“I want to start Re-enacting but where do I begin?”

Re-enacting is an odd hobby when looked at from the outside. Spending your free weekends and spare cash to dress as a civilian or military character from the 1940’s, pretending to be living in a time you have never experienced, apparently for the entertainment of other people, is not for everyone but ask any reenactor, it is fascinating.

The real secret

Reenactors we enjoy it as much, if not more, than the members of the public who attend events. What originally draws any one person into re-enacting is probably as varied as the people who take part, what unites them is an interest in a specific period in history.

So you want to be a reenactor but you’re not sure how to go about it.

The first piece of advice is very important and very simple – DON’T BUY ANYTHING YET!

The second piece of advice

See what interests you most about us. Check out the left side of this site and you will see links to our Allied and Axis units. Go and take a look at their individual websites, it will help you get a feel of what we are about. Come along to an event meet us and talk to us. We are a large friendly association and all our groups openly welcome like-minded new “recruits”. Take a walk around the living history encampments, chat with members, tell them you are interested in joining and would like some advice. They will learn what interests you and from there they should be able to advise you on which group or groups within the association might be the most suitable for you to consider.

Find A Group

Once you have decided on which group you would like to join and assuming the group you want to join agrees take advantage of the Associations guest rule. You can take part in one event as a guest before joining us and often members from your chosen group will be able to help you out by loaning you items of uniform and bits of kit to put a rudimentary impression together for the weekend. You never know you may come along take part and think “why do these people do this” but we think you’re far more likely to discover the reenactors real secret it’s incredibly absorbing, its fun and its very different.

If you have found this page during the off-season, usually between the end of November and the beginning of May, please don’t feel you have to wait to get in touch. We have our own Northern World War II Association Forum – Facebook Group and Facebook Page you do not need to be an Association member to join the Forum and Group  or Like and Follow our page. Feel free to pop along sign up and post a message telling us of your interest in joining or asking anything that has not been answered here.