Knight to remember for shoppers
ASHOPPER in Tewkesbury snapped a photo of medieval characters in the queue to enter a Tesco Metro.
The photo shows a knight on his horse, a nobleman, an archer, and a serving girl, who may have been stopping off to take advantage of a meal deal or ingredients to whip up a tasty pot of gruel.
The shopper @Caz_loz branded the sight “Another completely normal day in Tewkesbury,” posting the photo on Twitter at 12.12pm on Saturday, July 11. The Tesco Metro is in the town centre on Bishops Walk. The medieval characters were members of the Tewkesbury Medieval Festival, which had been due to take place over weekend but was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On Sunday, historical re-enactor Liz Aston, who runs the website and social media for the festival, explained: “The festival directors and a small number of friends met in Tewkesbury yesterday on what would have been the Festival weekend. We walked through the town - maintaining social distancing! - as a way of marking the festival and promoting our ‘Virtual Festival’ we are holding instead online. We usually get one of two reactions,” added Ms Aston.
“Either people are really interested and ask why we are dressed up, or they pretend not to notice! In Tewkesbury it’s not all that unusual to see people in 15th century kit given how popular the Festival is.”
Ms Aston added the horse was not allowed inside the shop and had to wait outside with the rider.
The medieval festival is organised by volunteers who claim it is the biggest free medieval gathering in Europe with more than 2,000 visitors each year.
It had been due to take place in fields off Gloucester Road on July 11 and 12 and focuses on a large-scale re-enactment of the 1471 Battle of Tewkesbury, between the Yorkists and Lancastrians, and sees many events across the town over the weekend. Their virtual event can be found on the festival’s Facebook page.