A MAN with a passion for pirates is calling on would-be Long John Silvers to join a new re-enactment group.

Paul Winters, from Kidlington, wants to stage historically accurate recreations of pirate activity in Oxford — and is searching for like-minded people.

Mr Winters’ group will be called the River Rogues and an inaugural ‘walk the plank’ event is set to take place on the banks of the Thames in the city this summer.

He said: “It’s going to be a pirate re-enactment group covering everything to do with pirates. We’ll be doing things on the River Thames and down on the south coast. There’s evidence of pirate activity on the Thames centuries ago.

“I’ve been doing re-enactments for 14 years and have been a pirate for nine years. We haven’t had a local group as such in Oxford, so I’ve joined other groups.

“I got a lot of ideas from other groups and thought it was about time I started my own group in Oxford.

“Oxford’s so full of history and we’ve got a beautiful river running through it, but there’s so little done about it.

“There are probably more than 1,000 different re-enactment groups in Great Britain doing all sorts of different things. The Second World War is very popular, as is the English Civil War, but there are also people re-enacting things like Desert Storm.”

Since the release of the Pirates of the Caribbean films sparked wider interest in the subject, Mr Winters has done a number of events across the country, including dressing up as Captain Jack Sparrow at Legoland.

He said: “Re-enactment is fun and you meet so many different people.

“I’ve always been interesting in pirates since I was 10 years old with a plastic or wooden sword and a dustbin lid for a shield.

“What we are aiming for is people over 16 years old, although families are quite welcome to come along. To take part in the actual re-enactments you have to be over 16 because you’re not using toys, they are real swords and muskets.

“It’s a lot of fun and you get to go away and camp out in the wilds and enjoy a great social scene.

“The events are very safe and it’s like a society where kids can grow up in that safe environment.

“I wasn’t really interested in history at school but that comes with doing re-enactment. Seeing history hands-on really gets you interested in it.”

Mr Winters is particularly looking for people with real-life skills including sail making, carpentry and boat building. Anyone interested can call 07761322562 or email kidlingtoncaravans@hot mail.co.uk