Today being the 147th anniversary of dramatic events in Zululand & Natal, I'm pleased to confirm my participation in a forthcoming community day honouring the spirit, history and heritage of 1879.
The event is hosted by our friends and trustees of the Royal Welsh Museum at Brecon Barracks where the 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot - later the South Wales Borderers - who served in the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 were based.
I've been lucky enough to visit the remarkable museum there several times over the years most recently for their Goodwill Zulu Festival of two years ago which was a memorable day.
Members of the Zulu Royal Family were in attendance with a guard of honour and drill presentations from longtime re-enactment chums the Die Hards. Zulu dance and music troupe led by Busi Mhlanga , a Welsh Male Voice Choir (from Aberhonddu I believe) and lots of other attractions and activities including yours truly all ably compared by Glyn Baker (son of the ZULU movie produce Stanley, no less) and historian John Young among others.
It was quite something I'll be honest, being able to discuss and present my ZULU: Water Cart Rescue graphic novel to HRH Princess Zama-Zulu Shange and Glyn Baker and celebrate a shared heritage and connection of echoes past amongst so many like minded people.
I'll certainly be looking forward to making a return trip to Brecon this March to re-connect with so many of the fine folks who were there and see what new adventures await.
Had an absolute blast at the Anglo-Zulu War, Clash of Empires exhibition which still runs to 31st July and well worth a trip if you can. I'll try and write more when time allows but my two visits so far have both been great particularly the 3 day symposium, informative, interesting and fun, catching up with old and new friends alike, even Lady M enjoyed it!
Thanks to all who came and attended my presentation on the 'Water Cart Rescue' comics inspiration and development. I was a tad nervous beforehand with the calibre of earlier presenters and the audience including sundry Professors, Authors, Historians, Military Officers, Serviceman and lots of enthusiastic history and movie fans but talking about my two main passions, Comics n Zulus, soon relaxed me and thankfully, my talk was well received with some great comments afterwards and a nice spike in comics sold, thank you all very much.
All the talks have been filmed and will I understand, be made available on the exhibition's own youtube channel in due course, keep checking it here.
Special thanks to John Freeman of comics news site, Down The Tubes, who gave the exhibition and me a wee plug ahead of my talk, much appreciated!
In the meantime, the hardworking and enthusiastic, Chris Parkinson zipped around doing a few 'on the hoof' interviews for his own excellent Redcoat History channel, which you can find here, including the one above with Tim of the Die-Hards, running through the soldier's campaign kit. Very informative and of course, the Die-Hards themselves have been a constant source of inspiration, support and friendship in my own comic endeavours!
I'm currently set for a third trip there before it finishes, so please treat yourself to a visit if you can, it would be a shame to miss it.
Ian Knight, Alex Haimann & Me meeting for the first time since 2019!
Wow, that was fun! All that preparation, planning, travelling and then the day itself just speeds by, far too quickly and SALUTE50 was over as quick as it begun!
I was delighted with the response that my new release, ZULU: WATER CART RESCUE received and felt justified in attending the event with the interest and many encouraging comments received. That said, SALUTE is of course a wargaming show with models, figures, paints and the many, many game displays being people's priority, so this remains very much an outreach event for comics and one that I'm willing to invest the time and energy in to see if a successful crossover can be made to justify the expense in attending.
One thing I may have to do is make the fact that my books are comics more obvious, as despite the various signage and displays, many thought that I was selling Zulu War gaming rules and were interested if any figures were being produced or recommending manufacturers existing sets to suite such a venture! Most saw the funny side and were intrigued enough by the comics concept to give them a try but it is something I need to address in future.
Check out Warspite's video for a great SALUTE50 overview and a wee cameo after 09:30!
The event itself was certainly much busier than the previous covid hit 2021 one and everyone was saying that it was 'back' in terms of attendance and atmosphere so it was nice to fully experience the show that had enticed me previously. Certainly the new organising committee seemed to pull out the stops by adding many features such as panel talks, increased demonstration and participation games to give attendees more to do than just shop, which in turn encouraged them to stay at the show for longer so it didn't markedly drop off early afternoon like before.
With Tim and James of the Die Hards in mufti!
A personal highlight was of course catching up with chums that I'd not seen since my last South African trip in 2019, with historian and author Ian Knight and fellow enthusiast (and exhibition curator) Alex Haimann and Tim Rose and James Dix of the Die Hards - although I'd of course seen Tim at Salute in 2021. Our time was brief together but well spent with updates, ideas and more being discussed and shared ahead of July's very exciting Clash of the Empires exhibition, more to follow!
My handy backing table restock and display items
Being kept busy at the table I didn't really get the chance to look round the show myself but there are already a few videos like the one above on YouTube to give you a feel of the event. Not enough time to see everything was a common theme but I guess the additional venue and related costs may make an extension to two days prohibitive but we'll see.
The only game I did see was the really quite wonderful, Battle of Ntombi River wargame display presented by the Hornchurch Wargames Club from, of course the Zulu War! This was fabulous to see and discuss with one of the Club members and of course Ian Knight who I had visited the real scene with in 2010 and 2014, a special moment indeed.
Ian & I at Ntombe in 2014 after wading across the river!
So there you are, over in a flash but a lovely memorable day with a few other highlights and potential contacts made so hopefully worthwhile overall and I do enjoy trying different types of events to spread the word of independent comics so would like to return next time too, fingers-crossed. Thanks to all who stopped and chatted and showed interest in my efforts, very much appreciated and of course sincere congratulations to the South London Warlords on their 50th anniversary, here's to many more.
But overall just delighted to finally get my ZULU comic out there in the wild, USUTHU!
Some quiet reflection to remember the 22 January 1879 events in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa which impacted on so many and still echoes in history today. I have previously mentioned the memorable trip I made in returning to the battlefields in 2019 as part of the 140th anniversary and while much has changed, annual commemoration events continue to be held at both iSandlwana and Rorke's Drift.
This year, I only had the chance to rewatch the movie Zulu Dawn to mark the occasion and from afar, watched with interest those able to attend this year's activities, fondly recalling my own visits and those I shared the experience with.
The UK's Die Hards at Rorke's Drift 22 January 2019
Making a new friend at the iSandlwana battlefield 2019
The Die Hards preparing to 'hold the line'
Historian & Author Ian Knight points out the Zulu positions at iSandlwana (Jan 2019)
There are some tours and travel planned this year but at the moment, it's sadly unlikely I'll be able to join those overseas but something special much closer to home is looking promising which I'll update further when able and provides a further incentive to release you know what!.
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