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Reports from the
year 2015
The 2015 year
started for us in fine style on 7 March with a ceilidh spot at the Haddenham
ceilidh with the Jam and Crumpet Band, where a set of Wheel of Fortune,
Cavalier, Mazurka and Fairies went down very well with an appreciative audience.
A great start to another season, and it was refreshing to see a good number of
dancers present, especially bearing in mind several doubts about injuries in the
side going into 2015. But there's nothing like the smell of the crowd
(especially a sweaty ceilidh crowd) to get everyone going.
 The
outdoor season started, as it has done for some years now, with a trip to Oxford
on Saturday 18 April to dance at the Oxford Folk Weekend. It turned out to be a
gloriously sunny day, and we enjoyed some excellent dance spots with other good
sides in Radcliffe Square, outside The Bear, in Cornmarket, and in Bonn Square.
David was tour leader for the day and so in charge of choosing dances which he
did very capably, despite every dance choice being apparently strongly disapproved
of by the rest of the side. The day was not without other incident too, with an
alarming number of sticks dropped first in Jolly Jockey and later in Shooting -
we would have blamed the bright sun except we were in shade both times. And then
when putting sticks back in the stick bag, one sprang back and caused an instant
bleeding lip for Jameson, who spent the rest of the day nursing it. Just an
unfortunate accident though, just one of those things, no-one's fault at all, eh
Andy? The day finished for us in Bonn Square with a very precise and well received
Fairies, followed by Knees Up, which atoned somewhat for the preceding not-great
Shooting. But overall a fabulous day!
 Just
a few days later on 23rd April we arranged a last minute St. George's Day evening dance out on
our own at the Dukes Head in Wokingham, a substitute for the normal Thursday
evening practice. A combination of fading light, small audience and uneven
surface meant it would not go down as a season highlight, but it gave an
opportunity for a useful run through of some of the more obscure parts of the
repertoire. Then on Saturday 2nd May we packed our buckets and spades and headed
off to the seaside in Hastings, for the Saturday of the Jack in the Green
weekend - the first time we had been there for the Mayday weekend since 2001.
During a cloudy but dry day, we had good day's dancing with Cavalier going down
particularly well in the opening massed dance spot at Winkle Island, near the
seafront. After the first spot, the rest of the day was unscripted, but we had a
good time dancing on the front and around some of the pubs in town before
returning to Winkle Island for what we were misinformed was a closing massed
stand. But never mind. Many of the side took the opportunity during the day to
partake of seaside fish and chips, and Alun found a good use for his hat as a
fish and chips bowl...
 2
weeks later on May 16th we were back at the seaside for the Brighton Morris Day
of Dance, an invitation only day which we had attended several times in previous
years, and which always features high quality dancing from the guest teams and
of course the hosts. After doing a well received 3 by 3 in the first massed
dance spot, we had excellent spots at the Brighton Tavern, the Pump House in the
heart of the Lanes area, and at the Waggon on Horses, before finishing in bright
sunshine with a
massed stand at the Fishing Museum on the seafront where Fairies went down as
well as usual. At the Brighton Tavern, tour leader John had determined we would
do Coconuts. Jerry was responsible for bringing the coconuts, which he had
placed in his car beforehand to ensure he wouldn't forget them - only at the
last minute to accept a lift from someone else, leaving the nuts well behind him
in Fleet for the day. Undaunted, John carried on with the dance anyway, which it
has to be said lost a certain something - coconuts mainly. But overall the BB
dancing standard was good throughout, despite (because of?!) a not very good
Thursday practice just a couple of days before. Hmmm - is there a link there?....
Just one week later it was the Chippenham Folk Festival, where we were in
attendance for all 3 days for the first time since 2009. 11 BB dancers attended
on and off over the 3 days, though scheduling the dancers was a logistical
challenge for tour leader Jameson with some only there for 1 day, a couple
involved with other teams, and one taking to his sick bed for most of the last
day (and never was there a more apt description). However it turned out to be
highly enjoyable, with a mix of workshops, street performances, processions, and
bigger stage and ceilidh spots. The weekend started on the Saturday with a
workshop in St. Andrews Church Hall, where As The Tide and Arse About Face were
taught, followed by a procession through town with the usual posing en route.
Then came a dance spot with Old Palace Clog in Borough Parade, followed by
another spot outside the Rose and Crown with Harberton Navy. Saturday evening on
the campsite included a gin party, the effects of which were still being felt by
a few on the Sunday, particularly one or two of our Windsor friends. Sunday
started with a spot at the top end of the High Street with Sergeant Musgraves
and Malmesbury before heading off to the Arena Stage. On our last visit in 2009
this had been a covered stage with uncovered audience seating, but in recent
years this has changed to a fully covered Big Top with a large stage and lots of
room for the audience. We had 2 stage performances, before and after lunch, both
of which went very well, and were able to incorporate references to the large
festival banner across the back of the stage which had close up photos of a
particular BB member taken on the previous 2009 visit. Though surely his nose
was never that big.
In the evening we had a spot in the Sports Hall, during the excellent Melrose
Ceilidh Band ceilidh. Despite a few mistakes in some of the dances, the whole
spot was remarkably well received, unlike the sticks in Shooting. There were a
couple of broken sticks too, most notably during Cavalier, when Alun, not in the
dance, came on to hand over a new stick to the front of the set at exactly the
right moment, doing the 'Jameson Walk' as he went, much to the audience's amusement.
The next morning, Bank Holiday Monday, started with another workshop, this time
teaching Binfield Jump to the attendees and some of BB. Our numbers were
slightly depleted due to the effects of another hard night, which for some had
barely finished before our morning workshop, and for one in particular would
last well into the afternoon, mentioning no names eh Alun? After the workshop
came a spot outside the Angel Hotel, shared with Chinewrde and Chippenham
Morris Men. There was some good interaction with Chinewrde, most notably when
some BBs sat down in front of the Chinewrde musicians during one of their dances
to get a better view of the high kicking - which was promptly repaid during BB's
Princess Royal (see
YouTube video here!). There then followed another procession, this time for various
reasons with only 4 BB dancers, and then a final well received Arena Stage spot
concluding with Fairies. Overall an excellent weekend, and many thanks to tour
leader Jameson for co-ordinating.
  The next outdoor event was on Thurs 4th June, with an evening at the Stag and
Hounds in Binfield along with Customs and Exiles. An enjoyable evening but not a
huge BB turnout and not our finest dancing, though the opportunity to dance
Binfield Jump in its home town was not one to be passed
up. Then on Tues 16 June we met up with Fleet Morris for a pleasant evening
at the Queens Oak in Finchampstead, one of our regular old haunts, and very near
the Devil's Highway which provided another dance opportunity. But the big event
for us in June came at the end of the month when one of the guest teams at
Windsor Morris's 40th birthday weekend. This turned out to be a highly enjoyable
weekend, once again based at Trevelyan school in Windsor, where Emma is a
teacher. The weekend started with socialising on the Friday evening, followed by
a day of dancing in Windsor on the Saturday, along with other guest teams Great
Western, Bristol, and Seven Champions. After good dance spots around the town
during the day, it was back to the school for afternoon tea and then, in honour
of Windsor's 40th, a 70s themed evening. Cue an opportunity for some over the
top 70s outfits, and a mix of real and fake dodgy moustaches.
After a cava reception and supper, there was a mix of entertainments from all
the teams. Seven Champions kicked off with a 'Spot the Molly Dancer' line-up
with molly catcher extraordinaire Chris Rose sniffing out the real one while
dressed as a cross between a witchfinder and a pilgrim father. Great Western's
spot consisted of mimes of 1975 references, and Windsor's spot was mimes of 1975
song titles. Our own offering was a reprise of one of our spots of yesteryear,
our own version of YMCA, retitled 'In The Bedlams', as first performed at the
Bunfight in 1995. So once again out came variations on the Village People
outfits, with a couple of cowboys (Paul and Bob), a couple of construction
workers (Will and Malcolm), a very authentic US cop (Roy), a couple of saucy
sailors (Jerry and Jameson), Mark as the over moustachioed leather boy, Rob
gamely reprising his significantly under dressed Red Indian, and out front,
complete in the gayest BB kit you're likely to see anywhere, and striding the
floor in the way only he can, David, doing a great job on the lead vocals.
Another roaring success, and as the audience included several Bunfight regulars
who have been trained over the years to demand an encore, an encore was demanded
- though a single verse and chorus only second time round. More games followed
all the spots, and overall a great evening.
For the Sunday, Windsor had arranged to dance with the guest teams at Cliveden,
a National Trust owned country house (partly now a hotel) by the River Thames
near Maidenhead. After a drizzly start, the weather improved and the second
dance spot, alongside the Orangery Cafe, was a great success with lots of interaction
between the teams, including Great Western and Windsor doing a leapfrog dance
together, Will and Mark joining some of the Great Western dances, and some of
Great Western joining us for Coconuts and Knees Up. Not sure they quite got the
hang of the hands-on-knees figure though... All in all a great weekend, and huge
thanks to Windsor for immaculate organisation
throughout.
 In
July we had a series of Thursday evening dance outs at various local hostelries,
including a particularly successful. evening at the Beehive at White Waltham, and
a visit to Mortimer to dance at the Turner's Arms before visiting Lee's fabulous
new house nearby. Then it was August, and there were (just) enough BB dancers to
appear once more on the prom on the Sunday morning of Sidmouth Folk Week. Then
the week after Sidmouth, we had an interesting evening dance out in Reading with
a visiting team from Australia, Adelaide Morris, plus our good friends Windsor
Morris. The evening finished in pedestrianised Broad Street with one of our more
bizarre Magic Arches, with the last entry through the 'arch' being a large
cherry picker which had been waiting to pass through the morris dancers to do
some maintenance work further up the road. The driver looked first bemused and
then rather pleased as he was applauded through the arch though the dancers had
to stand a long way back to let him through.
Then just a few days later we attended the Baldon Feast at Marsh Baldon, a very
pleasant country fair type event in a quiet but pretty village just south of
Oxford. Despite a small team and a few injuries, we were very well received.
However the mc for the day, when introducing us, was very surprised to find out
that there were morris dancers outside Oxfordshire, where he had assumed they
all came from. We reassured him they could also be found in other parts of the
UK, but refrained from blowing his mind by telling him they could be found
worldwide...
Sat 5 Sep saw us once again at the Wallingford Bunkfest, with its customary
good weather, and the day finished,
as usual at Bunkfest, with a Chunkfest in the garden of Sue's new house in
Crowmarsh Gifford, just across the Thames from Wallingford. Though this time tea and chunks were
enlivened by the cattle in the field at the bottom of her garden wandering
across to inspect the tennis ball which kept being whacked into their field. And
then at the end of the month we had a day of bright sunshine
in the beautiful surroundings of Bath for the Morris Federation Day of Dance.
Another excellent day, with 4 dance spots around town during the day. For
various reasons we did Cavalier 3 times during the day (the first time was the
best!), and we also finished the
day rather unusually with Going Away, for which remarkably the song didn't
actually sound too bad for once. Must do it every time!? This was followed on Friday 9th October
by one of our more
unusual events - an evening at the Rising Sun Arts Centre in Reading, as part of
what was billed as the Big Untidy Night Folk Tales Special. A very interesting
evening, with our dances sharing a bill with other folk acts and a storyteller,
and we seemed to go down well with the smallish audience.
 
And then to November, with practices being taken over by development and rehearsal of this year's chosen Bunfight spot - an interpretation of the opening
of the Austin Powers films, with a range of 60s dances being done behind a
colourfully suited Austin Powers (Mike Myers) to the tune 'Soul Bossa Nova', an
instantly recognisable instrumental tune. The first dilemma was who would play
the part of Austin Powers? - and as one, we turned to look at Mark. The theme
for the actual Bunfight was 'Bunfight on the High Seas', so we had a wide
variety of nautically themed outfits, including inevitably lots of pirates.
Fools Gambit however excelled themselves by coming as the entire cast of Peter
Pan, with some ingenious outfits, not least Will as Peter's (Mark's) shadow. The
band this year, as last year, was the excellent Steamchicken, with Nick Walden
calling once again as only he can (marvellously). In the first interval, we
performed our sword dance dressed as pirates - a second appearance at the
Bunfight for the dance, the first being in 2003 when it was the main spot. Then
after the Irish bingo (ably called by Jerry) and more dancing it was the Austin
Powers dance. And amazingly, and not at all because Nick told them to, the
audience clamoured for it to be done again. Which we (not very reluctantly) did.
Overall another great night, leaving us as usual wondering how we can top it
next year. No idea, but we'll have fun
trying...
The day after the Bunfight, as usual, was the Wokingham Winter Carnival. 6
morris teams this year, so as well as us there was Borderline, Customs and
Exiles, Fleur de Lys from Godalming, Fools Gambit, and OBJ. The day started in
mild but very blustery conditions, which meant that some of the gazebos for the
stalls couldn't be erected, or the canopy over the outside orchestra space.
However apart from some showers soon after the start, the rain held off and all
of the teams enjoyed a good day's dancing, culminating in the procession through
town for which there were the customary large crowds.
Reports
from earlier years are also available - 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
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BB 2015 Summary
