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FALCONERS AND FIGHTERS

Giles Talbot sits dressed in his new falconer's costume with a falcon called Speck, a cross Peregrine and Saker Falcon, on his arm. Giles riding a 17 hand horse called Victor helped set the tone in the Furlong Shopping Centre for the start of the Civil War raging in the town on the 7th and 8th July.

The Ringwood Festival staged a Civil War re-enactment with 500 members of the Sealed Knot Association camped out on the Bickerly and decked out in full war regalia. Period dressed soldiers marched up and down the streets in Ringwood, muskets were fired, cannons exploded, startling a few dogs and cats, but Giles's horse Victor was unworried. The battle raged for two days, with MP Desmond Swayne being captured, sentenced to death, but escaping over the Market Place church wall just in the nick of time.

Giles Talbot on his horse added colour to the proceedings and will be in the Furlong Centre regularly on Wednesdays and Saturdays as part of the free summer entertainment. Attired in his falconers costume Giles and staff will be exhibiting the Birds of Prey and other Raptors from Liberty's Raptor and Reptile Centre - www.libertyscentre.co.uk.

Picture: Giles Talbot sits astride Victor, a 17 hand horse.

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