Report
from the year 2016
The year started
with the news that long standing member Andy had decided not to continue with
the side in order to pursue his time consuming hobby of sitting in airport
departure lounges. A great loss to the side, who will miss his dance experience,
musicianship, and indefatigable sense of humour. Whatever the mayhem around him,
Andy can be guaranteed to be having a lovely time.
Meanwhile
though the dancing year started even earlier than usual with an appearance on 27
Feb at the 2016 IVFDF Festival (Inter-Varsity Folk Dance), this time organised
by the University of Warwick, but based in Coventry, and with the morris tours
arranged by Earlsdon. A raw wind blew throughout most of the day, so we were
glad our first dance spot was indoors in the Lower Precinct shopping centre,
where we appeared to be dancing on AstroTurf. Later on we moved to the precinct
near Lady Godiva's statue, who would undoubtedly have been wishing she had a few
more clothes on. Later still we finished up dancing in the old Cathedral ruins,
where Capering Crew joined us for some old (joint) favourites.
Our next event was appearing at a private dinner, part of an international
conference organised by SAFE (Safety and Flight Equipment Association), in the
Old Chapel of the Beaumont Estate Hotel, Old Windsor. We were the post dinner
entertainment, and had put together an appropriate sequence of dances, though it
proved difficult to get 'volunteers' for Coconuts from the diners, who came from
all over the world and were mostly in dinner jackets. We did though eventually
eventually pressgang a couple, and the display seemed to go down very well
overall. We were also well looked after, with sandwiches, chips, and wine and
beer provided, which we feel should be the norm for every event from now on. We
had a good turnout of dancers too, including Alun, who had arrived fresh from
University with nearly all his kit except rather crucially his BB socks,
necessitating an emergency phone call to Roy, at home 20 minutes away - thanks,
Roy!
Then on Sat 16 April we were once again at the Oxford Folk Weekend with spots by
the Sheldonian Theatre, in Bonn Square, by The Bear pub, and at the Ashmolean
Museum. Another very enjoyable day, followed a week later on 23rd April by
attending Hook Eagle's 25th Birthday celebration day, also another success. For
us this started with mass dancing in Odiham, followed by a coach tour to
Andwell's Brewery in Hook, and then the Crooked Billet.
Thursday 23rd April was The Queen's 90th birthday, and we were invited in the
evening to join a beacon lighting ceremony outside Finchampstead Church. Once
the beacon on top of the church was alight (disappointingly lit by a gas burner
rather than having a bonfire on the top) we did a short display, which seemed to
go down well, before strolling down the road to the Queens Oak. There we did a
few dances, including a chaotic Jolly Jockey in near darkness, before repairing
to our usual Thursday haunt of The Bull at Barkham.
Next
up on 7th May was a visit to the revived Winchester Mayfest, back again after a
4 year absence. On (at last) a gloriously hot day, we danced first at the City
Museum, and then at the Buttercross, followed by a single dance performance for
the Mayor outside the Cathedral. And had she actually been there, we're sure she
would have enjoyed our Cavalier. We finished the day with more dancing outside
the Museum before one of the team had to rush off to see Leicester City's game
on TV followed by presentation of the Premier League trophy to them. Wonder who
that was then?
On Sunday 22nd May we were once again at the Kirtlington Lamb Ale, with
Albemarle's Hop as our show dance in the traditional final stand in the school
playground, and then 2 weeks later we had an evening with Fleet Morris at the
Queens Oak in Finchampstead. A pleasant evening, and also notable for our new
French recruit Florent capably making his debut. Magnifique!
Then the following weekend was our semi-annual (when someone gets round to organising
it) Dorset tour - this year highly capably organised by David, who the rest of
the side have now concurred should have the role for life. The weekend was
based at an excellent campsite just outside Langton Matravers, and started at
the far end of Swanage Pier, much to the bemusement of pier strollers,
fishermen, and a big pleasure boat outing which docked during our first dances.
Nevertheless it was a great setting on what turned out to be a beautifully sunny
day. And it was a great pleasure to see our recent joiner Tom along for the
weekend and performing for the first time with us, even though his white
trainers were unfortunately not in Swanage along with him - however after
starting the day in black trainers he was able to sort out a white pair at
lunchtime. It also featured the full public debut of our new/old melodeon
musician Roy, who after many months of practice knew many of the notes of many
of our tunes. After a few dances at the far end of the pier came a lengthy
procession along the length of the pier, after which some seats opposite each
other at the near end provided good rest opportunities during each half of
Highland Mary.
The tour than moved on to Durlston Country Park and Castle, with excellent
dancing opportunities against a spectacular seascape background. Then after the
traditional evening campsite barbeque came the David's trip highlight, and
indeed the whole raison d'être for the tour's
base - the evening walk along a footpath giving distant views of the sea to the
Square and Compass pub at Worth Matravers. There we found an appreciative
audience, and unlike on our previous dancing visit there some 15 years earlier,
no animals were harmed during the evening's entertainment.
The next day the tour reconvened in Salisbury, for dancing at the Museum and
later with the imposing splendour of Salisbury Cathedral as a backdrop. It's
doubtful the gargoyles at the top had seen a good coconut dance down below for
many hundreds of years (who said they still haven't?).
A few days later came another good evening with Jackstraws at the Dog and
Partridge in Yateley. Apart from some fine dancing, the evening was enlivened by
peering in at the TV inside the pub and following the progress of a horror film
- England 1 Iceland 2 in the Euros. Then on 9th July, a small but immaculately
rehearsed team was off to Priddy in Somerset for the Priddy Folk
Festival. A somewhat lower key festival, yet featuring some big names, this
proved an excellent event to take part in, not least for the hospitality tent
made freely available to all performers with a seemingly endless supply of tea
and cakes. Apart from indulging in this, we had a number of spots on the Market
Square and in the Eastwater Marquee, one of which was an hour long show along
with the Outside Capering Crew. Although not an actual Big Caper show, it had
much of the feel of it with the combined 4 musicians, and a number of joint
dances, including the reappearance of the pampering routine where David was well
looked after and Jameson wasn't.
Then after another excellent evening with Customs and Exiles at the Stag and
Hounds (14 BB dancers at one point! 14!!) it was time for a season highlight -
another week long appearance at the Sidmouth Folk Week after a 3 year absence.
We were pleased to be able to take a strong team, even though Jameson was only
able to be with us part time due to having previously committed to be there with 7 Champs. And once again it turned out to be a great
week, even though we had a fuller programme than in previous years due to the
addition of scheduled spots every day for the booked teams on the seafront at
the Bedford Steps and York Steps. There were many highlights during a week of
high profile performances, but a particular highlight came on the first day
there, Saturday 30th July, with an LNE spot at midnight. Before this though we
had a number of other commitments during the day including an appearance at the
Hub, a procession along the seafront, 2 dances in the first of the Blackmore
Marquee dance shows, and another spot on our own on the seafront. The LNE spot
started with the Jameson walk on for Wheel of Fortune, which got a great
audience reaction in itself, followed by our Sword Dance, Coconuts, and Going
Away, all of which were very well received.
The next day featured only a couple of dance spots on the seafront, as the main
feature for Cotswold teams on Sidmouth Sunday is always the John Gasson jig
competition. This proved a great success for BB members with no less than 5
receiving awards, albeit not in BB kit - Alun and Mark with Tom playing won the
double jig competion, Jameson won best over 40 and 3rd place overall in the solo
jig (accompanied by Saul Rose), while Jerry was musician for Charlotte and Maria
of Windsor who came 3rd in the double jig. A big honourable mention also for
Will accompanied by Sue in the solo jig who were in BB kit - not placed but it
must have been a very marginal decision as it was a fantastic performance from
both.
On the Monday, rain from late morning onwards caused most of the outdoor dancing
to be cancelled, though not before we had some impromptu performances under the
overhang at the front of the Ham Marquee. Later on despite the rain we carried
on with a scheduled 30 minute performance in the outdoor covered stage area in
Blackmore Gardens as part of the Childrens Festival, during which Jerry gamely
led a participatory Shepherds Hey. The weather cleared for Tuesday, which was
our day off, then on Wednesday we had the first of our 2 early morning
workshops. Mark ably led this, teaching Schrodingers Hat and Dance of Chance,
before further spots in the afternoon around town, in the Connaught Gardens
show, and later on in the Market Square.
Thursday was our busiest day, starting with another morning workshop, this time
led by David, and teaching our stick dances Base over Apex and then Jolly
Jockey. Then after a lunchtime performnce on the York steps came another
procession along the seafront, a spot in the Blackmore Marquee afternoon show,
another York steps spot, and finally our second Market Square appearance. And
then all too soon it was the final Friday, which first featured more spots
around town and on the seafront. During our final seafront spot at the Bedford
steps, Will and Sue reprised their solo jig from Sunday's competition, and while
Will was going for a particularly high kick there was an ominous ripping noise.
Still, it was a hot day, and no doubt the extra ventilation helped the cooling
process. Later came a splendid final Connaught Gardens show for all the booked
teams, culminating in a 'blind-leads-the-blind' procession all around Connaught
Gardens. The day (and festival) finished with the torchlight procession along
the seafront and onto the beach, followed by the extinguishing of torches in the
sea (tricky as it was shortly after high tide) and a terrific firework display.
Overall another wonderful week, throughout which the whole team acquitted itself
very well despite the more taxing schedule this time.
Then
it was on to September, and our annual visit to the Wallingford Bunkfest - a
great event as usual. This time we went on the Sunday, Sept 4th, and enjoyed
an excellent time with big crowds in attendance. And if Bunkfest gets better
and better every year, so does Chunkfest at Sue's house - our annual
unmissable tea-with-pineapple-chunks in Sue's garden. Then no other events in
September until the Morris Federation AGM Day of Dance, this year in
Nottingham City Centre, very capably organised by Mortimers. We had some good
dance spots throughout the day, including one around Robin Hood's statue where
we had a bit of a long shot at some of our more difficult dances and despite
some of the side being in a quiver, just about managed them - though it was an
arrow escape...
The final event of the outdoor season was the Lewes Day of Dance on Sat 8 Oct
- another great day, and good to see Florent playing a full part in the day's
dancing. Vive la Danse!
And
then it was into our year end sequence, starting with the Bunfight on Sat 25
November, another great night - see here
for all the pictures. This year's band was Panjandrum, consisting of half of
the members of the now sadly defunct Committee Band, and they played some
excellent sets to a good turnout of dancers. The theme was 'Living La Vida
Bunfight - Bunfight goes to South America', so we had a wide and wild variety
of great costumes, not least all the animals of the rainforest from Fools
Gambit, including Tom as a solitary tree. In the first break of the evening,
as well as the compulsory Irish Bingo BB had 12 dancers for 2 sets of
Cavalier, including new recruits Ben and Charles who both did great jobs. Then
in the second spot, BB performed their mysterious 'Men in Bags' spot. And what
do you now, the audience demanded (or Nick demanded on their behalf) that we
do it again, which we did after something of a pause while several people
worked out how to get Lee's iPod to rewind.
Then the next day was the annual Wokingham Winter Carnival, this year in cold
but generally fair conditions, and once again the team acquitted itself well
with generally good crowds watching. After that, the last event of the year
was the now traditional St. Thomas's Day dance out on Sat 17 Dec, at lunchtime
in the Wokingham Market Place. Once again it was a pleasure to have our most
recent recruits with us, in more or less full BB kit for the first time, and
again they acquitted themselves extremely well. 2017 looks like being another
great year, not least with our 40th anniversary celebrations in July!
Reports
from earlier years are also available - 2015
2014
2013
2012
2011 2010
2009
2008 2007
2006 2005
2004 2003
2002 2001
You can also see pictures of all events in the various Picture
Galleries
BB 2016 Summary
