Post by Dennis of Ravenscar on May 23, 2014 17:10:32 GMT
Convention Review on Silver Arrow ’97
Date: 22th - 24th August 1997
Venue: Hilton International Hotel, Bristol
By: Dennis of Ravenscar
The Silver Arrow convention was a Robin of Sherwood convention running over the weekend of 22nd-24th August 1997. It came about after a RoS convention held last year turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. A group of fans; Linda, Liisa, Janet and Adam formed a con committee to provide a convention by fans for fans. One of the main gripes about the previous convention was a general lack of organisation, activities and that unique con atmosphere. They were also assisted by Heike and Gary who videoed the various Con events.
The convention had a good guest list including Phil Rose, Stuart Linden (the old man in the dungeon), Terry Walsh (stunt co-ordinator for the series), Esta Charkham (casting director and later producer) and John Matthews (writer) as a guest speaker, and for Saturday evening Judi Trott and Robert Addie. It was a pity that Nicholas Grace, Martin West and Clive Mantle couldn’t attend due to work commitments but there were still more than enough guests to entertain the attendees with their memories of the series.
Lucy and I got to the hotel early Friday evening, finding the hotel surprisingly easily (considering Lucy was navigating!) We got settled into our room, which was a good size and sought out the Committee. On our travels we encountered the bar which seemed a good place to find fans. It was here that we got our real first shock as we discovered the price of drinks! We decided to drink slowly savouring each gulp. Over in the corner Terry Walsh was entertaining a group of people with stories while enjoying a steady flow of pints and cigarettes. After about an hour at the bar we wandered around the hotel. It was good quality with facilities including a pool and a gym (handy for working off the beer if you could afford it!). On our travels we encountered the committee so we offloaded the Con booklets on to them and regrouped at the bar. As it got later in the evening more and more attendees arrived and a nice atmosphere was forming. It was good to put faces to names as we met a good number of Nothing’s Forgotten members. We also recruited a lots more new members. The Hilton had a good restaurant which included an eat as much as you like meal option for £8. This sounded very reasonable and being the hungry chap that I am got very good value for money.
After the meal I could barely move, so we relocated back to the bar, and chatted about the series and what was going to happen over the weekend. We found out it was Heike’s birthday and the rest of the Committee had organised a Robin Hood Strip-A-Gram. It was quite funny to watch, although given the nature of the hotel it was thought best that he shouldn’t actually strip. The chap said he remembered the series quite well, and had known local people who had worked on it as extras. At about 2 o’clock after some more drinking and chatting the lengthy drive to Bristol and expensive beer began to take effect and it was time to go to our room.
The opening ceremony was on Saturday morning, we went in early to set up the Nothing’s Forgotten table and were just about set when it started. The ceremony was followed by a panel which included Terry Walsh and Phil Rose. They told us about the various things they had been working on recently. Phil has been appearing in a Belgian advert and is writing a series (I think) that is based on the premise that Hitler had won the war. He also referred to his worst moment at a convention when he went to Visions in the USA one year and found out that he had slept in the same bed that Patrick Troughton (the second Doctor Who) had died in. This Christmas Phil will be in a Pantomime in Stafford. Terry has recently worked in a new BBC series called Survivor. They then started to recount their memories of the series. The Swords of Wayland featured prominently as one of the locations used in the episode was due to be visited on Sunday. Terry said that that was a particularly awkward episode as the stunt man on it was really rubbish though he used a more colourful description. They also discussed the final scene with Rula Lenska when she got mobbed by the Hounds of Lucifer in the sea at St Michael’s Mount. The eclipse featured in the scene was genuine and made it look really special. Phil also recollected that he kept fluffing his lines while reading out the Hound’s pact with Lucifer saying ‘rectum’ instead of ‘pactum’! Also when they had those white eyes in the same episode after being bewitched by Morgwyn he couldn’t see anything through those white contact lenses and he kept bumping into things. They then started talking about the proximity of various Robin of Sherwood locations including the locations for The Swords of Wayland. St Michael’s Mount was used for the establishing shot of the priory and a nearby cliff was where Loxley jumps off the cliff to escape. Caldicot Castle was used for the outside of Earl Godwin’s Castle where Phil remembered that Rula made the sign of the cross with the wrong hand (very appropriate!). The large room where we see the nuns praying in Ravenscar Abbey was the nave of Malmesbury Abbey while, rather more prosaically, the circular altar where the swords are placed was built in an old bus factory in Bristol! A garden at Wells Cathedral was used for the scene where Tuck goes to see Marion with the bees in Robin Hood and the Sorceror. Phil remembered when he was filming the first episode that he was feeling fairly cold so he got a little too close to a fire and set fire to his tabard!
Attendees were then able to browse the few dealer tables which gave us a chance to show off the new (and old) Nothing’s Forgotten t-shirt designs, and badges, which sold like hot cakes. There were also quite a lot of fanzines for sale, and John Matthews set up his table with his and his wife’s many books on Celtic mythology and prominent mythological and legendary figures.
After lunch there was a second panel with Terry and Phil who were joined by Stuart Linden and Esta Charkham. This was very entertaining as Esta and Phil have a clear recollection of what happened with the series. Stuart was as charming as ever and clearly enjoyed the cheers of the fans when he arrived in the room. This basically continued discussions from the first panel. Combustion featured prominently as we found out that Herne kept being ignited by the smoke machine during the first series. Esta upon being asked what Richard Carpenter was doing said that Kip was writing for a Scarlet Pimpernel series and that Mark Ryan is involved with a show that is being filmed in California set in the 6th century. Discussions then migrated onto Robin of Sherwood. Talking about The Children of Israel they mentioned that it was filmed mainly at the Blaise Castle estate and was based loosely on The Babes in the Wood pantomime. In the episode The Cross of St Ciricus cast voices, including Esta, were used for the lepers being healed at the abbey. They also revealed litle snippets like the fact that the actor playing Alan a Dale was dubbed, and that the crew referred to Angharad Rees (The Witch of Elsdon) as ‘Handgrenade’ ! Esta talked about casting the series and mentioned that most of the cast were her first choices. It shows that she certainly knows her job, considering how beautifully they all work together. She also talked about the fact that major ‘names’ were keen to work on the programme as it gave them the chance to dress up, have a bit of fun and play characters often quite different to those they were used to. Rula Lenska really enjoyed being Morgwyn of Ravenscar, and she and her husband at the time, Denis Waterman, made the most of it and had a holiday in Cornwall. It was a real pleasure listening to Esta as she has a good memory and she is happy to share information with fans. It was more of a conversation than a panel, with all the guests reminding each other of things that had happened during the series.
Following the second panel there was a guest talk by John Matthews who is the author of many books including Robin Hood: Green Lord of the Wildwood. He discussed the ideas presented in this book about the origins of the Robin Hood figure. Unfortunately we couldn’t hear very well from the back of the hall, but Lucy bought the book and has found it very interesting.
After the panels there was an autograph session and Lucy took our picture acquired from Excalibur ‘93 to get a few more signatures. We then had to clear the room ready for the banquet. Lucy had sorted out some costumes for us both. I was dressed as John when he was bewitched by Belleme in the first episode when Lucy did a generic costume as my Mistress! Judi Trott and Robert Addie turned up in the evening for the banquet. Judi looks even more beautiful than she did in RoS, and had gone to the effort of wearing, if not an actual costume, then at least something in keeping with the series. She wore a lovely black velvet dress and had done her hair up in medieval style, and her husband dressed up as a monk. Judi also was very happy to sign autographs she just doesn’t like doing panels very much. Robert seems quite reserved, but is very nice, and was also happy to do autographs.
The banquet was great fun, the majority of people there had dressed appropriately, and had medieval dancers performing in between courses, including a very rowdy sword fight. Unfortunately, the chap our side of the room was cheering lost! They encouraged people to join in a couple of dances, including one where they made their way around the entire room. The food, while not being entirely authentic, was good and well presented. We started off with parsnip and honey soup, followed by spare ribs and roast chicken with summer pudding to follow. Vegetarians had tasty alternatives to the meat dishes, and there were a couple of bottles of mead on each table. All very good value considering that this was all-inclusive.
Afterwards was the auction hosted by Phil Rose, which was very exciting from our point of view, as we had noted that one the items that was to be auctioned was Morgwyn of Ravenscar's banner which looked really nice. We held back on the other bids saving ourselves for the last item. It was then a head to head challenge with a very nice American woman who also wanted this banner. Eventually we prevailed but it was a most stressful time, I can tell you (especially for our bank balance!). After we had got it everyone gathered round and were really pleased that an original prop had stayed in the UK and asked if they could take pictures of it. There was then a disco which really isn’t my thing so I migrated to the bar. However, it was interesting to note that Robert Addie, although otherwise quiet, wasn’t averse to a bit of boogieing with some fans.
On the Sunday, it was pouring with rain (typical!!) and we all met outside at the front of the hotel to get on a coach which would take us to the locations. Our coach for some reason was late, luckily I’d brought an umbrella as my outlaw costume wasn’t waterproof! When the coach arrived we drove to Blaise Castle Estate which was used for various woodland scenes in several episodes, including The Children of Israel and Robin Hood and the Sorcerer. Luckily the rain stopped, and held off for the rest of the day apart from a bit of fine drizzle, but it did mean that the woods had got a bit muddy. Although the group did get lost two or three times there were about 100 people wandering about and it was difficult keeping track of who was going where, but as someone said, being lost in the woods is part of the experience. To get about Blaise Estate you do have to be reasonably fit and mobile as some of it involves climbing up steep slopes which was quite interesting after the morning’s rain! Phil Rose came along too, but very wisely decided not to climb the extremely steep bank where Marion and Tuck got attacked in Sorcerer. On our wandering we got ambushed by outlaws and came across a few lepers. The outlaws demanded a levy, however I explained that all my money had been spent on a Ravenscar Banner and I was broke. We also went past a nice little thatched house and someone thought this would make a great photo, thinking it must be RoS related everyone else started clicking with their cameras. Interestingly the house was occupied, though the chap inside was asleep, if you could imagine his surprise waking up to 100 fans frantically taking photos! (And a few lepers walking past shouting “Unclean!”).
The location in Blaise Castle Estate where Robin makes his speech in Robin Hood and the Sorcerer.
We think this is a location used in Children of Israel, where the children hide.
After stopping at a kiosk for refreshments we then went to Black Rock near Cheddar, which was used for Uffcombe in the episode The Swords of Wayland. Phil was our guide, showing us where the village had been built, and even the exact spot where Nasir had waited for the Hounds of Lucifer. It was really good as it stirred memories of what happened, although strangely enough the clearing where it was built seemed smaller than when you see it on video tape, but Phil could still remember where each building was. Apparently it took weeks to build the village but they had to burn the village down when they had finished as it was cheaper than dismantling it piece by piece. From the clearing you can see the cliff when the horses jumped on to the buildings, and the hillside that was used for the Hounds' establishing shot. Also the path up the rock where Much and Tuck talk about demons. We then returned to the hotel where I had a bath as I was soaking wet, but it was worth it, as I had seen a few locations that I hadn’t come across before. It helps when you have a cast member who was actually there!
On Sunday evening the Con concluded with a quiz and buffet. Our table were all quite knowledgeable about the series so with a big group effort we managed to get all the questions right, tying with another table. There was then a tie break question which involved writing down Nasir’s full name. This was going to be dead easy as Lucy’s favourite character is Nasir and got all names letter perfect. The other team managed a fair effort but missed out at least two names. Our prize was a beautifully drawn certificate and a load of free beer and mead. We had so much drink that we didn’t need to buy anything from the bar that night, which was probably a good thing considering all the money we had spent at the auction! Robert Addie and Phil Rose then had a little talk thanking us all for coming and Robert said how much he had missed this friendly style of convention which was something the American ones lacked. After the quiz there was a disco which I didn’t fancy participating in so we went to the bar and drank until the early hours of the morning.
This convention was very enjoyable, and was quite intimate: there were about 150 attendees overall which meant the con had quite an atmosphere but wasn’t too crowded. The location visits on the second day were a good idea. Although people did get lost a few times it didn’t detract from the overall enjoyment of the con. The mood was improved further by everyone making an effort with their costumes. A couple of fans had genuine outlaw costumes, one had Praed’s top and Jasons trousers which added to the overall mood. The other attendees were really friendly and you could strike up a conversation with someone even though you didn’t really know them. We really enjoyed seeing and meeting the guests, Phil and Terry in particular who mingled with the attendees at the bar. The medieval dancers enhanced things on the Saturday night and I remember clearly the expressions on the faces of the bar staff when chaps in full suited armour came in clanking all over the place! They also provided a convenient break in the banquet introducing us to different types of mediaeval dance, though I lacked the courage to get involved myself! It might be nice to have dancing like this after the banquet next time instead of a disco, though you need time to let all that food digest. Autographs are often a real pain at conventions because of the queuing involved, however, due to the comparative small numbers this was kept to a minimum. The only real problem was the bar prices, for food and drink, but since the con price was largely all inclusive and provided you had an ample breakfast, you didn’t need to order too much at the bar. However, in the most part the hotel staff were very efficient and polite.
Overall Silver Arrow ’97 was very impressive, especially considering that the organisers were all complete newbies at this kind of thing, they set themselves a task and kept to it. The problem with some con organisers is that they take on too much and get swamped by it all, ruining the whole event, but not in this case, and things ran smoothly and to time. Basically, we had a great time, met lots of new people, and you can’t say fairer than that. Bring on Silver Arrow 98!