # 241018: Epee Championships For October Saturday 27th: Same Place But Different Hall Bristol Schools T1 Sabre Championships (Secondary)
Hello Fencers,
Our October Epee Championship takes place on Saturday (27th Oct.). It's always a mighty battle. Let's see our foiners out in force for this one.
On that Saturday we will be upstairs in the Assembly Hall at our usual venue rather than the sports Hall that will be undergoing some sort of repair. NB: it is still the Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Penpole Lane, Shirehampton. It's just in another room.
The Bristol Schools Sabre T1 Chamionship saw some classic contests of attack and defence, with nerve and timing at a premium.
The Over 13's medalists were: Dario Blandford (Gold), Joe Hayes-Lynch (Siilver) and Boldizsar Melegh (Bronze).
In the U13 category, Gold went to Lucia Furr, who also came fourth in the mixed poule with her older rivals....
Well done to all who took part and thanks to Nigel Cooley and Louis Findlay-Smith, the John Cabot Learning Federation Fencing Club coaching team, our tireless referees, Dan Wilkinson and Martin Dale, and Anna Grodent for her excellent organisation of the championship.
Our affiliate club at John Cabot Learning Federation's fencing club sent a fine contingent of sabreurs and sabreuses who did their coaches and themselves great credit.
It was a great contest, fought in the very best spirit. Roll on our Primary School Championships on November 10th .
See you soon,
John
Club Bulletin # 171018: T1 Secondary School Sabre Championships T1 Primary School Sabre Championships Postponed Foil Fencing
Hello Fencers!
Our half-termly sabre competition for Secondary School age fencers will take place on Saturday (20th October). If would help the organisers if those intending to take part could let me know via johnrohdeuk@yahoo.com . This is always a relaxed competition and chance to meet fencers from our affiliate clubs.
Our Primary School competition will be postponed until 10th November. We don't have the Sport Hall on the 27th October is the date and that's also the date of our monthly epee competition, so it makes sense to postpone the Primary School Competition.
A reminder that foil lessons are available on Saturday mornings and foilists are welcome to do their bendy best on Wednesdays as well.
See you soon,
John
Club Bulletin # 091018: Junior Eagles Fencing Films SW Sabre
Hello Fencers!
Our junior fencers improvised a team match for themselves on Saturday. The looser format on Saturdays is designed to compliment the new Academy sessions but individual lessons are still available for juniors on Saturdays and in the club sessions that run-on after the Academy on Wednesdays.
Our younger cadres were satisfied with a poule unique for their respective age groups.
Anna Grodent has shared this link to the excellent Academy of Fencing Masters website. which has a short review of recent films on fencing. They include one club favourite, By The Sword, that depicts what might be our own club's clone, according to some accounts ;) Please feel free to send in your own favourite fencing moments from stage, screen or literature.
Anna flew the Eagle banner at Sunday's South West Sabre Championship, going out to in the DE to a left hander after getting to 14:14 with priority but somehow failing to have her hit register: the dreaded whip-over lockout. Our semi-own Jon Dawkins did well in the Men's Sabre and grabbed a bronze and top veteran spot in the consecutive SW Foil. Well done to both Anna and Jon for doing the club much credit.
See you soon,
John
Club Bulletin # 021018: McNeill Cup Winners Epee Champion For September Bristol Fencing Academy Introductory Sabre Course Foil Lessons Competitions
Hello Fencers! September's McNeill Cup Sabre Champions were the team of (L to R): Boldizsár Melegh, Jon Dawkins and Stephen Williams. All the matches were closely contested and fought in the right spirit. Well done to all! The Epee Championship was equally hard fought affair with the podium places ending up as: 1st: Jack White; 2nd: Nick Scott-Samuel; 3rd: Sebastian Reid. It was a close competition, with four of the eight fencers tied on three victories behind Jack and Nick; Sebastian taking the place by a healthy advantage in indicators. Pictured below (L to R): Nick, Jack and Sebastian : And here are and seven of the eight usual suspects who made up the poule: The Bristol Fencing Academy got off to a great start on Wednesday with our Primary and Secondary school age groups each taking on the basic skills of movement: the very essence of sabre fencing. Our interrupted Introductory Sabre Course resumes for its third session, taking in circular actions in both attack and defence. Foil fencing continues to grow in appeal in the club. Those interested in learning or developing at that most subtle of weapons will find matches on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with specialist lessons from Maestro Martin Dale available at the Saturday sessions. For those interested in external competition, here is a reminder of local events coming up: 7th October: The South West Sabre and Foil Championships (at Millfield School, Somerset). 14 October: Devon Foil Open. 4th November: The Gloucestershire Team Foil Championships (at Wycliffe College, Glos.). 24th November: South West Senior Epee Championships. 13th January: The Gloucestershire County Sabre and Epee Championships (at Wycliffe College, Glos.). Details of the above can be found at:. www.swfencing.co.uk
See you soon,
John
Club Bulletin # 250918: Bristol Fencing Academy Launch McNeill Cup Sabre Epee Championship For September Foil Champs In The Offing Master-Of-Arms Epee & Foil Workshops & Courses
Hello Fencers!
This week sees the launch of our Bristol Fencing Academy for junior fencers. It runs immediately before our regular Wednesday sessions, from 6:15 to 7:30. Full details are given here: https://www.bwefencing.co.uk/bristolfencingacademy/ .
We'll be featuring the irrepressible Aldo Montano in the Academy's video presentation but so as not to pre-empt that showing, here's a match featuring the great Italian sabreur against another great champion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF_VrsqROME.
Staying with sabre, the McNeill Cup is up for grabs again tomorrow (Wednesday, 26th Sept.), as our sabreurs and sabreuses contest for the team sabre trophy.
Saturday (29th Sept.) will bring our Epee Championship around again. The weapon goes from strength to strength in the club and I'm sure it will be as hotly contested as ever.
It's been resolved to hold a monthly foil competition, to match our sabre and epee championships. As presently conceived, it would be a team competition on the lines of the McNeill Cup. It remains is to decide whether to hold it on Wednesday or Saturday. Any and all thoughts on the subject are welcome.
It's further been suggested - by Adrian Day, who has a vested interest in the matter - that we should have a Master-Of-Arms competition for those Jacks and Jills among us who fancy a foray at three weapons. Send me your thoughts on format and setting please.
Thanks to Nandini Banerjee, here is a link that illustrates - at least to the francophone among us - some of the benefit from fencing that weighs more than simply winning or losing or mere sport: https://www.facebook.com/ffescrime/videos/2009006895827679/
We aim to run epee and foil workshops and courses in the near future. Please let me know if you would be interested.
All in all, exciting times.
See you soon,
John
Club Bulletin # 180918 BWEFC At Ashton Park: Just For Wednesday 19th
Hello Fencers,
***IMPORTANT NOTICE: TEMPORARY VENUE (AND SLIGHTLY LATER START). JUST FOR THIS WEDNESDAY (19th September). We will be at Ashton Park School Hall again, in the old school gym. Turn left upon entering the school, drive through the wooded car park and we'll be just through the wire gates. The session will run from 8pm until 10pm. Here is a map:
Club Bulletin # 110918 Things To Come Venue For 19th Sept. National Junior Epee Championships Competition Calendar Benched
Hello Fencers!
The new season promises exciting developments at White Eagle, with the new Wednesday Academy set to start on the 26th of this month (details here: https://www.bwefencing.co.uk/bristolfencingacademy/), a monthly club foil championship on the stocks, and our half-termly junior competitions resuming. Beginners Epee and Foil courses are also in the offing.
We'll be making a little trek, most probably to Ashton Park Sports Centre again, for the 19th of this month, as the school has its Open Evening.
White Eagle epeeist, Jack White hit the National Junior Championships as only his second major epee - as opposed to Modern Pentathlon - tournament. Competition in this U20 competition for the best in the UK, was always going to be tough but Jack came out of his poule having beaten the best fencer but a loss to the worst delivered a DE against the eventual fifth placer. 54th of 73 is an excellent, fighting result at this stage of his career (photo: Carly Collins).
On the topic of competitions, a slew of local, regional and county competitions is coming up over the next few months:
16th September: The Gloucestershire County Foil Championships (at Wycliffe College, Glos.).
23rd September: The Dart Individual Epee and Sabre Competitions (at Totnes, Devon).
7th October: The South West Sabre and Foil Championships (at Millfield School, Somerset).
4th November: The Gloucestershire Team Foil Championships (at Wycliffe College, Glos.).
13th January: The Gloucestershire County Sabre and Epee Championships (at Wycliffe College, Glos.)
Full details of all the above are given here: http://www.swfencing.co.uk/calendar/category/seniors/list/.
There is also the Hampshire Open (Portsmouth) will take place on the weekend of 29th/30th September. It's has events for all weapons, as well as separate Veterans competitions. Details are given here: http://www.southhampshirefencing.co.uk/hampshire-open/
Digression, deviation unhesitatingly on display in our latest course in the basics of Sabre (photo: Anna Grodent).
See you soon,
John
Club Bulletin # 050918 Sabre Course Starting Bristol Fencing Academy Launch Postponed Epee Champion For August McNeill Cup Winning Sabre Team Club Monthly Foil Championship Coming Shropshire Open
Hello Fencers,
Due to a school open evening being sprung upon us, we shalln't have the Oasis Academy for the evening of Wednesday the 19th of September. We'll either find an alternative venue for that evening or arrange a social. As always, suggestions are welcome. This should be the last of our wanderings for the foreseeable future and we are at the Oasis on all dates before and after September 19th until Xmas.
A new adult sabre course begins this week (5th Sept). There are still places if anyone feels like piling in. It aims to be technical and give a thorough understanding as well as practice in the fundamentals of sabre fencing. The details are here: https://www.bwefencing.co.uk/courses-and-workshops/
The launch of our new training session for juniors, The Bristol Fencing Academy, has had to be put back to the 26th of September due to the disruption caused by losing our venue for the 19th. Meanwhile Academicians are welcome at our Saturday sessions as part of their membership. Details of the Academy can be found here: https://www.bwefencing.co.uk/bristolfencingacademy/
Our epee championship for August was as hotly contested an affair as ever with Jack White taking first place
with a clean sweep of wins and Patrick Durant and Jon Mason, close second and third. High class fencing.
August's McNeill Cup winning sabre team was (L to R) Robert Greenwood, Mikołaj Ciezkowski and Jon Dawkins. It was a 45:43 final and as gripping as usual. Well done to all.
The foilists in our midst have noted as unfair that they have no monthly competition.o watch this spA That's going to be corrected, space for a new club competition at that elegant weapon.
Here's the latest report from coach, Jon Mason. This time it's from the Shropshire Open where both he and his son, Luke were competing:
"Great day for Luke
He started well in both pools coming 5th seed, and worked his way through the D.E's to reach the semi finals against a very experienced international Slovakian, Luke lead all through the match tiring his opponent out and winning comfortably. Then the final against a very fast and talented Croatian who was seeded 1st, t...he match was fast and exciting all through, at the end of the first period Luke was 3 points down!
2nd round Luke used distance more effectively stopping his opponent's perfect parry ripostes by moving back just at the right moment allowing his opponent to walk onto his blade and drew even. Then Luke pressed him, forcing the Croatian to attack at the wrong time enabling him to score. Luke won 15 12
"As for myself, first pool awful winning 1 bout, second pool better winning 4 out of 5, started well in d.e ahead then my opponent drew even and crept ahead, I couldn't disengage his carte bind well enough to avoid his point so l"ost. I was seeded 14 but think ended 19.
Felt as though I should have done better but Luke made up for it😀"
See you soon,
John