Blog

  • What’s on in February

    Hello friends and fans of The Vanguard Centre! We have a month of fun, forging and fencing planned in February.

    Saturday morning archery

    It might have been a bit quiet last month, but now we are making more noise about our fourth drop-in archery session every week – now a regular feature on Saturday mornings! Between 10.30am and 12.00 noon you can get the same experience of indoor target shooting that we host on Mondays and Thursdays. This session is perfect for people who have busy work schedules that do not allow for evening activities, or for those that can only make it into the city on the weekend.

    Try coming along for a round of shooting before your Saturday shopping spree or lunch in town with friends. Better yet, bring your friends along too!

    February open sparring day

    Once again, we bring back a full day-long sparring session for every HEMA fighter that wants a bout or two, or twenty! The sparring will be hosted in the afternoon of Saturday 23rd. Along with the same plan as our monthly sparring meets last year, we will provide plenty of play space, some equipment, coaching and reinforcement for those who wish it, and all the tea and biscuits you can consume to assist your training! Tickets will be available in our shop for pre-purchase. If you are part of another HEMA club around Scotland, why not gang together and bring your tournament team over for some fun with us and the other Glasgow fighters?

    Sparring day, 1.00pm onwards, Saturday 23rd February.

    Regimental broadsword beginners course

    Following the success of our beginners course in the fundamentals of German longsword, we are hosting a similar six week course for Scottish basket hilt broadsword throughout March and April.

    The course will begin on Saturday March 9th at 1.00pm and run until April 13th. As part of the course participants will be provided with a copy of The Art Of Defence On Foot by Charles Roworth, a key historical source in the study of Scottish swordsmanship. The course will feature lessons in the cuts and guards of the system, footwork, tactics and training games from the period, culminating with sparring matches, antique handling of real swords from the era, and even cutting with a sharp sword!

    Places for this course are limited due to hall space and we expect it to be quite popular, so get in quick!

    Scottish fighting arts classes

    In February our Tuesday night class, studying the weapon systems and military tactics prominent in Scottish history, will move back to the fan favourite Highland Broadsword and Targe! This combination of small shield and sturdy cut-and-thrust sword allows for a lot of flexibility compared to the military doctrine of regimental broadsword. Being able to defend and attack at the same time, as well as transfer mechanics from one hand to the other, makes this fighting style wonderfully dynamic, but prone to clumsy pitfalls that make it a lot harder than it seems!

    The four Tuesday night classes through February aim to give fighters a basic understanding of using this weapon pairing and learning some tricks a wily highlander would use against a less canny swordsman!

    Highland Sword and Targe, 8.00pm on Tuesday nights.

    Blacksmithing lessons and membership

    We run blacksmithing classes by arrangement, so you can schedule a class or even a full beginners course at your convenience. After completing the beginners course, there are options for joining our team of hobby blacksmiths and working on your own metal projects around the anvil – it’s worth it for the camaraderie and spirit of the forge alone! We recommend getting in touch via the contact form on this website and planning your lessons early!

    Other opportunities

    We are available for private bookings seven days a week – whether it be for solo private tuition, or an exclusive group training session, we can sort it out for you.

    Private tuition or coaching for HEMA, archery or smithing can be made weekdays between 10.00am and 5.30pm with enough advanced notice, and weekends up to 10.00pm after scheduled classes have finished for the day. Get in touch via the contact form and let us know what you want!

  • Saturday Morning Archery

    We are adding another archery session to our timetable! Come join us on Saturday mornings from 10.30am until 12 noon for some target practise.

    Suitable for beginners and more experienced archers from age 8.

  • New Dehumidifiers for the Vanguard Centre

    We have made quite a large purchase of dehumidifiers for the Vanguard Centre, re-investing recent membership fees back into the Centre to make the place nicer for everyone.

    (more…)

  • Change of class times

    We are having a slight change to scheduled class times beginning Monday 1st of October.

    All classes are staying on the same days, we are just moving the times slightly so that classes run a bit more smoothly and we aren’t rushing you all out the door before the next session begins.

    The timetable has been updated here on the website, we hope this new schedule gives you all a better experience here at The Vanguard Centre.

  • Working with charities, and an antique book

    Over the last few months, we have been working with charities in and around Glasgow, offering some public and community outreach. It’s always nice to offer help to good causes! We also have some further partner activities planned for the coming few months.

    A while ago, we ran a fundraising campaign to buy an interesting antique book for donation to the Triquetra Collection of antique swords and books: the Seal of Cause and Bye-Laws and Regulations of the Incorporation of Fleshers of Glasgow, printed in 1887. It offers quite a fascinating insight into the world of the Victorian era trade guilds in Glasgow, although the guild itself received its seal in 1580, and was probably established quite some time before that.

    We managed to raise sufficient funds to make the purchase and to digitise it. A digital copy will be going to those generous individuals who made a donation towards the project (thank you very much!) in the next couple of days. The book itself has been donated to the Triquetra Collection as per the plan; and there will be an article on the trade guilds of Glasgow appearing on the Triquetra website at some point soon. Once the article appears there, we will be working with the “Wikimedian in Residence” at the  Scottish Library and Information Council to make the digitisation suitable for inclusion in the Wikimedia Commons.

    We are delighted to have been able to bring this project to its current state, and we are grateful to everyone who helped with donations. Thank you!

    Stay tuned for further information about this project as the article progresses, and look out for an announcement about our next fundraising project about late 19th / early 20th century martial sports!