Valhalla Herred

Valhalla Herred is a sub group of The Vikings re-enactment society. It is one of the oldest continuously operating groups within the Vikings.

Origins
It was initially founded in 1984 by Mike Haywood from a small number of members of a group called "The Fantasy Army", a Live Action Role Play (LARP) group operating out of Peckforton Castle and using the Treasure Trap system.

LARP is normally conducted with rubber swords but the members of TFA were trained in the use of steel weapons as well, and as well as emgagimg in 'Steel' dungeons at Treasure Trap, they often attended other non-Treasure Trap events where they staged steel combat for a public audience. This included attendances at Games Day 1983 and 1984.

In the Spring of 1984 the group was told about the Battle of Hastings re-enactment which was in planning for that October. Since the event was being organised by FODAS (Federation Of Dark-Ages Societies) an invitation was sought by Mike Haywood on behalf of the members of TFA. An invitation was received, on condition that the warriors attending were members of the NFPS (Norse Film & Pagent Society)and were trained to their standards. As a result about 10 members of TFA joined the NFPS in July/August 1984 with Mike Haywood as their nominated group leader. Since they had previously been billed as Valhalla Vikings as part of TFA, they chose Valhalla as the group name for use within the NFPS.

The Early Years (1984 - 1989)
The Battle of Hastings event proved a turning point in the group history. Just as Treasure Trap began to fall apart, a whole new realm of events opened up and members of Valhalla were soon travelling all over the country to be part of the NFPS event schedule. Despite the growing split between FODAS and the NFPS, and the departure from the NFPS of the Wessex Sveiter (Regia Anglorum) Valhalla remained friends with members of these other organisations, and continued to attend events on both sides of the political divide.

First European Trips
During the early period group members travelled to the Dublin Viking millennium festival, as well as a number of events in Denmark. Contact with Danish and German re-enactors who's events had previously been mostly craft fairs, led to the growth of combat oriented groups and in time, Valhalla would grow sub groups in both Denmark and Germany. This culminated at the Moesgaard festival in 1994, where Valhalla alone fielded about 30 warriors led by Mike Haywood.

The Middle Years (1990-2000)
The early 1990s saw Valhalla participate in a number of major historical re-enactments including :

1990 - Battle of Hastings
1991 - Millennium Anniversary Battle of Maldon
1993 - 1200th Anniversary of the Viking attack on Lindisfarne Abbey
1995 - Battle of Hastings
2000 - Battle of Hastings

New Millennium - New Horizons
A the large Hastings 2000 event a number of friendships were struck up and the availability of email and internet access allowed Valhalla to spread it's influence well beyond Europe.

In June 2003, three of Valhalla's Steel Training Officers travelled to Kansas City, Missouri to begin a training program with Canadian and American Viking enthusiasts. The three years since then have seen The Vikings NA mushroom to a dozen groups with members from Florida to California and Toronto to Texas.

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