Herne's Cup

18/09/2026

Hello everyone,

After a few weeks of work at Smart HEMA, we're happy to share more details about the Referee Course we'll be running on 30 January 2027 at the Kintbury Jubilee Centre, near Newbury, in the lead-up to Herne's Cup Open in April.

An overview of the course can be found in the following document https://docs.google.com/document/d/168bWDNgbBssreHTg8xj_ePyJa5bZv_qM/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=101481318491876859287&rtpof=true&sd=true .

The course will be delivered over an 8-hour session with a strong focus on practical learning, designed to prepare you for the situations you're likely to encounter as a referee.

The course is suitable for referees of all experience levels. If you're new to refereeing, you'll be given the knowledge and practical skills needed to become a confident and competent referee. If you're already an experienced referee, there will be plenty of opportunities to share knowledge, discuss best practices, and learn new tools and techniques to take your refereeing to the next level.

This will be free to attend for anyone who is interested, as we believe that raising refereeing standards benefits the competitive HEMA community as a whole.

That said, if you feel you received value from the course, we'd greatly appreciate any voluntary donations to help cover the cost of hall hire. Donations are entirely optional, and there is absolutely no expectation to contribute.

Please fill out the form below if you would like to attend this course
https://forms.gle/uczMxuCxBZXA9YfL6

Please fill this form in if you want to attend our Free Referee course held at kintbury Jubilee Centre on the 30th of January 2027 from 09:00- 17:00. We will Email you with all the Details so please make sure your email is correct and that you have checked your spam/junk folder

29/08/2026

April 3/4th 2027 Herne's Cup Open tickets now available!

Open booking is now open, please ensure you read the tournament rules and equipment requirements as we have made several updates to ensure safety and a smooth experience.

https://www.smarthemaclubs.co.uk/hernescup

13/08/2026

We'll be sending out the link for early sign up this Saturday but before then we wanted to show 2027's T-Shirt design! Last year we went for a design inspired by a certain well known local fighter, you've probably seen him about in the odd final or two.

We wanted to continue the trend this year and celebrate another fighter whilst also making the designs better. So we hired Robbie Louis Frederick McSweeney to improve on last years homage de Wilkie and also Herne's-ify the man, the myth, the Fin at the same time. Safe to say Robbie has absolutely smashed it! So you should give his socials a follow and hire him if you need any illustration work doing.

So yeah, get yourself this year's cool shirt. Who doesn't want two little HEMA people fighting on a shirt, it's literally what all the books are anyway.

10/08/2026

Booking links will be sent out this Saturday, sign up now to register interest

Early access Sign up now open!

Fill in the form below to sign up for early access booking for Herne's Cup Open 2027 held on the 3rd & 4th of April

Early sign up is available for those volunteering to help us staff the event, along with the following discounts
• 1 free event Entry for Head Referees.

• £20 discount for table staff and Assistant referees.

Early access is also available for International fencers.

Please fill the form in correctly and completely to give us the best chance of getting the right information out to the right people.

We are also going to be offering a Referee Course held by our own Stuart Smart in the coming months in preparation, this course will be open to all and free to attend, in the newbury area, look out for more information on this soon.

https://forms.gle/CjActzmnhx9qS5Z97

02/08/2026

Early access Sign up now open!

Fill in the form below to sign up for early access booking for Herne's Cup Open 2027 held on the 3rd & 4th of April

Early sign up is available for those volunteering to help us staff the event, along with the following discounts
• 1 free event Entry for Head Referees.

• £20 discount for table staff and Assistant referees.

Early access is also available for International fencers.

Please fill the form in correctly and completely to give us the best chance of getting the right information out to the right people.

We are also going to be offering a Referee Course held by our own Stuart Smart in the coming months in preparation, this course will be open to all and free to attend, in the newbury area, look out for more information on this soon.

https://forms.gle/CjActzmnhx9qS5Z97

23/07/2026

Save the Date...Again!

We wanted to move our original date for the open as it fell on Easter weekend and we didn't want to have to choose between chocolate and a tournament.

Next year, Herne's Cup will return with two events: the Herne's Cup Open (all fencers) taking place April 3rd & 4th, and Herne's Cup (intermediate fencers) on August 28th and 29th.

In the past, we've had our events closer together at the start of the year. Next year, we've decided to switch up our events to fit better into the UK and International HEMA calendar.

The Open will take place in April to fit into the early 2027 international calendar, and to avoid other UK events. Herne's Cup will be later in the year to act as a stepping stone to the traditional UK comp season from our friends at Wessex League. Many fencers compete in Herne's Cup as their first ever tournament, and we want to encourage them to build on this momentum next year.

Both events will again take place at the home of Herne's Cup - Radley College in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

There will be some tournament and equipment rule updates coming later this year in advance of our first event in March. We don't anticipate any changes to weapons specifications, but there will be some tournament rule changes.

We're looking forward to another year of incredible events. We hope you will join the hunt in 2027!

25/04/2026

Photos from the Herne's Cup Open are live here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iIzo5tc3g9JJh8Gx6F6o2cr0KpdkafYP?usp=drive_link

Big thanks to .hematog as always

15/04/2026

What a weekend! Thank you to everyone who competed and volunteered at the Herne's Cup Open! Congratulations to all our winners:

Open Longsword A:
Gold - Mark Wilkie - The Institute For Historical Arts
Silver - Nick Laing - The Institute For Historical Arts
Bronze - Ted Smith - Smart HEMA Clubs

Open Longsword B:
Gold - Harry Leng - Dawn Duellists Society
Silver - Ben Conway-Smith - Cambridge HEMA
Bronze - Rhys Howells - Academy of Steel

Women's + Longsword:
Gold - Kelsey Dame - London Historical Fencing Club
Silver - Carlie-Anne Millar - Basingstoke HEMA
Bronze - Raquel Pullicino - Smart HEMA Clubs

Open Sword & Buckler:
Gold - Patrick Rance - Smart HEMA Clubs
Silver - Mateusz Leksander - Ausardia HEMA Club
Bronze - Kristofer Stanson - Stockholm HEMA

Women's + Sword & Buckler:
Gold - Emilia Skirmuntt - The School of the Sword
Silver - Sara Pacitto - Ausardia HEMA Club
Bronze - Grace DeBanks - Ausardia HEMA Club

Open Sabre:
Gold - Kristofer Stanson - Stockholm HEMA
Silver - Mateusz Leksander - Ausardia HEMA Club
Bronze - Amir Sheikh-Warak - Ausardia HEMA Club

Women's + Rapier & Dagger:
Gold - Sophia Evans Garcia - The Renaissance Sword Club

Open Rapier & Dagger:
Gold - Patrick Rance - Smart HEMA Clubs
Silver - Robert Knowles - Smart HEMA Clubs
Bronze - Ted Smith - Smart HEMA Clubs

Photos from the event will be released in the next few weeks. Shout out again to our friends at Corvid Metalworks and Zoltan Armoury. See you all at the next big UK event - London HEMA Open

Herne's Cup will return in 2027!

08/04/2026

Pool and Volunteering shifts are now live on HEMA Scorecard for the Herne's Cup Open! If you spot any issues, please let us know asap.

For everyone in Open Sword & Buckler - please note that we have changed the start time to 4PM rather than 4.30PM on Saturday. We recommend all competitors arrive an hour before their tournament is set to start.

We are also short on volunteers for Saturday morning - if you are free to side ref or table, please let us know.

04/04/2026

Just one week until the Herne's Cup Open!

Make sure to read our tournament rules and equipment requirements before the event - pools and volunteering will be up on Tuesday!

https://www.smarthemaclubs.co.uk/hernescup