YULETIDE 2025

My very dear Knights, Companions and Fellows, and boys and girls everywhere,

Well, we’ve all made it successfully through another year and I’m sure that, like me, you´re all busy preparing for the festive “hostilities”. It is fair to say that the year has not been without its trials, in particular the ongoing battle with emails, postage services and other methods of communication.

However, here we are, another Yule celebration and another New Year in the offing.

In all sincerity, please allow me to extend to you all the warmest wishes for the season ahead, however you’re celebrating, and I know I speak for all the Cadre Command when I say “Thank you all so much” for your continued support during this year. This I promise, next year will be even better.

Merry Christmas/ Yuletide/ Mithras-Tide, etc,

Please make a note that all membership fees are now due for payment (apart from members who joined between June and December this year).

Don’t forget, you can renew your membership via the Fellowship website using the “rejoin” button. We’re trying all we can to make things easier for you. Bear in mind though that any members who don’t renew by May 2026 will be considered as having resigned. Always sad when we lose members but after all we are incredibly low cost in our membership fees, don’t miss out on what´s coming up.

This November again saw the annual dinner for the EU at the lovely location of Kasteel De Berckt in the Netherlands. (See photos below)

What an amazing turnout and such a fabulous evening. The castle setting is of course glorious and the food and wines beyond comparison.

It was, as usual, good to see so many from the UK coming out to support the European Dinner on this special occasion. Let’s remember that for many years the members from Continental Europe came to support us in Tintagel before the inauguration of the second dinner to assist with ever increasing travel costs and, indeed, the problem in the UK in general with cost and availability of reasonably priced B and B.

A most encouraging number of new investees were brought into our ranks, and we wish them all a long and happy time with us.

Also, it was extremely gratifying to witness so many of the newer members getting involved with the activities during the evening. The amount raised for our EU charity (more on that in a moment) was quite inspiring.

If you haven’t attended one of our European dinners yet, I heartily recommend it. Look out for the 2026 date in the next newsletter.

As you are all aware we now have the services of a fundraising officer and the effect she has had has been simply wonderful from the word “GO”!

I feel certain that you will all know that in September of this year Guy Clifford and John Mason, along with friends, supporters and helpers, spent a day climbing Glastonbury Tor, up and down 3 times to the distance of 6 kilometres.

In case you were mildly curious about the outcome, the boys raised over 10,800 GBP for the CHSW our chosen UK charity.

Well done, boys! We are all so proud of you. Well done, Fiona, for all your incredible work. However, let’s not forget the annual walk that our old friend Dr Alan Jones organises in the Staffordshire Peaks with his pals to raise money for the charity.

Alan has been doing this now for some years and regularly tops 1,000 GBP every time. And again we can say “Well done, Alan and team.” It’s fair to say you showed the way that others can now follow.

Whilst we are talking about fundraising, I want extend a huge thank-you to Terry English who paid far too much for a raffle prize and thus helped the money raised for our new EU charity.

At the dinner in the Netherlands it was also my delight, surprise and indeed shock, to witness the kindness of the human race.

A new member came to me quietly and said, “Choose a number between 1 and 10”, I chose 8. His reply was “OK, then I want to donate 800 euros to the EU charity and thank you for allowing me into the Order.”

For the first time in many years I was speechless. Not only a phenomenal gesture but one given with such good grace. I am with-holding his name to spare his blushes.

I must now add that our EU charity has changed. As you will be aware we supported a charity in Europe to make this more fairly distributed in our efforts to help children where we can.

I received a report, which was borne out by investigation, that our initial charity was now marked with a particularly bad crime. Its founder had been convicted of systematic child abuse. We cannot and will not allow ourselves to be allied to an organisation that can throw any shadow on our integrity.

Therefore, after deliberation with the senior officers of the Cadre Command, it was unanimously decided to move our assistance to War Child. An organisation that helps tirelessly in aid of children in war-torn countries. As you can imagine they are at the present time, unfortunately, very busy indeed. So, from this notification onwards, our chosen charities are:

Children’s Hospice South West (for the UK)

War Child (for the EU and rest of the world)

I feel certain our membership will support and endorse our decision.

Roly

A day in the life of a charity funds officer

The weather is dry and the temperature is cool with light winds and Glastonbury is still sleeping at 8am on Saturday 27th September 2025. That is until we rocked up! Our friends at My Fine Deli, opened up early to support the team on their big day. Large bags of clinking armour get dragged out of cars and set a aside while the troops fuel up. Breakfast and strong coffee is ordered and demolished, while I walk up and down, checking my notes and watching the clock. The countdown has started. I’m doing a very good impression of a stressed organiser and I’m very well aware that the next hour is going to be frantic......

So, here we go!

We get the lads kitted up and comfortable, three suits of armour and sundry weapons take up a lot of space. The only way to transport them is to pile them into the back of the My Fine Deli’s van, a very strange sight indeed and made us all laugh. Off we all go, a convoy of a van and cars, to the start line at the bottom of Wellhouse Lane Glastonbury. I’m now running around making sure everyone is where they are meant to be. I’ve got Guy and Terry doing a live BBC radio interview on one side of the road, and doing a smashing job of it too. The Dragon Drummers are milling around, getting ready to climb the Tor, they are going to play the lads up and down, each lap. ITV pull up in a car behind me and shout to get my attention. We have a quick briefing and he is off the find a car parking space, walking back to film the lads at the start.

I turn around and the local Councillor has arrived suite and booted with his gold chain on. I give him my thanks and shove an air horn into his hand, “When they are ready Bryn, countdown from ten and sound the horn.”

Our events medic is walking towards me going over the music he is going to play in his head, ready to play the charge on his bugle at the start... I then reach a moment of calm because there is literally nothing else I can do, it’s in the lap of the gods now and three crazy men. All the months of planning, Meetings, 62 emails, and hours & hours on the phone, and it all comes down to this moment. I check the lads are OK and wish them good luck. I say goodbye to everyone and get in the car and drive a mile up the long hill, to the North Gate at the bottom of the towering Tor.

I set up my table, banner up and fixed, collection buckets and tins ready and I sit down for the first time that day. The wind is whistling gently through the gate and hedges surrounding the beginning of the walk upwards and I have only the sheep and cows for company. I could hear a sound carried up on the wind, I look at the clock on my phone, no, that can’t be them!

The wind drops and for five minutes I don’t hear anything but cows. But there is a definite sound now and it’s getting louder and louder by the minute. I’m off my seat and into the Lane looking back down the hill. I still can’t see them but I’m definitely listening to a sound that echoed in our country over 500 years ago, it was like I’d slipped back in time. The hair on the back of my neck and arms stand up, and I know I’m going to remember this moment for the rest of my life. I’m blinking back the tears as I see John Mason (he really does have that effect on people) break over the brow of the hill, followed quickly by Guy and Matt.

Donations are coming in and I’m talking to people about The Fellowship and why we are raising money. I was talking to a couple who were over from Australia, when from way up above us, we hear the drumming start. Phew, that’s the lads safe at the top.

Before long the lads are marching up the lane towards me again, 40 minutes for the first lap. Wow, what an achievement. They arrive at my table, still with jokes and laughter winging around between us all. But they are really hot. Thank goodness we planned this well, to walk in the heat of last summer would have been just plain dangerous. Water taken on board, and welfare checks done. They tell me to stop fussing (well John does) because a mile back down the road our medic is doing the same thing.

All around them are friends who are walking the route just to support the lads. Gabriel is doing a great job of filming while jogging backwards and people have their phones out taking pictures. The noise of clinking armour, joking and laughter was pretty incredible. I’m waving as they march the long walk uphill towards me and the North Gate. What awaits them are the arduous steps up the world-famous Glastonbury Tor. It truly was a moment of magic for me. From then on, I know they will be climbing steps that test you in normal clothes, let alone Medieval armour. Welfare checks done and I send them off for their first climb of the walk.

Guy and John ditch their helmets, but Matt valiantly carries on with his jammed firmly on his head. After a bit of Monty Python type jokes, cows, chickens and various other dog toys, are thrown over the battlements that took me months to construct (not really, it was 40mins, a cardboard box and some of my granddaughter’s paints). “Run-away” Guy is perfect in remembering that part of the film “Monty Python and The Holy Grail". With “RUN AWAY!” ringing in their ears, off they go on their second climb up the Tor. Anyone who has watched the film will appreciate the joke.

This time I watch the lads until they are out of site and it dawn’s on me in that moment, just how back breaking hard this event is for them. These three men have put their bodies on the line for the children and their families. They are doing everything I’ve asked of them and more.

I’m inundated with people wanting to donate, and I’m trying to shove notes into the collection tin, as quickly as I can.

Then to my relief David Gallop appears at my side, having left Tash to cover the top of the Tor. He wants to see if I needed help. The answer to that is YES. And who knew that this man is a crash hot collection apprentice! We start hearing from members of the public coming down the Tor, that they were blown away by meeting three Medieval Knights coming up. I’m one very proud Charity Funds Officer. David is still earning his keep and is now totally engaged in fully not letting anyone miss the chance to donate. We are starting to hear stories of what is happening on top of the Tor. Not being content with just being on TV and Radio, and shamelessly promoting The Fellowship, Terry English has made his way up to the top and is busy living his best life! He has been adopted by the Dragon Drummers and is playing one of the drums! Meanwhile, as only mere foot soldiers at the bottom, David and I could only wish we could be up there or see the video evidence.

The lads are walking at a slower pace up Wellhouse Lane for the last time. They are tired, hot and hurting now, it is totally and utterly gritted teeth time. We spend five minutes mucking about and dressing them in bright coloured tutu's and taking some silly pictures. It was me, without them knowing, giving all three of them time to get themselves together for the hardest climb of all. I’m watching Matt as he keeps glancing up at the Tor, getting ready for the last bit of the challenge. John is stood at the gate and takes a deep breath, with Guy standing at his back, with his hand on John’s shoulder. Off they go, with constant drumming the whole way up. David and I pack up as quickly as we can and drive back down the lane to be at the finish line, when the lads make it back safely.

We wait.......I hate this bit because I now feel totally and utterly to blame, if one of them is hurt. I wish I could see them, micro-managing (Guy and John will both attest to it being a problem I have) every second so they are safe. I walk away from everyone at the finish line, to the bottom of the connecting lane. It is a small hill in itself. The Dragon Drummers had made it down and were lined up behind me, drumming the lads home. Someone behind me, taller than me shouts “they’re coming", I can see them now. Matt is tall and the visor on is helmet is up and he has the biggest grin of the day on his face.

John is walking fast towards me and we are both screaming “we’ve done it, we’ve done it” (sorry again, Glastonbury). I throw my arms around him, not easy with his armour on. I turn to Matt and we are both shouting, I thump his breast plate over his heart “you did it". He has got hold of my hand and we are jumping around in the road. The drums are still playing as the crowd comes forward to congratulate them both. I turn to look back at the lane, where the hell is Clifford? ............10 minutes later I’m saying to the medic that we need to walk up and find him, taking the medical supplies with us. Just as I say that, Guy and Terry walk into sight, having come down the Tor very much at their own pace. Thank goodness for that, was an under understatement! They get a roar of relief from the crowd.

I’M PROUDER OF ALL THREE OF THEM THAN THEY WILL EVER KNOW!

Every person who volunteered: Mike, without him being the medic on the day (plus playing the bugle so beautifully at the start) this event just wouldn’t have happened. Maxine and Helen who travelled down the day before, and camped overnight. They threw themselves into covering the steps down the Tor and collecting donations, and were a total joy to work with. John’s army mates that kept tabs on the lads and walked until the end, I salute you all, and it was great to have their support. The Dragon Drummers who played magnificently all day and stayed later to play the lads home, then made a donation. Bryan, the local councillor who gave up his free time to start the lads off with the air horn. The guys from My Fine Deli, they sponsored us and took the lads to the start line, in full armour in their van. The collection from the deli was £70, their support meant a lot to us all. Kylie from Children’s Hospice South West, who did a lovely piece to Camera along with her two little princesses, for ITV news. Ruth, the driver of the Community Bus who ferried Kylie, her daughters and two dogs back into Glastonbury for free and then made a donation of £52. Jason Bryant, who as always, took wonderful photos that almost covered the whole of the Gazette front page. Finally, to all the Knights from Wessex Chapter, your support means the world to us. I loved meeting you all.

I can sit down now and breathe a sigh of relief and most definitely can say, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

A week later, with the rain is lashing on the windows as the storm arrives, I’m adding up the donations the lads received and more than £8,000 is on its way to help the children and their families.

The best thing I can say about this event is that it was done totally and utterly from the heart. As of 3rd October, the money is still rolling in and we are twenty pounds away from raising £9,000, much more money than we ever hoped for.

Now it’s 1st November and we’ve received more donations from people far and wide. We are now at our end total. It is with a great amount of pride that I can now tell you all the final total has come in at £10,833.33. Wow!

We now already turn our eyes to next year and two great fundraisers. If you fancy parachuting out of a plane (obviously) with the lads and ladies, in Cornwall in June 2026 please let me know. In September we are attempting the Three Castle Walk in Monmouth, Wales, in one day! I will provide more details in 2026. Please feel free to contact me for any help you need with fundraising. I wish you all the best of luck in anything you do in 2025/26. If you can raise even a small amount (literally every penny makes a difference) please let me know. It will be great to see what amazing joint amounts of money we raise together.

Fiona Rainbird-Clarke

On Sunday 7th December, John Mason, alongside his faithful squire Natasha Achilleos, completed the 2-mile course at Charlton Farm Hospice, bringing home a medal and the prize for “Best Dressed Santa”. As a team, we raised an amazing £400.34. It was a walk, jog, walk again, but Santa Mason completed the course with (mostly) a smile on his face. Merry Christmas to you all!

IN MEMORY OF ARLO

I wanted to share with you an easy step by step guide to help with your fundraising.

1. Decide what you want to do. Google it and make sure it’s legal
2. Get permission from the landowner or whoever owns the building or land so you can collect legally.
3. If you are collecting money on a public highway or pavement you need to apply for a license from your local council. It is free and the form is quick and easy to fill in online.
4. Advertising the event through your friends and family online, is an easy way to promote your event. Your local paper is also a good place to contact. Always explain that you belong to The Fellowship and we raise money for Children’s Hospice South West. (If you get stuck on ways to get publicity, email me and I can give you tailored advice to your event. My email address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call me on 07773 346868.)
5. Prepare well, this is one of the most important things. If it is a hard work outside endurance event, don’t hold it in the height of summer; May-June and September are your friends.

If you need collection tins, please let me know and I can post you some. Any money you collect needs to be counted (preferably by two people) and paid into the Children’s Hospice South West account. To do this go to their website and follow the instructions. Soon we will have a dedicated Fellowship Charity Donation Account for you to pay your donations into. Details for that will follow soon.

Please, whenever you raise money, it doesn’t matter how small or large amounts are, could you please email and let me know how much you have raised? It’s almost impossible for us to keep track of how much help we are providing to the charity, if we don’t do this.

Have fun and stay safe.

Fiona Rainbird-Clarke

Visitors to West Wales in the early to mid-1960s – driving along quieter roads than we are used to today – may well have pulled up in their Hillman or Austin 1100s to boil a kettle of water by the roadside, open the picnic basket and get their bearings, using no doubt, The Shell and BP Guide to Britain. In a layby, looking out over hilly country, with a scattering of sheep nibbling at tufts of grass – and a strange view of large stones scattered, as if by some ancient giant’s hand across what might have been enclosed, cultivated land – the tourist of 65 years ago would probably be in the ‘Prescelly Hills’ (note the Guide’s spelling).

The hills – explains the Shell author – rise to 1,760 feet and ‘only one motor road from Haverfordwest to Cardigan, the B4329, traverses the area, attaining 1,383 ft. at its summit.’ Whether touring in your car, either in the 1960s or today – or keeping watch over your sheep in the 18th or 8th-century, or long before – the views are the same: a seemingly endless outlook that could stir a sensation of giddiness; a dreamy landscape (if you stare long enough) often hazy, with faint layers of mist, and brilliant, bronzy glowing sunlight at the end of the day.

And many peoples have traversed South-West Wales’s mountainous district and its wider coastal hinterland. Further down into Pembrokeshire, Viking longships brought trade and battle, giving Norse names to places such as Skokholm, Skomer and Caldy islands. At Nevern, just in the lea of the Prescelly range (I will keep to the Shell spelling) a Celtic cross, a church named after a sixth-century Celtic saint and a stone in the lost language known as Ogham can all be discovered.

Yet two or three miles, just to the east of Nevern – following the Brynberian lane, overhung by oaks and cradled by high verges – you will come to a place steeped even more in antiquity. Signposted as an ancient monument, pull up in your car, or park your bicycle at Pentre Ifan – a stone structure from 3,500 years ago.

Known by archaeologists as a dolmen, the stone ‘building’ of Pentre Ifan – improbably balanced and held up as if by magic – was, say its official discoverers and successive academic experts, an embanked tomb, and would probably have resembled a grassy mound. Centuries of Welsh rain have dissolved the earth roof, and so only the stones remain. For our ancient ancestors, the site – looking out as it does over to the sea and its far horizon – must have seemed like a gateway to eternity. A king or chieftain might think, standing in this spot, that he was ruler of the world.

Walkers and visitors come by. On occasions I have met ramblers from Switzerland, holidaymakers from Holland (the latter, no doubt craving this high country) and even a group of Buddhists on retreat in the quiet countryside. Thank God – or rather, thank the Lord Buddha – that his followers were present on a particular day, way back in the October of 2019; a near-fateful occasion for one visitor from England, namely Andy Smith, the esteemed Editor of this Newsletter, who slipped backwards and broke an arm on one of the horizontal stone slabs to be found at Pentre Ifan. The ambulance eventually navigated its way through the hills, facilitating the rescue of the visitor – who was kept warm by blankets provided by the Buddhists. I promise you, dear reader, a true story, and not at all how we had planned the weekend away!

The title of this article – “Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight” – borrows from the Devon and Norfolk nature-writer, Henry Williamson, his most famous work being Tarka the Otter. Although, as far as I am aware, not inspired by Wales, something of Williamson’s atmosphere of rugged, wild, even visceral Nature comes to mind in the Prescelly Hills. So, too, a line from a Sherlock Holmes story (set in Cornwall) entitled, The Devil’s Foot. In the tale, we find Holmes on holiday, but trying to recover his health and constitution, under the watchful eye of Dr Watson. Yet as Watson observed, as Holmes trekked across the Cornish landscape of stone-circles and broken-down henges, the detective’s imagination became increasingly gripped by a sinister atmosphere, of a lost civilisation and vanished races.

I believe that anyone with a fondness for folklore and an ear for echoes of the past – borne on the Prescelly and Pembrokeshire breezes – will find much to tingle their spine and inspire them in this landscape of ancient sunlight. But always watch your step and take great care on such adventures: physical conditions can be slippery – and the last thing any of us want in these remote regions and weirdly sacred places is to be rejected by the stones and the ghosts of those who may still live there.

Stuart Millson

To carry on from the notice in our last Newsletter. We now have operational Chapter Knights in the following areas: For the United Kingdom: Wessex, the North, London and Home Counties. For the EU: Spain (excluding the Kingdom of Valencia), Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Netherlands.

If you are considering an area we have missed, please inform the Seneschal and we can try to organise something, but only if you are ready to represent us! You can contact the Seneschal at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

In addition, we now have 4 senior officers to assist the Seneschal in running the Order. From early January you will be able to contact them directly by email on the following addresses:

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Guy Clifford, Knight Chamberlain UK.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Robert Perko, Knight Chamberlain EU.

These noble gentlemen should be your first port of call.

Also, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for Fiona Rainbird Clark, Fundraising Manager UK. Other details will be included in the Easter 2026 Newsletter with a complete list of all officers, together with photos! Are you ready for this?

The Fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table of King Arthur

Administration address:
Professor Roland Rotherham
The Fellowship of King Arthur
C / Canonge Cebria 8
4 6800 – Xativa
Valencia – Spain
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Website: www.thefellowship.co.uk

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Spiritual Home of The Fellowship:
King Arthur’s Great Halls, Fore Street, Tintagel,
Cornwall PL34 0DA
Tel: 01840 770526
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Custodian: John Moore
Newsletter contributions to The Editor,
Andy Smith (Knight Scrivener)
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