IT WAS a chance to try out the very latest in new-fangled weaponry but despite their high-tech "firelock" muskets it was still a bloody skirmish.

Cannon and musket balls sailed through the smoke-filled air, skilfully dodged by the masses of pike-armed infantry on the battlefield.

A field in the usually sleepy village of Lytchett Minster was on Sunday taken over by 250 members of the English Civil War Society to re-enact a typical seventeenth century clash between royalists and parliamentarians.

Behind the royalist ramparts lay an authentic army encampment complete with wenches spinning wool to make saddle cloths, a carpenter, and the occasional soldier worse for wear from ale collapsed half inside his tent.

The rest of the field was filled with more modern pursuits such as side stalls, live entertainment and a children's bouncy castle, all with the sole aim of raising money for the charity Childline.

The two-day event, which was finishing today at 5.30pm, was the brainchild of Dorset school chef Diana Marchment, who over the past few years had raised thousands for the charity.

"It was really my brother Ken's idea because he's a pike man with the society," said Diana, from Upton.

"It was a bit of a nightmare getting the land, the attractions and the society members to coincide for two days, but it's well worth it.

"I hope to raise about £20,000 for the charity over the two days."

Stephen Burden, a musician from Kingston Lacy, was the royalists' colonel general of Dorset for the day.

He said: "We're going to push the rebels into Poole and take and plunder the town because it's full of fanatics. You think I'm joking but that's exactly the terminology they used.

"I've been doing this since a I was a child and it's better than going on holiday for relaxation."

Mark Leeson from Sherborne, in his alter ego as a royalist, said: "The best bit about doing these re-enactments is returning to the twenty-first century at the end of the day. It would have been horrific living back then!"