May 3rd saw the side assemble in Chilham for the start of the Oyster (Mayday) weekend, with Oyster men and ladies, Windsor, Hageneth and Haughley Hoofers, (plus other local teams on the Monday). After dancing in the rather splendid square at Chilham, we were coached to Broome Park, where the dancing and eating took place in a marquee, a key feature of which was a dance floor made up of a 10 x 10 black and white chequerboard, which it was extremely tempting to build into various dances. It was announced that lunch would be at 1.30, and the first side to finish their dance after that would be first in the queue for lunch. Despite our best efforts, our dance finished at 1.26 meaning we couldn’t technically join the queue until everyone had been round again, though we were actually saved when Hageneth asked us to provide some coconut sound accompaniment to their next dance, which to us counted as a performance and enabled us to get in the queue without any conscience. Well not much, anyway.
After lunch, with quite a long time to kill until the coach returned, a fairly intricate game of 15 a side human draughts broke out on the dance floor. Its a wild life in the Morris … The final dance spot of the day was the Rose and Crown at Elham, followed by a complicated tour of the Kent countryside to get back to our start point at Chilham. After that it was back to hosts houses before meeting up again later on in Canterbury.
Sunday was performances in Canterbury, followed in the evening by the splendid James Bond themed party, where Oyster had planned a series of events around James Bond, and everyone dressed accordingly. As many tuxedos and as much glitter as you’d get at the Oscars, that’s for sure, even though some of the gentleman were more Patrick than Roger Moore.
Monday saw us in Whitstable for dancing and a complicated procession to the Castle, with dance spots en route at the Harbour, having picked up the Jack in the Green, Maid Marian and Robin Hood on the way, as you do. Along the way there was also a harbour wall to nearly dance along, and a slipway to the sea to nearly slip down. At the Castle we performed Coconuts to an appreciative audience and then headed for home after a long but very worthwhile weekend. A big thank you to Oyster for arranging everything so well, and for accommodating us so accommodatingly too!
Next up was an appearance at the Winchester Folk Festival on Sat 16 May. This was an excellent, laid back day, with good spots to dance in town, and a suitably short procession after lunch. After it, though, the heavens opened somewhat, forcing us to seek refuge in the Old Vine Inn for the afternoon which just happened to be showing the F.A. Cup Final on TV, which was OK for the football followers amongst us but just not quite so good for the football haters. Still, at least it didn’t go to extra time. After it finished the weather had perked up and we were able to do a nice relaxed set outside, which was one of the day’s highlights.
After an excellent pizza at the Gourmet Pizza in The Square (bit like Pizza Express except all the pizzas were £3 more) (but they were good) we adjourned to the evening ceilidh at the Guildhall featuring the Woodpecker Band. Oh, and an interval spot from BB, performing our wellyboot dance under the guise of Berkshire Bumfolosi. The dance actually went OK, but the audience reaction was somewhat muted as many people didn’t know how to take us (“were they serious?”). Of course we were serious. Aren’t we always?