The Old Sword Club

The Old Sword Club was founded by queer people to be a safe and encouraging space for queer people to practice HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts). The club practices fencing as used in life and death duels, self defense and on the bloody battlefields of the past, working from historical swordplay manuals to reconstruct swordplay primarily from late 19th century Britain. They currently run classes on fencing with cutlass/sabre, duelling sword, bowie knife and walking stick. The club has a strong focus on fostering diversity and takes active steps to be queer inclusive, multicultural, gender diverse, supportive of disability, and to mitigate cost barriers for working class people.