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 …..