After the whirlwind of the not-the-Dorset-Tour weekend, it was back to some more conventional evening dance outs, starting on 25th June in the Lancaster’s home turf, at The Squirrel in Amersham – a very pleasant evening along with Rockhopper Morris, and another test of Roy’s knees while doing the odd Rockhopper dance. Then the following Tuesday found us at the George on the Green, Holyport, with Taeppas Tump – another good evening, and always a great pub to dance at as long as the potholes are avoided. Next just a few days later, on Saturday 4th July, we joined Alton Morris and many other local sides in Alton to celebrate their 35th anniversary – a fine though extremely hot day. It started with each team in turn performing one dance in the public gardens, followed for us by spots in the Market Square and the Assembly Rooms before finishing with some massed dancing in the Market Square.
Then the following weekend came our first true Festival of the year, Priddy Folk Festival where we had previously performed some 10 years earlier. The continuation of 2026’s long hot dry spell meant a somewhat sweaty weekend but we had a thoroughly enjoyable time, performing mainly on the slightly raised Market Square stage, but also with a showcase performance on the Saturday afternoon in the Eastwater Marquee. It was another weekend when we managed to get through 35 different dances without repeating, almost all of our repertoire, and overall we seemed to go down well, especially our Eastwater set. A feature of the weekend when not performing though was wearing the free straw hats being given away by Brothers cider – well, anything free… Another feature was the number of wardrobe malfunctions over the weekend, with breeches falling apart at the smallest provocation. BenP was the first to suffer some unexpected airiness, but the most spectacular rip was when Paul attempted to make a dramatic entrance onto the raised stage by leaping on it, only to find that he was making more of a show than he had intended. But still a great event.
Then the following Thursday we were out with Old Speckled Hen at The Bell, Aldworth, for another fine evening of dancing, good company – and excellent sandwiches…
