There is a common concern / complaint / belief that there is very little for Gentlemen to do at Georgian and Regency events.
This is, for the most part, true; and is true because there are very few Gentlemen attending these events.
"What did Gentlemen do?" You ask. Shooting, Fencing, Riding, Rowing, Fishing, Gambling, Smoking, Drinking, Dancing and Looking Good. Obviously, not all of these are going to appeal to all people. Also, some are expensive, especially the first three. Although the Fencing and Shooting may be dabbled in relatively easily.
At Balls it is pretty easy to find a small table and a few friends for a game of Whist. Don't know how to play? No worries, plenty of us do. With regards to Gambling, we would like to avoid real money changing hands, but poker chips, tokens or replica coins may be used. There has been talk about having a year long Whist tournament.
There are a few avenues for fencing. I myself run a Georgian / Victorian fencing practice on most Sunday afternoons. Contact me directly if interested. Academia Duellatoria here in Beaverton also offers classes in western martial arts.
http://duellatoria.com/
All of these activities require that one 'look' the part. Many modern Gentlemen can be put off by the knee breaches and silk stockings. If this is the case, move forward a few years when they go
out of style and trousers come in. The classic 'Beau Brummel' look is basically the predecessor of the modern suit.
http://www.wemakehistory.com/
http://www.georgianindex.net/
Another option is a Military or Navy look. These two take a bit more work and will be discussed later.
Keep in mind, that for the amount of events you are likely to attend, one outfit will largely suffice.
We have planned a series of three events this summer:
1) A Day at the River. Canoeing, fishing and a pique-nique.
2) A Day at the Salle. An assault of arms with sabre, smallsword, la canne, singlestick, bayonet, rapier, etc.
2) A Day at the Fort. Introduction to black powder flintlock weapons.
In conclusion, when it comes right down to it, in order to get more Gentlemen's Activities we need more Gentlemen willing to come out. At present there are only a few of us and while we enjoy having the ladies to ourselves it would be nice to have more fellows about.
-- Colonel Le Chevalier Etienne de Valois
