Reports from the
year 2008
SPRING
2008 - Another year, another set of venues, another set of injuries ....
Well, the
injuries first - perhaps nature is telling us to slow down (even more)
but so far 2008 has brought us a few injury challenges, including
amongst other things dodgy knees, ankles, backs, and other locomotory things.
Obviously we've been overdoing the intensive training throughout the
winter - can't think of any other reason?! Despite this the side has
once more been undertaking a varied programme in 2008, which started on 8th March
as last year with a performance at the Folk for Berkshire schools folk
day in Twyford, a
very worthwhile day of folk music and dance activities for primary
school children across Berkshire. As
previously, we were the lunchtime diversion while the children recovered
their energy for the afternoon and the instructors steeled themselves
for the children's energy recovery. And afterwards several of the side
had the pleasure of releiving Tim of some of his ten teas and cakes.
April 19th saw Andy and Mayumi celebrate their first 'semiversary' (6 months of marriage) with a fabulous evening event near to their
home in West Molesey. The evening reflected their many and diverse
interests, with several different styles of music and dance on show
including tango (with a very instructive workshop), flamenco, Japanese
dance, some Morris
with us and Kirtlington, and the Geckoes playing for some ceilidh dances
- plus a great array of food and drink. BB's contribution to the evening
was a short Morris spot, with Andy Turner playing splendidly for us on
concertina in Sue's absence, and later another performance of our Men in
Black spot. While these all went well, the real scene stealer was Andy
and Mayumi's tango at the start of the evening, full of dramatic pauses,
smouldering looks, flamboyant gestures, and sensuous leg movements. Just
what we need to brighten up Mrs. Casey, actually.
St George's Day on 23rd April saw us appropriately at the St George and
Dragon in Wargrave, where with sponsorship from their brewery, the pub
had laid on a celebration of the venerable English saint. On a pleasant evening, the pub and
its grounds leading down to the Thames were packed, possibly partially
due to the free champagne and nibbles on offer throughout. With Sue
still away, Gareth joined us for the evening on melodeon, and despite
only one practice session with us the previous week, heroically managed
all the right notes throughout the evening, with an extremely high
percentage in the right order.
 
Mayday this year conveniently fell on a Thursday, our normal practice
and dance out night, so we started our evening with a short performance
at Suffolk Lodge residential care home in Wokingham, where we were well
received and enjoyed being able to entertain the residents. We then
moved on to the Stag and Hounds at Binfield, where we joined Jackstraws
and HuMP and amongst other things were able to help Chris (Taylor) enjoy
her birthday celebrations. The evening was also a warm up for the
Oyster May Weekend in Canterbury, which we joined for the Sunday. This
was an excellent day of dancing round various spots in Canterbury, very
well organised by the Oysters, followed by an evening 'Chinese Olympics'
event, where they had organised a fun evening of less than serious
competitive games. One of the many highlights of this was Jameson
performing rhythmic gymnastics in his unitard, an eye catching (and
retaining) outfit it has to be said. Bob being a jockey on Oyster's
6'7" James, and hanging on for dear life during the show jumping
jump-off, was also wincingly entertaining.
The weekend of 16th - 18th saw a small team go North again to the
Shepley Festival, an excellent Festival set in the small village of
Shepley, near to Holmfirth, and capably organised by the previous
committee of the Holmfirth Festival. It has to be said that the
Saturday's weather was somewhat inclement for the time of the year,
being chilly and shower laden, but despite some earlier concerns Jerry's
various body parts all held out well and we had a good day with performances
at the village pubs and on the main site. Our lunchtime was also
considerably improved by happening to be outside the Shepley Co-Op as it
closed for the weekend and they needed someone to give their unsold pork
pies to - best not to ask what was in them but they were fab. Later in
the afternoon we had an
appreciative reception for Coconuts at the massed stand held in one of the
marquees, and we also did a well received late evening
ceilidh spot during the Hekety ceilidh (outwardly untroubled by our
earlier group curry), though most of the audience had understandably
disappeared to the concert tent to see Bellowhead make their audience
forget how cold it was. The Festival continued on the Sunday, when the
weather perked up, and again our dances went well, including a final
Fairies on the Festival site with many of the audience feeling the Magic
In The Air at the end and dutifully lining up to go through the Magic
Arch. Perhaps there really is something in it - so many people can't all
be wrong, can they?
SUMMER
2008 - Solstice bells and a trip to Dorset ....
29th
May saw us at the Fox Inn, Steventon, as guests of Old Speckled Hen,
along with a new Border team Borderline making their first appearance.
The Fox Inn is one of the few pubs left with an outdoor Aunt Sally (a
sort of coconut shy with a single wooden Aunt Sally at which sticks are
skimmed) which proved too much of a temptation for some of BB. It's all
right though Tim, they found the stick a couple of weeks later in the
next field.
 Then
19th June saw the start of the Dorset Tour weekend, the first time for 3
years the team had managed to arrange what used to be an annual
pilgrimage to Dorset. As had occasionally happened previously, the
weekend was preceded by a Thursday evening at the Red Lion, Avebury,
with Holt Morris - the day before the summer solstice so not too many of
the druids were yet out and about. As usual a good evening's dancing at
the Red Lion was followed by a music and singing session at The Bell,
West Overton, where BB held their own against a fine effort from the
Holt massed choir - BB helped this year by a couple of new songs from
Jameson which didn't this time involve his father painting the parlour.
  The
following day it was down to Dorset for the tour proper. Most of the
previous weekends have been based at the Giants Head campsite at Cerne
Abbas, but Rob and Miriam had planned this weekend around a campsite
near to Corfe Castle. The Friday evening involved a get together at The
Greyhound in Corfe, and then following a night of fairly torrential rain
(especially, we found, for those with tents under trees), Saturday
morning saw us dance in Corfe Castle outside the entrance to the Castle
remains and then head off to Swanage on a steam train. At Swanage we
danced firstly in The Square, where some of the audience donated their
unwanted chips to us at the end of the performance - well, you've got to
take your rewards however you can, haven't you? We then moved to the
seafront for more dancing before retiring to the Red Lion for lunch and
a play on the life size fibreglass pig, bought in a shop near the
seafront as its the sort of thing every Berkshire garden needs - really,
Bob, though you still have yet to be totally convinced. Later on, the pig
accompanied us on the train back to Corfe Castle and on the trek back to
the campsite, to the amusement of passers by though not to those
carrying it.
  At
the campsite, it was time for Pimms and a barbeque, and in particular a
celebration of Sue's big birthday. Later on we headed back to the
Greyhound for the evening, where despite some heavy showers we managed a
couple of dance spots in the rear garden in front of a small but enthusiastic
audience, before returning to the campsite for a windy night in the tents
(caused by nature rather than the barbeque and beer). Next day though
was bright and sunny, and Jane had arranged for us to dance at the RNLI
college in Poole, a modern training facility for lifeboatmen and women
right on Poole Harbour with commanding views over the estuary. We
performed in a large outdoor area (with great views) to a mainly indoor
audience who we couldn't see through the tinted windows, though we found
later they had enjoyed the performance. We then completed the weekend
with a Sunday lunch in their splendid restaurant, during which the
possibility of any further dancing became more and more
hypothetical......
 July
brought some good evening dance outs, starting with an evening at the
White Hart at Sherfield on Loddon with Mayflower on Jul 3, followed by
an evening with Kintbury Morris at the Rising Sun, Stockcross on Jul 9, and an
evening with Eynsham at the Black Horse, Checkendon on Jul 15 - a pub
which it's almost impossible to find even with sat nav, GRP, a local map,
and a bloke who's lived in the area for 50 years, but
is great when you get there. And Eynsham were as unique as ever - so
much energy in so many different sock colour combinations. Finally in
July, a very pleasant weekend as guests of Ouse Washes at another of
their legendary Rookery Farm weekends in mid Norfolk, with visits to
Walsingham and Massingham for some dancing on the Saturday, and to
Castle Acre on the Sunday. The venue, Gordon Phillips laid back farm in
Great Dunham, provided a perfect setting with ample room for camping, a
large barn for Saturday's ceilidh, and plenty of outdoor space for
Saturday evening's hog roast. You just had to watch the odd hidden
nettle and thistle as you skipped gaily barefooted around the campsite,
but we soon persuaded John to stop doing it - perhaps he was just
celebrating having finally put his borrowed tent up the right way round
after 15 unsuccessful attempts?
AUTUMN
2008 - and an unusual birthday party .....
 The
first of our late season events saw us on 30th August at the Wallingford
Bunkfest, a revitalised event this year following resolution of the funding
problems which blighted it in 2007. The Kinecroft was back in full use for the
weekend, with 2 dance stages and many other stalls and attractions, and on the
Saturday when we were there the sunshine (following a largely gloomy August)
brought out large crowds and created an excellent atmosphere (though it was to
chuck it down on the Sunday when we weren't there...). Our dance spots during
the day included appearances on the 2 stages, and outside the Dolphin, plus a
cameo appearance during the Capering Crew's 'Knees Up'. However these were all
the appetizers to the main course of the day, our annual pilgrimage to Sue's for
tea and cake, and in particular copious amounts of pineapple chunks and
evaporated milk. Just for a moment we were all taken back to the time when we
were small children, the world was in black and white, and
we thought the Morris was a kind of car rather than a lifestyle. Ah, happy days.
Now, over recent years Berkshire Bedlam have enjoyed several surreal events and
happenings, but on Sunday 5th October we enjoyed one of the most surreal ever.
We had been booked to appear at a 'high profile' birthday party in Wiltshire,
but until 2 days beforehand we didn't know who for or what would be
involved. It turned out though the party was for Sting, at his Georgian mansion
near Salisbury, and our appearance on the Sunday was part of his 'Highland
Fling' weekend, with a range of Scottish and other traditional entertainment for
his family and friends. We arrived at lunchtime, and initially stayed out of
sight in the stable / studio area of the grounds (though we were well looked
after and catered for there). Eventually in mid afternoon we were asked to join
the guests during their late lunch in a grand marquee attached to the main
house. We engineered our appearance in suitably fine style with an improvised
processional dance in 2 lines through part of the grounds and into the marquee,
ably led by Sue and Bob, where we processed around the tables and through the
somewhat startled guests. Once there, we just about had enough space to do a
quick Mazurka, desperately trying not to upset the tables, the buffet, the
elaborate decorations, or any of the guests, before we exited back out into the
grounds to, it must be said, generous applause. Outside, we were joined by Sting
and his wife Trudi, and spread out around his large turf maze while we danced
the Wheel of Fortune on our respective spots, with Sue and Bob playing the tune
(The British Grenadier) at the centre of the maze, and with Sting and Trudi at
their feet singing along. It got even more surreal though, as we then did a
short dance set in the gardens to all the guests, heroically ignoring the
temptation to kick the small dog yapping at our heels throughout much of it on
the basis we couldn't be sure whose it was, and then finished off with our
Coconuts dance with some of the guests joining in. This involved Jameson dancing
opposite Sting at the top of the set, Rob dancing opposite David Walliams, Jerry
dancing opposite Kevin Spacey, and Andy dancing opposite Robert Downey Junior.
Under the circumstances it went fine, though Lee had to shove David Walliams
round a bit as he had missed the first part of the dance. Throughout all of this
we continued to be very well received, but since it would have been hard to top
the Coconuts dance we exited smartly stage left (or more accurately hedge left).
Once out of sight of the guests we were left shaking our heads and saying
"did we really just dance with those people?". No doubt back in the
marquee the same people would be saying "did we really just dance with
Berkshire Bedlam?".
 On
Saturday 11 October we were back to the relative sanity of the morris and folk
world, with an appearance at the Banbury Canalside Festival. Once again we were
fortunate with the weather, with the warmest day for some time, and we were able
to enjoy a walking tour of Banbury with the 6 sides, ourselves, Bloxham,
Adderbury, Ducklington, The Outside Capering Crew, and Step on Board. Then in
the evening, after unwisely wrapping ourselves around several large pizzas, we
and the Capering Crew put in another 'Big Caper' appearance, this time as the
interval act during the Hekety ceilidh in a large social club hall. The
performance went well, but suffered somewhat from being in a relatively big room
with a relatively small audience, and although the audience seemed appreciative
there was something of a flat atmosphere, unlike other Big Caper shows we have
done, no doubt affected by the fact the audience had come to dance rather than
watch us. However, overall the whole day was well organised and an extremely
enjoyable occasion, if somewhat shorter on the celebrities than we had become
accustomed to .....
YEAR
END 2008 - some debuts, a retirement, and Paul misses Santa again ....
 Saturday
29th November was our annual Bunfight ceilidh, once again at the California
Ratepayers Hall in Finchampstead, with a theme of 'Myths and Legends', featuring
Random as the band, and Mr Marvellous himself, Nick Walden, as caller. The Bunfights
page has more detail but suffice it to say it was another excellent
evening, with a lovely collection of green tighted BBs in a 'Men in Tights' show dance later on,
preceded by four of our newer younger recruits showing the older members how to
do Devil's Highway. And as usual there were plenty of interesting costumes on
show, one or two of which revealed a little more flesh than was altogether
wise. The Bunfight was followed the next day by the Wokingham Winter Carnival, once again held on a day
when the weather was not being particularly kind i.e. cold and
drizzly. But our slightly reduced numbers were swelled by old young Will in plain clothes,
and for one dance by a strangely attired though attractive female stallholder, who Jameson
cunningly contrived to dance opposite, though he claimed unconvincingly afterwards it was
accidental.
 
The following Saturday we were at the Haddenham one day Festival for a couple of
Big Caper performances, consisting of one 40 minute spot of our own, and one 15 minute spot
during the excellent Steamchicken ceilidh. Both of these went well,
although there were a few instances where the smooth changeovers we had carefully
rehearsed three weeks previously got overlooked in the heat of the moment.
Overall though these and a few other minor hiccups (flying sticks in Jolly
Jockey - blame the spotlights ...) got brushed over reasonably
successfully. For both of the shows BB had only 7 regular dancers, so in the
earlier main show Bob was roped in as the 8th dancer for the sword dance, and a
fine job he made of it too. In fact the sword dance went particularly well until
just before the end, when a muscle in Jerry's leg went ping just at the blood
curdling shrieking cross over bit. So Jerry completed the cross over and kept
going, in a hobbling sort of stumble, out of the set for a nice sit down. This
left the rest of us, who hadn't
all seen him go, wonder why every now and again there was a big person sized
space in the next clashing figure. Fortunately the dance came towards the end of
the show, so a bit of hasty rearrangement of who was doing what after that
combined with a bit of winging it saw us through to the end, leaving us time to
rearrange the now Jerry-less later spot, while Jerry enjoyed a pint and some
peas. This spot marked the last performance
of Sue Graham with both the Capering Crew and the Big Caper, but she went out in
style with her usual elegant and effortless dancing, as graceful to watch as
ever.
December the 18th saw us once again at the Thai House restaurant in
Finchampstead for our customary Xmas dinner, with the usual bewildering array of
Secret Santa presents, the local pound shops clearly having been given a good
pounding beforehand judging by some of the merchandise being given. And once again this year Santa himself appeared
at just the right time to dish out the goodies, immediately after Paul had mysteriously
disappeared, coincidentally just like last year. When he came back we didn't really like
to tell him what his missus had been up to with Santa....
And then on Saturday 20th came the St. Thomas's day dance out in Wokingham town
centre - our traditional end of the season performance, usually done on the last
Saturday before Xmas for reasons lost in the mists of time. Traditionally it's bitterly cold and often damp too, but this
year we had an exceptionally mild and pleasant day, which meant we had a few more
spectators than usual. And a treat it was for them too, with no less than 3
new young debutants in kit, with Alun, brother Mark, and Will B. Each of them did
exceptionally well, not looking in the slightest out of place, except when
they annoyingly jumped higher than some of the more mature members. The day's
repertoire included several of the dances which had been learned during the
preceding few weeks, and they were all performed without mishap and with some
style, apart perhaps from the odd
minor wardrobe malfunction. So as 2008 ended, the team was able to look forward
with real anticipation to the new season, and further opportunities for these 3
plus Will M in 2009. Bring it on!!
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