Compassionate Leave, and other things

Hi,

Want to teach in Germany?

My friends running Swords of the Renaissance, which I’ll be teaching at in August, are looking for a range of teachers to do short classes. If you’re just starting out as a teacher this is a good opportunity to get some experience. Here’s what they say:

For the first time, we are launching an open call for Swords of the Renaissance on August 29–30, 2026 in Potsdam.

We are looking for instructors for our break-out sessions.

Do you want to give a blackboard lecture on Destreza with compass and chalk, or prove your proceedings in the salle in the style of Fabris? Discuss modern sword simulators and how to make them, or talk about measuring originals in museums? Share practical teaching concepts, or reflect on diversity and safer spaces in HEMA clubs?

Then pitch us your topic.

We are looking for short, focused contributions of around 20–30 minutes related to Renaissance fencing. The format is open: practical workshops, lectures, discussions, demonstrations, or experimental training concepts are all welcome.

Sessions will be grouped into thematic tracks. Our committee will review all submissions and select contributions with the goal of creating a coherent and diverse overall program. We will get back to you as soon as possible, but please note that we may not be able to include every proposal.

Instructors will receive a ticket to Swords of the Renaissance.

Submit your short abstract/pitch here:

https://forms.gle/pMhic24kgXXMW8Gm6

To register for the event, please go to: https://schildwache-potsdam.de/swords-of-the-renaissance-2026
See you there!

A Phoenix rises from the ashes?

My friend Sergio Muelle, of Twisted Horseshoe Knives, has lost his forge, workshop, all stock and tools, in a fire. This the chap who helped me make my fancy 18th century style foil guards, and with whom I’ve done a bunch of knife making. He has a Go Fund Me, which you can find here: https://gofund.me/35f899d72

If you’re feeling flush, by all means help him out.

Compassionate Leave

You may have noticed a gap in both the newsletter production and the podcast. If you read my last newsletter, you can probably guess why.

I went up to visit my mum on April 19th, with a bag full of laptop, microphones, etc. I even ordered a cheap monitor to be delivered to the house so I could get some work done until my sister came back up to take over on the 30th. We had a sibling tag-team of mum-coverage organised to the end of May.

But it was not to be. On Friday my mum and I played duets, and had friends round for dinner. On Saturday she was too tired to do anything, and on Sunday night she took a sudden turn for the worse. The Angels of Mercy (aka Macmillan nurses) came in the middle of the night and moved her up to the really serious drugs. She was in no pain from that point on, and died at home in her own bed on the night of Tuesday 28th.

My sister raced back up on the Sunday so we were both with her at the end, which was peaceful.

Some perspective: my mum was 85, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in April 2022, retired from teaching piano on March 23rd this year, and was entirely herself to the very end. She also had access to first rate medical care, nurses doing home visits, state-of-the-art pain medication, the works. This could have been a million times worse.

But still, I’ve not been up to much since then. This is not fundamentally wrong, but it's big, and heavy. It will take time to digest and incorporate. I certainly wasn’t fit to record the intro and outro of that week’s podcast episode. And it’s taken me this long to even think about writing a newsletter. If it weren’t for the two things my friends needed me to share that I opened with, I probably wouldn’t have got this one out.

And no, I have no idea why she’s wearing a tie as a headband in this photo. I don’t think she was taking up breakdancing. I would guess she was entertaining a grandchild.

The one bit of proper work I’ve done is to finish up the edits on the new Companion Volume to the Vadi Facsimile. That should be out on time. We budgeted an extra month in our timing estimates: it would have been better to budget two, but I think it’s up to scratch.

I have kept up with my trainalongs though. Literally the day after she died I was there on the zoom doing push-ups. Why? Two reasons: you’ve got to keep moving. Well, I do anyway. Otherwise bad things happen to my joints.

And, my mum would have said “you just have to get on with it”. The first time I collected her from a chemo session she had a student coming for a piano lesson a couple of hours later. What a legend.

This will be the first newsletter in about five years that she won’t reply to.

take care my friends,

Guy