The South West Pirate Festival

 

Bonaventure are the proud organisers of the South West Pirate Festival, the UK's premier pirate related event.

In 2002 we were asked to organise a piratical aspect to the long running and successful Brixham Heritage Week. The first SWPF was without question the largest part of the Heritage Week and somewhat overshadowed the other events taking place. In 2003 therefore we spread the SWPF over the Golden Hind replica, sailing trawler Pilgrim, Brixham Heritage Museum and other parts of the town.
Successful as the SWPF was in Brixham, we felt that the town offered little room for expansion and Brixham's status as a busy and popular tourist destination made it difficult for us to bring a true piratical feel to the town. The result is that SWPF 2004 will be held at Morwellham Quay near Tavistock on the 30/31st of May.

The SWPF has previously been a mix of piratical displays including:
 ·  Living history displays  ·  Storytelling
 ·  Children's activities  ·  Parades
 ·  Craft displays such as ropemaking  ·  Press gangs roaming the public houses.

The highlight of the event has been a series of skirmishes between the Royal Navy and pirate crews, one of which culminated in our glorious captain being forced to walk the plank into the bottomless and shark-infested waters of Brixham Harbour.

SWPF 2004 will include all of the displays of previous years but will also include the U.K. premier performance of the Trial of Anne Bonney and Mary Read, dramatised from original court records by historian Tamara Eastman.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those groups and individuals who have helped make SWPF work in the past; we look forward to working with you again in the future. We owe particular thanks to the following re-enactment groups without whom the SWPF would never have happened.
 ·  L'Age d'Or
 ·  Black Flag
 ·  Colchester Historical Enactment Society
 ·  The Guild
 ·  Senior Service
 ·  The many unaffiliated individuals who have come along.



The parade (with friends from L'Age d'Or)
The Parade
Fighting on the quay (with friends from Black Flag)
Come And Have A Go If You Think You're Camp Enough

A quick break for a game of cards "You will not eat my sausages again!"
Look at the concentration on his face When the enemy gets away, just turn against each other! Endless fun.

 

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