Author: Brian and Jenny Osborne

Orders of the day, Volume 33, Issue 6, 2001/2002

I was asked tell the story of how our training cannon, Rebecca came to be built. It has taken over three years of start-stop work, with both high spots and the lowest imaginable - so, to begin at the conception ...

At the 1998 Marbury Muster, Major Bob of Northampton's remarked on how useful it would be to encourage young people under 16 in the Regiment by having a non-firing training cannon. Turning to me he said, "Brian will make one, I'm sure" (!) This is pure Bob Platts, and was guaranteed to start something going. I never realised just what.

As ever, our daughter Becky and I discussed the idea in great detail, and this resolved into a 'design specification'. For our youngsters to use a cannon it had to look real, indeed be real, and not just a large toy. It needed to be light enough for an eight-year-old to handle, yet robust enough to stand up to mustering and rough fields. For transport it required to break down easily into manageable chunks. Further, it would need to be such that I could make it at minimal cost, being forever broke. As we researched the subject through our limited library and considered the actual uses of a training cannon, Becky felt that only a full-size one would be acceptable, thus emphasising the low weight aspect - and ideally some form of 'working', maybe noise and/or smoke as an eventual 'wish'.

Gradually a design emerged of a two-wheel carriage with barrel, much of a size with a 17th century robinette with inch and a quarter bore. One of many ideas was of using a CO2 fire extinguisher to produce 'smoke'. This meant the barrel had to be a shape that would accommodate an extinguisher, whilst still having a barrel length long enough to practise loading. The barrel also had to balance correctly, so our cannon grew!

As I've worked in the Composites industry for 30 years, use of such materials seemed obvious as they can be strong and light. The drawback was the need for expensive mould tools, and the time it would take me to make them. This led us onto the need to eventually have some components we could produce in quantity off the tools to sell and therefore recoup that investment. The obvious sellable item was wheels, as wooden wheels would cost too much and be too heavy for our purpose, and it seemed many Knotters do struggle to find suitable wheels for cannon and carts. To make tooling we needed original patterns, so a complete wooden cannon - which would inevitably be destroyed in the making of the tools, became stage one of the build process. Yes, make it and scrap it!

By Christmas '98 I'd made a barrel half in wood as a pattern and carved on its name, "Rebecca". Then our world shattered when Becky died. The project sat still for many months as we came to terms with our new life without her.

Eventually I was able to bring myself to spare the odd hour on the project, but our venture into SK trading, which Becky had planned the previous year, took up most of our free time (and still does!). Gradually the wooden barrel was turned into a glass fibre mould - two halves being made - and in time the first actual barrel casting in lightweight but extremely tough carbon granule reinforced polymer was made. In the long time between making the pattern and making the mould, the wood had warped unnoticed, causing alignment problems in the cast. However this was felt to reproduce a period miscasting rather well, so the problem has been accepted as a brilliant design feature.

2000 brought an urge to complete, so efforts were now concentrated on the carriage. To reduce weight, it had been decided to make this as a hollow wood structure, thereby taking four times as long as a solid one to make. However all went fairly well, so we were able to display the almost-complete barrel and carriage at Ashby in the spring, and start thinking what we'd do with it all on completion.

So onto wheels. Becky and I had considered the variety of wheel forms seen in period illustrations and around the Knot, and decided that a 10 spoke well-dished cartwheel with large hubs gave us the best solution. It meant that we'd be able to easily make a 5 spoke wheel as well, from the same mould, and the style would suit other period purposes besides cannon - increasing the chances of cost recovery through sales. To start, I had to make a full-size (36 inch diameter) wooden wheel, with detachable spokes, hub, and rim, in two distinct halves for each side ... rather more involved than just making a wooden wheel as such. This took simply ages - an hour here and there, on something that would be scrapped on completion!

The complex shape and tapers on every part - bear in mind repeated removal of mouldings required there be no undercuts or parallel faces - plus my desire to make the finished wheel look more like wood and not a bit plastic, all added to the hours in the workshop. Every spoke was made individually to be almost identical, but not quite, to each other, to look 'real'. On completion, two fibreglass mould tools were made, one each side, but due to the complex geometry I couldn't release the moulds from the pattern! So near, and yet, and yet...

This led to another halt in proceedings as I simply could not spare the time to inch the patterns out in one go. However once this was accomplished - by total destruction of the pattern-work by chiselling out - manufacture of the first wheel went ahead fairly smoothly. This was a tremendous boost to morale as I realised just making another wheel meant a cannon at very long last. Oh yes? I soon remembered Becky's planning that we also required all the gear needed to load and 'fire' it, plus ropes to pull and brake, and so on. A lot of initial research had looked at how cannon were moved, aimed, fired and maintained, leading us into realms of almost fantasy as various ideas were tried and discarded as unlikely or unworkable.

So commenced the individually interesting tasks of making a linstock, wet and dry mops, rammer, powder box and powder horn. This brought a new thought forward - and many months passed until I'd resolved how we'd have very real-looking powder that wouldn't decimate the Knot's kiddy population. The calamity of Foot and Mouth had one blessing - it gave us time to complete Rebecca for her first outing - at Rockingham Castle 2001. Although originally intended for Northampton's Regiment, we soon found we had intense interest from youngsters right across both Armies and all Regiments, so from day one all have been invited to join us in our fun.

And fun we do have. The crew is ever-changing; very few get bored and some have become almost fanatical. We usually have a training session in the morning, march (almost a regiment of youngsters - we call ourselves 'Ye Seige Trayne' and include colours, drummers, and a motley baggage) to the battle in the afternoon. Not a creche - any youngster is welcome as long as an attempt at wearing kit is made and we have the odd parent following to keep an eye on us. (They need to be odd, as I'm looking for regular-ish assistance.) Many marvelled (not just us) at their long marches at Tenby and Burnham. Many more have noticed how much fun the kids are having - even the 'flogging on the barrel' at Thorpe had them pestering "Can I be flogged now, Foxy?"!

As it now stands, there are still several items awaiting manufacture to complete the intended kit - such as wheel grease bucket and brush, chocks, dummy balls and canister, and of course the ultimate aim of a limber (requiring another 50 hours of wheel-making!). The original idea of a fire extinguisher is now less attractive due to refill costs, and I've yet to locate an economical answer for a good BANG!. Otherwise, I believe we are up and running with a kit that not only provides a safe training cannon for our youngsters, and to this end she may be borrowed at musters by arrangement, but even better, the centrepiece of the "Siege Trayne" cameo that has great potential for growth, and gives our youngsters an active role during our battles.

I'm certain Becky would be pleased with the result. I’d already named the cannon for her in her last weeks as a morale booster, so it is fitting that Rebecca will take the field as often as she would have liked. At most musters now Rebecca is found alongside us at Traders Row.

I just hope Jenny hasn't yet realised that our further limber-building plans mean the new roof our house needs will have to await my retirement to do it ... We trust the youngsters will get lots of fun and inspiration, leading to a long active Knotting career. We certainly have much enjoyment watching them with Rebecca.