Willoughby 2007

This year Willoughby in Lincolnshire celebrated the 400th anniversary of the founding of Virginia by captain John Smith.  

John Smith was born in Willoughby on the 9th January 1580; after his father died he left Willoughby at the age of sixteen and ran of to sea.

On December 20 1606 three small ships left for the new world, they arrived at what was to become Jamestown, Virginia on 14th May 1607 where John Smith was elected first governor.  

The Raiders provided an authentic camp on the village green as part of the celebrations.

Thursday 28th June camp was erected and with the arrival of a few supporters the day was uneventful.

Friday morning the Raiders went to school!!  No not to learn but to let the children see how people dressed in the new world around the 1800s era, this was a most rewarding experience not only for the children but for the Raiders too!  After saying goodbye to the children it was back to camp and time to set up the games for Saturday, later we had a nice evening for a gather round the campfires.

Saturday morning was a slow start and although there was not a lot of interest in the quick draw by the local villagers the few that did enter had a great time.  As the day wore on we became fairly busy on the games with some people paying to go round more than once, the tombola did exceptionally well and combined with the Ludford roundup did better than expectations. 

Evening entertainment was held in the village hall to the sounds of Lazy Dog, with presentations of prizes for the competitions.  Well done to the children from the village they put up a good show, there was also a barbeque outside.  In all everyone had a good time.

And so ended another successful event.