Fencing is one of the few sports where men and women, boys and girls, can compete on equal terms.

The club runs eight week beginners’ courses each term, which lead to Grade 1 (foil) of the British Fencing Association National Award Scheme. Each session lasts about an hour. You will learn how to hold the foil, to salute an opponent correctly with the foil and how to come ‘en garde’, to move forward and back in a bout; simple attacks and parries and repostes; in fact all the basic moves necessary to start fencing in earnest – if not for your life! we will also teach you how to fence safely for yourself and others and about the courtesy or ‘etiquette’ that all fencers show to each other in the salle and in competition.

At the end of this course you should have a good working knowledge of the basics of fencing with the foil and can decide to join the club and progress as a foilist or to start learning how to handle the epee or sabre!