Reenactment Society

What we do:

Here at the University of Liverpool Re-enactment Society we participate in re-enacting historical battles and portraying the lives of people from the past. We represent people from the 11th - 13th centuries as well as the English Civil War, in huge public events across the UK. We host combat training sessions every Tuesday at 6-8pm and every Sunday at 4-7pm in the Dance Studio on the second floor of the Guild building. In the society you will learn to fight with swords, spears, axes, seaxes, shields, pikes and even muskets! After each session we go to the pub afterwards to have a few drinks and to hang out and relax!

What is re-enactment?

Re-enactment is one of the UK's largest group hobbies with thousands of people recreating different periods in history. We will go to public events around the UK and camp with hundreds of other reenactors, participating in large scale battle recreations for the public to enjoy. These events become great opportunities to meet new people across the nation and to have fun outside of the hectic hustle and bustle of modern society, where we aim to promote a climate of comfort and joy amongst those we perform with!

Why should you get involved?

Re-enactment is one of the most welcoming and rewarding hobbies in the UK. It is a fantastic way to meet great people, as camping, eating, drinking and fighting together tends to create lifelong friendships! On a society level we host many socials, from movie nights, pub crawls, trips to the arcade, flat parties and more. It's not compulsory to participate every week, so you can work on your studies. Despite this, our weekly activities make us one of the most active non-sport societies on campus! You also don't need to worry about knowing any history; many people in the society have little historical knowledge, and join either to learn history or simply to learn to safely fight on the battlefield.

What about me? I'm not a fighter!

There is arguably even more to re-enactment then just fighting other people! We also participate in 'living history' which tries to recreate the lives of people from the past, creating and wearing period accurate clothing and participating in historic activities, which can vary from playing medieval board games, to cooking up some good scran for the camp! Within the society we offer many non-combat roles and activities. We host crafting sessions on Mondays from 7-10pm in Activity Space 8 where we make our own clothing and maintain our weapons and armour. Every training session we also offer the ability to learn historical drumming (one of the aforementioned non-combat roles), so you can participate in battle without having to fight!