Our fifth interview done in this series was with Lindsay
Goodwin, who is a member of the Saskatoon Historical Fencing Society. Having
sent Lindsay a list of questions she sent me back her answers to help us at the
Museum, and the wider community, understand better what her group is all about.
Q: Thank you for
taking the time to answer these questions Lindsay. The first thing I would like
to know is what your position within your group is and how long have you been
involved?
A: All of the club members are fighters first and foremost.
Together we are a community of fighters who share teaching positions within the
club. This encourages our members to learn firsthand from our resources and
share ideas with the group in a community learning environment. I became
involved with the group in 2012, when I stumbled upon their poster in one of
the University of Saskatchewan hallways. I went to one of their meetings and
instantly fell in love.
Q: That is fantastic!
What inspired you to join the group after attending that first meeting and what
is your favourite part of being involved in your group?
A: I have always had an appreciation for martial arts.
Fencing gives me an opportunity to participate in a martial art, as well as
shamelessly loving the medieval lifestyle. It’s also really great exercise,
which is an added bonus. My favourite part is the sense of community I feel
when the club meets and we all share our interest in learning and practicing
these techniques. We all get along and are here to improve one another’s
skills.
Q: I can definitely
relate to the appeal of learning a different type of martial art that you don’t
always find being taught in other places. Do you find you gain more insight
into the medieval groups that you are learning the fighting styles of? If so,
could you please describe an aspect of it?
A: Because our club covers a great scope of time periods we
see how weapons and combat change along with the world around it. Most of our
manuals are written with a particular environment in mind which reveals a great
deal about how and why people employed the weapons and techniques that they
did.
Q: That is extremely
interesting, especially that you have enough information to recreate their
techniques. Now this was the Historical Fencing Society’s second year
participating the Museum’s festival. What would you say is your favourite part
about being involved with the medieval festival? What would you like to see in
the festival’s future?
A: The Museum has really supported us as a University club,
and we are more than happy to return the favour. It’s a great opportunity for
the club to demonstrate its knowledge and skill, to meet others interested in this
art, and to interact with the public. Personally, I am just glad to share with
others all that I have learned from medieval sword-fighting. For future
festivals, it would be interesting to see a little cross club competition,
since we are a fight oriented club. Additionally, we would also like to see
this festival evolve to the state where we could have a medieval feast (we love
to eat!).
Q: That sounds
awesome, a medieval feast is definitely an experience that would be great for
community members to enjoy, and is something that the Museum has been thinking
about trying to take on. For my last question, is there anything that you see
in your group’s future that you are excited about?
A: Hopefully we can get to a more competitive level and see
the rest of the historical fencing community grow as well. More people getting
involved is an exciting prospect, as new fencers only make the community better
and stronger.
Q: Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions Lindsay!
For more information about the Historical Fencing Society,
check out their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Saskatoon-Historical-Fencing-151151171625367/
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