Click
Future Event Listing
for full details of future programme
Report
from the year 2017
Amazing!
Astounding! Astonishing! A-unbelievable! BB made it to its 40th year!
And the year started with BB in reasonably good shape. Long term injuries to
some of our experienced dancers had been a problem, but the welcome sight of
some new dancers had meant the team approached its 40th birthday year
confidently.
And one of our new dancers, Charles, was quickly in action at the first event of
the year, a Haddenham ceilidh on 4th February with the Bursledon Band. We did a
4 dance spot, with Charles joining for the final Jolly Jockey. All went well, no
injuries, minimal dropped sticks - a good start to the year!
After the rarity for BB of a Sunday practice at a mirrored dance studio in
Woodley in February, a great opportunity for several of the team to keep
admiring themselves throughout, the first outdoor event was on Sunday 23rd April
with a day at the Oxford Folk Festival, with both Charles and Ben playing a full
part. Another good day's dancing, at the end of which we were approached by a
Spanish TV crew making some sort of promotional film, and we were asked to have
a speaking part. This turned out to be repeating several times "welcome to
Oxford!" - I think by the end we had it nailed.
Next, on Wednesday 10th May, came a dance out at the Queens Head in Wokingham
along with Windsor Morris to celebrate our illustrious foreman's 50th birthday.
A cheerful evening, though Jameson claimed to be unimpressed by Sue and Bob's
Lucy Worsley masks, claiming his allegiance had switched to Alice Roberts.
However we noticed at the end of the evening he quietly made off with the Lucy
Worsleys, to do with them we know not what...
The following weekend came one of the season's highlights with a weekend away,
mainly to attend the JMO Day of Dance in Leicester, but also to celebrate
David's forthcoming marriage to Heather. Saturday started with an opening
ceremony in Jubilee Square, and was followed by spots in Halford Street, at the
Clock Tower, at the Jewry Wall Museum, the Newarke Houses Museum, and finally
Leicester Cathedral, now the home to Richard III. Some of the team were a
little unkind about the size of Leicester's Cathedral, but really (though I must
declare some slight personal bias here) could there be a better city in England
for Richard to finally rest his bones? (Though of course he had been resting
them there for a while under a car park). The day finished with a closing ceremony
in Jubilee Square, where BB were one of very few teams invited to perform one
dance in front of the 60 assembled teams (Windsor were another).
Overall the dancing on the day went well - except - well, the day was partly a
celebration for David, and some of the team thought the best way to celebrate
was to have a bottle of whisky to pass round. My, weren't people thirsty! - and
the bottle was soon followed by a second one. It was the second one, I'm afraid,
that was David's downfall - to the extent that when performing in a 12 man
Cavalier at the Cathedral, he had to be prodded around from place to place
throughout. By the time he got to the closing ceremony he really wasn't too
well, and had to be helped back to the fortunately nearby Travelodge where
several of the team were staying.

That evening a celebration dinner had been arranged at the Queen of Bradgate
bar/restaurant, but unfortunately David was unable to make it. Nevertheless it
was a fun evening, and the props that had been brought to dress up David instead
found their way onto Tom. And later on, just as we had done 6 years earlier
after the equivalent meal for Jameson's the forthcoming marriage, we went back
to the hotel and watched the closing stages of the Eurovision Song Contest! We
know how to live in BB.
The next day we had planned a rendezvous at The Bell in Adderbury, a morris
friendly pub conveniently on the way home from Leicester. A recovered David was
able to take part in the dancing, and we were able to apply the various props he
had missed the previous evening. What a great air guitarist he proved to be!

Then just 3 weeks later, on Saturday3rd June, came the actual wedding. This was
held in Worplesdon, near Guildford, and BB and Windsor had been invited along to
the evening celebration at Worplesdon Memorial Hall following the lunchtime
ceremony. David and Heather looked resplendent throughout, and both of them were
able to join in a couple of dances with their sides outside the hall with the
wedding guests looking on. This included (for the first time ever) a joint
dance, Highland Mary with BB on one side and Windsor facing them on the other,
both doing their normal steps - it worked surprisingly well. The morris dancing
finished with BB's Fairies and (of course) a magic arch through which all the
guests duly proceeded led by David and Heather, before heading inside for a hog
roast and a live band. A great occasion and a well matched couple!
The next 2 Thursdays were dance outs with some excellent teams local to us:
Thursday 15th June with Taeppas Tump at The Beehive, White Waltham, followed by
Thurs 22nd June at the Stag and Hounds, Binfield, both very enjoyable evenings.
On Saturday 24th June, we were guests (or did we invite ourselves? not sure...)
of Windsor morris for their Day of Dance, along with Rockhopper. Rockhopper's
musician was very late arriving, so Tom did an excellent job of filling in,
finishing learning each dance approximately 10 seconds before going on and
playing it faultlessly. We had spots in Peascod Street and at the Two Brewers
before having one dance each at the Rotary Fayre in Alexandra Gardens, and then
finished with spots at The Boatman and the Guildhall.
The following Thursday was another evening dance out of a different kind - as
guests of Kennet Morris for their annual dance out during Henley Festival week.
A slightly different kind of audience this time with several blazered gentlemen,
rowers and past rowers, admiring the dancing. And just a couple of days later we
were Kennet's guests again, this time for a day of dance in Reading to
commemorate their 60th anniversary. 15 local teams took part, and we enjoyed
spots in Broad Street, at The Minster, and in the Market Place before a final
assembly in Forbury Gardens for a dance from each team interspersed with one or
2 massed dances.
This was to be our last public appearance for 3 weeks, as our attention (and
practice time) switched to preparing for our big 40th birthday celebration
weekend. Preparations for this had started almost a year earlier, with
committees meeting regularly throughout the winter to plan some of the
entertainments for the weekend (The Fun Committee), and also the organisations and
practical details for the weekend (The No-Fun-At-All Committee). Eventually,
after all the planning, the weekend finally arrived and on Friday 21st July we
and our excellent weekend guest teams (Brighton, Chinewrde, Oyster and Silver Flame)
assembled at the venue we had hired for the weekend, Tadley Rugby Club, near to
Aldermaston in West Berkshire - transformed for the weekend into Billy Bedlam's
Holiday Camp! The extensive grounds surrounding the rugby pitches were used for
camping, and all of BB were also transformed into holiday camp Redcoats (or more
accurately Red-and-White-Coats), and all the indoor activities and meals took
place in the large clubhouse room, also transformed for the weekend into the
'Hawaiian Ballroom'.
 
On Friday evening, various soups, bread and cheese were served to arriving
guests, and the clubhouse bar was open for liquid refreshments. Jameson had put
together a couple of quizzes for visitors (and BB) to puzzle over, based on TV's
Only Connect programme, and a very sociable social evening followed. Then on
Saturday morning after breakfast, each of the guest teams performed one dance
each to the other teams before two 55 seater coaches arrived to whisk us and our
guests off to the day's dance locations - The West Berks Brewery, near Yattendon,
a small independent brewery, and also the Milestones Museum of Living History on
the edge of Basingstoke. All of the teams were also together at lunchtime at two
adjacent pubs in Sherfield-on-Loddon - the Four Horseshoes, which served us
lunch (excellent sandwiches and chips), and the White Hart. BB split into 2
teams for the day - BB A, with Roy as musician plus Robert as excellent
occasional drummer, and BB 1, with Sue and Bob as musicians,
with each team just about having 7 dancers, but which worked out fine. The
weather though was a bit mixed, with showers throughout the day making it
difficult at the outdoor venues, though the Milestones Museum being all indoors
was an excellent venue.

The coaches arrived back at Tadley around 5, in time for tea and cake before
some It's a Knockout games for the teams on the sports field (indoors if wet)
(which it was - so indoors then). Some especially memorable team games followed
- winding up a stick of rhubarb on a long piece of string proved particularly
therapeutic, and in the end was easily won by BB's Florent, looking very
Frenchly nonchalant as his nimble fingers outpaced all the opposition - though
sadly he had to be disqualified for being one of BB. The Spacehopper relay races
also proved extremely exciting until the point where one of the competitor's
head came into contact with the hard floor, causing the race to be abandoned as
a draw. The rain outside then cleared in time for the exciting coloured water
relay race, where each member of the team had to run the course with a small cup
of water and fill a sweet jar at the other end, the jars containing a coloured
powder which helped to show how full it was getting. Brighton attempted to fill
their jar faster by using tankards, but then found the task harder when their
jar was removed.
Supper for the evening was a BBQ, cooked freshly by an outside company brought
in for the evening, and who did a great job, especially as during the early part
of their cooking they had to contend with a monumental downpour. Once that was
over, puddings (provided by us) were consumed, though somewhat messily by some
of Brighton and BB during a dance where they were only allowed to eat them
through the joined arms of their partners (you had to be there, really). After
that the tables were cleared away and the evening entertainment (or "Talent
Night") could begin. And, hosted by our very own Jerry in smart MC's
jacket, what an evening it turned out to be!
 
BB got proceedings off to a start, coming on in our stripy blazers but with the
addition of a straw boater and cane (canes made by Lee). After a cheesy entry we
adopted a 4 by 4 formation for a dance we had been practising for a few weeks,
with choreography by Will, to the song 'Putting on the Ritz', this particular
version by Robbie Williams. A great start, and after that proceedings moved along
with every holiday camp's favourite, the 'Knobbly Knees' contest. Our own Bob
was the judge, moving along the line of ill assorted male and female knees, and
proved to be not at all put off by a late entry of a very familiar pair of knees
indeed. Next up was Silver Flame's spot - a take off of appalling talent contest
entries with an appropriately slimy compere - though actually we quite liked the
balloon modelling. Then it was
time for some judging of competitions running during the day - firstly the
'decorate your coconut' competition. It
was a difficult choice for guest judges Jill and Sally, with some excellent
offerings (imaginative use of a melon amongst them), but in the end Chinewrde's
bikini clad offering won, possibly on account of the marmalade rum it was filled
with. And after that it was time to bring on our wonderful 40th birthday cake,
made for us specially by Will's sister Maria, with the 2 halves brilliantly iced
to look like a BB top hat and a BB rosette. And the first cut just had to be made
by our longest serving member Paul. Next up, Oyster sang a song called 'Bedlam's Holiday' to the tune of
'Summer Holiday' - "We're all going on a Bedlam's Holiday, sticks and
hankies for a day or two" etc, and including the particularly ironic line
given the day's weather "It never rains on Berkshire Bedlam". After
that came an act which was a surprise to everyone in the room, and especially
the rest of BB - originally billed as 'Dazzling Dave Steptoe', but introduced on
the night as 'Elvis Steptoe'. And in came David, hair brylcreemed back, 70s
shades, blue suede shoes, clutching a microphone, who promptly tore into 'All
Shook Up'. And shake everyone up he certainly did - a brilliant performance,
with a great impression of Elvis's voice, all the actions and movements,
microphone twirling throughout, and - most impressive of all - managing to keep
a straight face while the room just erupted. After finishing he was immediately
called back for an encore, and gave us Moon River, and finally Blue Suede Shoes.
Without question the performance of the night!
He was a tough act to follow, but Chinerwde next gave us their own rendition of
'The Very Hungry Caterpillar', with the Caterpillar gradually growing as it
added more people until eventually it was beautifully sick all over John just
before metamorphosing
into a beautiful butterfly, though confusingly the caterpillar was still very
much in evidence at that point. After that Brighton got
everyone in a large circle for a confusing clapping routine involving yourself,
your neighbour, yourself, the other neighbour, and then it was a bit of a blur.
Great fun though! In between all these spots Jerry was valiantly filling in with
some of the jokes submitted by various teams during the day. Sadly he ran out of
time before he could properly explain the difference between jam and marmalade -
perhaps another time. And then, as if the evening hadn't been wild enough
already, a series of cheesy disco hits for people to join in with, and soon
there was a dance floor full of people
happily and with great relish doing all the approved actions for Oops Upside
Your head, The Macarena, YMCA, and many many more. But eventually we came to the final routines of the
evening - BB entering again, and this time breaking into a routine first
performed almost 5 years ago their own interpretation of Gangnam Style.
After that all the BBs gathered together to sing the traditional Holiday Camp
closing song, 'Goodnight Campers', which brought the official celebrations to a
close, though the unofficial merriment continued for quite a bit longer. Overall a great night,
and a
reflection of what so many of BB and all our guest teams had put into it!
The next morning, Sunday, after breakfast the campsite and clubroom were cleared
and everyone proceeded to Reading for a day's dancing, where we were also joined
by the wonderful Windsor Morris. The dance venues were Forbury Gardens, 2
locations in Broad Street, the Market Place, and finally a gathering of all the
teams outside the Town Hall for one dance each. All of the teams put on a great
show throughout the day, and miraculously the rain pretty well held off for us.
The last spot outside the Town Hall was also very memorable, with each team
doing a great final dance - BB had saved the Sword Dance to finish off the whole
weekend, which also went down very well. after that, and some final photos, it
was time to say goodbye to all the fabulous teams who had joined us for the
weekend. Another truly memorable anniversary!
In fact though that wasn't quite the end of the anniversary story. While the
teams had been dancing in Reading on Sunday, they were seen by one of the BBC
Radio Berkshire presenters on the Andrew Peach morning show, newsreader Sarah
Walker, who reported on air on the Monday morning that she had seen "an
obscene amount of morris dancers in Reading on Sunday", including
"some women dancing with what looked like pallet knives...". This was
latched on during the show, and people were asked to phone in if they had any
idea what it was about. Eventually Brian from Kennet phoned in, and explained it
was to do with Berkshire Bedlam's 40th birthday celebrations. He was asked about
us, and somehow in the ensuing dialogue we were described first as 'cabaret
morris', and then somehow as 'almost burlesque dancers'. As a result of this, we
were immediately invited to go on the show the next day (Tuesday 25 July) to
show what 'burlesque cabaret morris' was all about (gulp). Anyway, as a result,
Alun, Mark, Charles, and Malcolm all went along to the studio next morning and
were featured on the show from about 9.15 to 9.45, including a short
demonstration done to the music of an iPhone held to a microphone - not ideal
but just about worked. And after doing it the 3 presenters also had a go -
Andrew Peach, Sarah, and sports guy Ady Williams, a Welsh football international
and former captain of Reading FC. Not sure what they all made of it, especially
Ady, but they seemed impressed, especially by the fact that (apart from Malcolm)
the dancers were all young!

And then on to Sidmouth for Folk Week, starting on Saturday 5th August. On the
Sunday, yet again BB were able to field a team on the prom, with several members
who were there for the week, plus Sue, just there for a couple of days, David,
also just there for a couple of days to be a Tommy for Silver Flame, and Florent,
who drove down just for the day for his first Sidmouth experience - merci
beaucoup! On the Sunday afternoon was the jig competition, with several
participants from BB, though sadly none in BB kit. In the solo jig competition,
Will did a fabulous Hammersmith Longborough jig, accompanied by the excellent
Jim Sawyer, while the double jig competition featured Mark and Alun at the
start, reprising their winning Fools Gambit jig from 2016, though accompanied by
Jerry this time in Tom's absence. It also featured Jameson dancing an Oyster jig
along with Colin Pigden, a BB member in the mid 1990s, and finally Will again,
dancing a jig in a piratical type outfit along with Kynan Parker-Roth and
accompanied by Jerry, all 3
wearing matching piratical bandanas. When the prizes were awarded, it was a
double success for Will - first place in the solo jig and first place in the
double! Both very well deserved, and a great pleasure also for all of the BB
members watching.
And BB members continued to feature during the week with booked teams - as
mentioned David was down for the weekend to Tommy with Silver Flame, while
Jameson was with Oyster all week and Tylers Men on his Oyster day off. Will was
also with Tylers Men, and later in the week Mark joined in some of the dances of
the excellent young American team formed just for the festival, Great Circle.
Great to see so many of BB playing a full part in the week!
Sat 2 Sept saw us at the Wallingford Bunkfest for another good day at what is
always a great event, and a couple of weeks later on Thurs 14 Sept we celebrated
Paul's 60th birthday (even though he's actually 84) with a dance out at the
Queens Head in Wokingham followed by a generously subsidised pizza at Pizza
Express. Next up was a day in Lewes on Sat 14 Oct at the Lewes Day of Dance,
part of Lewes Folk Festival. A small team of just 6 dancers, including some of
our less experienced members, did full justice to the BB name during another
enjoyable day.
And
then before we knew it, the end of year season was on us again, starting with
the Bunfight on Sat 25th Nov, with the Beatles flavoured theme 'A Hard Day's
Bunfight'. The usual great range of outfits on show, and this year's band The
Diatonics, assisted by Nick calling as usual, put on a great show with many of
their ceilidh tunes featuring part (or occasionally all) of a Beatles song. In
the first interval we performed Damce of Chance (tricky when you're wearing a
zebra crossing or silver hammer), and then later reprised our 40th weekend's
'Putting on the Ritz' - blazers, boaters, the lot! Next day was the Wokingham
Winter Carnival - affected this year by the town centre regeneration, but still
a good day with the sunshine making up for the cold (almost).
The year then finished in more or less traditional style, with our Xmas meal on
Thursday 21st Dec, this year back at the Bull at Barkham, and then with out St.
Thomas's Day dance out in Wokingham town centre on Saturday 23rd Dec. The
difference this year was that with much building work going on in the centre of
Wokingham, we weren't able to dance outside the Town Hall as usual. Instead, we
started in Erfstadt Court before moving on to the Queens Head for not only some
dancing outside but some carol singing inside, ably led by David, and including
David singing 'It'll be lonely this Christmas' in the style of Elvis. In fact
Elvis had never sang that particular one (Shakin Stevens) but hey-ho. A fabulous
end to the year!
Reports from earlier years are also available - 2016
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
|