About Melles
Hi, I'm Steve Evans known to some as Melles
Melles means "badger", a nickname given to me by some of my fellow re-enactors because of the whitening of my beard
I like to think that I am an experienced re-enactor, an archer of the fifteenth century but mainly a scrivener portraying various periods and demonstrating many of the lettering styles throughout history. Using only home made ink and hand cut quills gives the necessary "feel" to the work and I can explain the methods used and the reasons for their use.
I am a member of the Company Ecorcheur. In 2004, with the most welcome encouragement and kind permission of the Custodians and CADW, I became the "resident" scrivener at Chepstow Castle where I appear on occasions throughout the year
I hope that you find this site of interest and, perhaps, helpful in your journey through our fascinating history, and yes, to my many friends in the USA, it's your history too. I would welcome your feedback, good or bad, as well as any relevant pieces which you have written and would like to be included. I look forward to hearing from you
How did we get into re-enactment?
In common with many re-enactors who have older children, it was my son who did it. We were interested in castles and the period and he was, of course, interested in swords and the martial side. We attended an event at Chepstow Castle where he was handed a sword and invited to attack a pell. This gave rise to our joining the group and progressing from there. Needless to say, in common with parents who have older children, he is no longer involved, but we are.
About this site
With the exception of only a few pages this site is data driven, operating on a Unix server using PHP 4.0 scripting on the server with a MYSQL database.
The scripting language and the database product are open source products, available free and provided as part of the hosting package from SupaNames, a UK based host.
All of these pages were produced using PageBlender, an editor based product which enables separation of navigation and page content for ease of maintenance with flexible control over rebuilding ready for posting to the server and, incidentally, written by myself. For more information and a free thirty day evaluation visit the site here