Viking group defeated by insurers

One of the star attractions at this Saturday’s Shrewsbury Carnival has had to pull out of doing battle re-enactments for the crowds because of an insurance glitch.

A splinter group of a Viking re-enactment society which specialises in performing battle scenes for audiences was due to provide a display at this weekend’s event. But now they can only parade in their armour because they were unable to get insurance.

Gill Puttock, carnival committee secretary, said she was disappointed that they would be unable to perform but understood the problems.

She said the group - called Mercia Sveiter, would still take an active role in this year’s event and could hopefully return next year with a battle re-enactment.

Mrs Puttock said: “The Vikings are going to be marching in the parade. They did want to do us a display but unfortunately they couldn’t get insurance.”

Ms Puttock said because the group was a splinter organisation it could not get group insurance, and the cost of doing it themselves was “ridiculous”.