Each week a small but committed group gather to train as part of the Denizens of Ethos Combat Academy.

Essentially the group embraces all forms of medieval fighting from basically any period up until the introduction of firearms.

Members are currently preparing for the annual Ironfest gathering in Lithgow in April, an event that has gained widespread recognition for historical battle

re-enactments.

This year’s Ironfest will feature a battle from the Napoleonic era.

Several eastern styles of fighting and martial arts are also among the techniques covered by the Bathurst group.

Denizens of Ethos spokesperson Lisa Wells encourages anyone interested to get involved in the group so they can gain an appreciation of how things were in the Dark Ages.

“We have 10 people involved at the moment – we’ve been going for two years now,” she said.

“We embrace all combat techniques from the time before firearms. The weapons and equipment all come from Dark Ages resources.

“It does actually get quite physical and it is very much a contact sport, but safety is a huge priority and all the armour definitely does a good job.”

The group is led by president Aaron Doherty, while Wells had a major role in getting things started.

“They held a medieval day over at the Showground a few years ago and that’s where I got interested,” she said. “We worked out that there were no groups of that sort around here at the time so we started our own. We’d love to see some more numbers get involved.”

Anyone interested in finding out more about the Denizens of Ethos can do so by attending one of their gatherings at the Bathurst Squash Courts on Havannah Street from 6pm every Tuesday.