BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:8@wessexleague.org DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20231125T090000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20231126T180000 DTSTAMP:20231014T153920Z URL:https://wessexleague.org/events/wessex-league-2023-swindon/ SUMMARY:Wessex League 2023 - Swindon DESCRIPTION:General booking opens Saturday October 14th at 12pm and closes Friday November 17th at 6pm\nReminder: Volunteers\, please don't forget th e discount code\nVOLUNTEER5 for 1 shift and £5 discount\, VOLUNTEER10 for 2 shifts and £10 discount\, VOLUNTEER15 for 3+ shifts and £15 discount.    \n\nThe finals for Wessex 2023 will take place in Swindon\, hosted by Smart HEMA Clubs. Smart HEMA Clubs is a fun and relaxed group with clubs in both Swindon and Newbury. We've been around since 2014 and we mainly st udy the Longsword\, Sword &\; Buckler\, Rapier and Sabre with a competi tive fighting focus. They've had members attending Wessex League for a num ber of years now returning with great results\, and have seen their  pool of fighters wanting to compete grown massively because of it.\nWe will be running 8 competitions (4 Open\, 2 women's &\; 2 beginners)\n\n Open Longsword\n Open Rapier &\; Dagger\n Open Sabre\n Open Sword &\; Buckler\n Women's+ Longsword\n Women's+ Rapier &\; Dagger\n Beginner s' Longsword\n Beginners' Rapier &\; Dagger\n\nIf you miss out on tick ets for a particular tournament there is a waiting list which we will offe r tickets to as and when they drop out. We recommend registering for any o ther tournaments you are interested in\, and then filling out this form: h ttps://forms.gle/xfo2J22Dt873HFsA6\n\nNote: The beginners and women's tour naments run alongside each other with opposite weapons\, and you cannot co mpete in two events running at the same time\, so please take care when bo oking not to choose the two that clash. Please see below for entry criteri a.\n\n\nVenue:\nThe Deanery CE Academy\, Peglars Way\, Swindon SN1 7DA\n\n Meals and refreshments:\nAlthough there is no food available for purchase on site\, there are several shops\, cafes and restaurants within a 10 minu te walk from the venue including a Sainsbury's\, Subway and coffee shops. For volunteers only\, some snacks and tea and coffee will be available all day\, as well as Pizza provided for lunch on both days. .\n\nFriday Socia l\n\nTBC\n\nSaturday Social:\n\nTBC\nRules &\; Equipment\nPlease be sur e to read the tournament rules and minimum required equipment requirements . It is your responsibility to make sure you have the correct equipment fo r the event - if you do not have sufficient or appropriate equipment you w ill not be allowed to fence in the tournament. If you are missing particul ar items please contact us and we may be able to arrange something to be b orrowed.\n\nWomen's+ Tournament Entries\nThe women’s category in HEMA to urnaments was originally created to provide meaningful challenges for wome n. The ultimate aim of providing them has been to: allow fencers to test t heir skills in a situation without routine physical disadvantages\; unders tand their progress relative to their peers year on year\; give greater ac cess to tournaments to an under-represented gender in our sport\; ensure p eople realise that their gender does not prevent them from participating i n HEMA.\n\nWhile the primary intent in the past has been to support women\ , we recognise that many of considerations above apply equally to many non -binary fencers as well. Therefore\, this tournament is open to:\n  a) Wo men (for the avoidance of doubt: cis or trans)\n  b) Any non-binary fence rs who feel the issues above also apply to them\, and that their presence in the tournament wouldn’t detract from the aims in regards to women\n\n We recognise that there are a wide range of non-binary genders\, and not a ll of them will feel comfortable participating in the women’s tournament . It is entirely up to the fencer in question whether they think the Women 's+ is suitable for them. The Open tournaments are all open to any gender.  \n\nBeginners' Tournament Entries\n\n\nWhen Wessex was first created\, t here was a limited competitive scene in the UK\, and most of the competito rs were relatively new.  Every year we have seen a higher standard of fen cing from our regulars and more people come from further away to participa te in our events. This is fantastic\, but has meant that it is harder for new fencers who have never competed to join in with the event and particip ate. For this reason we have decided to include 2 small beginners tourname nts this year.\n\nThe beginners' tournaments are open to any gender. While we are not putting strict rules on "beginners"\, as a rule of thumb if yo u have less than 2 years HEMA experience and have never made it out of the pools\, the beginners should be perfect for you. Some fencers may still c onsider themselves a beginner even after this point - if you are unsure\, speak to your instructor or the Wessex team.\n\nIf you are a regular compe titor\, instructor\, and/or have multiple years of martial arts &\; HEM A experience\, likely the Opens are a better fit for you.\n\nYou may not b ook both the beginner tournament and ANY open tournaments. The beginners a re intended for people new to competition: if you are comfortable in an op en for any weapon you should stick to the open tournaments.\n\nYou may boo k the women's+ tournaments and the beginners' tournaments\, as long as you are not booking two tournaments running at the same time.\nVolunteering:\ n\n Competitors who would like to help us as volunteers receive a free lu nch and a discount on your ticket \n Please state what kind of work you are interested in in the following questionnaire. \n After deciding on th e number of shifts please use the following discount code before checkout - VOLUNTEER5 for 1 shift and £5 discount\, VOLUNTEER10 for 2 shifts and £10 discount\, VOLUNTEER15 for 3+ shifts and £15 discount.   \n ONLY  volunteering as an official\, without participating in any tournaments – FREE of charge. We will pay up to £50 towards your travel costs and will provide lunch on a day of volunteering.\n\nCost to attend: \n• O NLY volunteering as an official\, without participating in any tournament s – FREE of charge.\n\n £25 per open competition entry\n £20 for b eginners'/women's+ tournaments\n\nDisclaimer: By registering you agree to the following statement:\n\n“I understand that whilst every care will be taken to give safe instruction\, I accept full responsibility and conside r myself fit to participate. I have answered all questions correctly and a ll medical and health considerations are noted below.”\n\nHow we use you r data: We will only use your data for managing our events. By registering you agree to share the data from your matches with HEMA Ratings and HEMA Scorecard\,. We cannot accept your registration if you do not agree to thi s as these are necessary to run the event. Your results will also be poste d on our website.\n\nIf you don't want to appear in HEMA Ratings\, you can contact HEMA Ratings directly and ask for your record to be anonymised. Y our data will still be submitted\, but it will not appear in any public pa ge.\nIf you missed out on a tournament please sign up to the waiting list. If anyone drops out we will contact you.\nhttps://forms.gle/865PVic1xSnCr rCh9\n LOCATION:The Deanery CE Academy in Swindon\, The Deanery CE Academy\, Pegla rs Way\, Swindon\, SN1 7DA\, United Kingdom X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=The Deanery CE Academy\, Pe glars Way\, Swindon\, SN1 7DA\, United Kingdom;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE= The Deanery CE Academy in Swindon:geo:0,0 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20231029T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR