Over the next few weeks we’ll be announcing all of our wonderful instructors – ooo the suspense!
Chris is going to be teaching us all about his major passion of the beautiful, majestic and wonderful Broadsword. Wait… What!? No he isn’t! This is MesserFest, he’s definitely going to be teaching us all about Messer
If you want to know how to be lazy with your guards and rely on your weapon to have built in hand protection then we recommend you go to BroadswordFest instead.
Everyone knows Oskar because of his beautiful cats, Poes and Emma, but that’s not why we’ve got him all the way over from the Netherlands to teach for us. Oh no, it’s because of his amazing skills and knowledge in the art of miniatures painting. Just look at how good his work is on that Oliphaunt!!!
Oh, wait. Nope. Apparently we’re wrong and he is actually coming to teach us some Messer instead. Who’d have guessed!?
Meet Dr. Lauren Stokeld, a brilliantly talented baker and Tolkien fan who has found the most delicious ways to actually become as close to being a hobbit as she can, without the need to grow fur on her feet (we presume, we haven’t actually asked her that). Anyway, with Dr. Stokeld’s instruction you too could learn to decorate spectacular cakes while singing delightful songs and we have a special place set up for Elevenses with her at MesserFest 2025.
(This is where you’re all waiting for us to tell you that no, of course she’s not doing that, she’ll be teaching Messer at MesserFest… but that’s where you’re wrong. Dr. Stokeld will not be teaching Messer, or any weapon. She will, in fact, be opening your minds to the wonders of language, and Elevenses will more than likely be included!)
Ross Bailey loves nothing more than spending his days with skeletal woodland critters, making arrow heads from razor-sharp flint and just being one with nature. You too can learn this most peaceful and lethal of hobbies from the most calming man on the planet.
Oh, do you know what? Maybe there’s not enough trees in the centre of York to achieve this level of Zen, so we might just have to get him to teach us Messer instead. We’ve heard that he’s as lethal with that as he is with those arrow-heads so we should be in for a treat!
Meet Ben Halbert. His special interest is in serenading cats. His skills with a guitar know no bounds and if you come to MesserFest you too will be able to learn this incredible secret and gain the power to enchant feline kind with the dulcet tones of your guitar.
Sorry, no. That’s wrong. MesserFest believes that no one and no thing has the power to tame the wild spirits of cats, so we’ll have Ben sharing his enthusiasm and expertise of Messer with us instead.
Meet Jo York, when she’s not working on jigsaw puzzles she’s down at the gym, lifting everything she can in her endeavour to become the world’s strongest woman. She’ll be at MesserFest as our enforcer, literally picking people up and carrying them out the building if they don’t show enough reverence to this most magnificent of weapons.
What? Oh. Fair enough. Apparently that goes against the manual handling rules of the venue and breaches our “consent before physical contact” policy, so instead we’re just going to have Jo teach you how amazing Messer can be so you’ll totally and utterly fall in love with this weapon and then we’ll have no need to kick anybody out!
“Meet Lauren Ireland, apparently she’s really into some bizarre super hero called Squirrel Girl so will spend all her lesson teaching you how to eat nuts and kick butts, (as she often does with her poor dog, Mollie) just like an unbeatable girl with the proportional strength and speed of a squirrel.
Hang on….. As fun and full of high-protein delicious snacks as that sounds, we’re not going to allow it. Lauren will be teaching Messer which we also know she’s slightly obsessed with. Just try not to distract her on the day or she may forget what she’s supposed to actually be geeking out over.
This is James Elmslie. He has perfected the art of sitting in silent contemplation and appreciating the beauty of blank spaces. If you choose to spend your time with him, you will discover the deep tranquility of the Void. Or……
He will talk your ear off about Messers, falchions and every other type of single edged cutting weapon of the late medieval period* and possibly a million other fascinating things. He’s actually present all weekend so we can pick his brains and handle his antique shinies (or rusties).
*Seriously, it’s called the “Elmslie typology” for a reason!
Saturday Timetable:
Sunday Timetable:
