On Thursday 21st May we were out in Henley with Wallingford Morris, a new men’s Cotswold team formed last year with a mix of experienced dancers and some new to the world of morris, but all from Wallingford itself. They have come on leaps and bounds (pun intended) in their first year and we had an excellent evening entertaining Henley’s outdoor evening cafe culture.
Then on Sunday 31st May we were once again at Kirtlington Lamb Ale for another traditional day of procession and dance, ably organised as always by Kirtlington Morris, and for us led for the first time (and very capably) by UniBen, before another evening the following Thursday at the Stag and Hounds, Binfield, with Hurst Morris. This was particularly notable for a rainbow which appeared at one point, with its end pointing very clearly to Tom’s house a short distance away, though he assured us he kept very little gold there these days.
Then came the first of 2 successive weekends away, this first one being the Five Rivers weekend of dance, based at Bamford Recreation ground in the Peak District, and apart from us and 5R attended by Wharfedale Wayzgoose, Chinewrde and Sheffield Steel. The weekend started on Friday 12th June with an outdoor social evening on the Friday – very pleasant but unseasonably chilly as there was no indoor facility. On Saturday morning all the teams assembled for a short walk to Bamford station to catch a train to Hathersage, where we assembled at the Scotsman’s Pack for the start of the dancing, and where for the first time in a long while we were able to field 2 sets for some dances. Next we caught a train in the opposite direction to Edale, where we danced at the Rambler Inn before catching a final train back to Bamford. A fun evening ensued, including a team game of ‘TaskSquire’, where each time had to choose a ‘shepherd’ to guide their blindfolded ‘herd’ around the playing field and into a marked pen using only a whistle, with points being awarded for the number of sheep, the time taken, and the efficiency. With the herd efficiently led by Queen sheep Sel and shepherded by King shepherd Malcolm, the BB team were adjudged the event winners, and were sheepishly able to accept their prize of a lovely sticker.
Next morning, everyone assembled at the Anglers Rest in Bamford for a final dancing session which included some scratch rapper sets which Tom and Jen were able to join in very creditably. Overall a great weekend and splendidly organised by 5 Rivers, with our only criticism being that throughout the weekend it was unseasonably ‘cold oop North’.
By contrast, the following weekend ‘darn South’ was extremely hot and sunny for our used-to-be-annual-but-not-actually-done-since-2019 ‘Dorset Tour’. This time Jerry had once again organised the tour nowhere near Dorset – but no matter as his itinerary proved an excellent one. The base was the campsite/pub at the Bat and Ball, Wisborough Green, in West Sussex – an excellent campsite with the convenience of a pub attched to it. Several of the team attended a meal there on the Friday evening berfore heading off to Horsham on the Saturday, which proved to be a very good location with several suitable-for-dancing pedestrianised spaces around the town. For the second weekend in a row we were able to field 2 sets for some dances, so had a great day dancing around the town before heading back to the campsite for the traditional evening barbeque, made easier for us this year by just using Jerry’s own large semi-portable barbeque. After this, we had a short spell of dancing outside the pub, which included Jameson leading a joining-in Shepherds Hey, for which we were joined by a large group of year 6 schoolgirls, also staying on the campsite, who had wandered over to see what all the noise was about. After 3 minutes it has to be said some of them were doing it better than certain members of BB… We then made our way to the nearby Cricketers Arms, also in Wisborough Green, for an evening of dancing followed by a music session for the massed ranks of BB musicians, first outside and then later on inside.
Next day the tour moved into Surrey, and the Rural Life Museum, near Tilford, a large site full of heritage buildings and with an inspiring collection of rural machinery, artefacts and objects. On a blazing hot day we did wonder whether anyone would stop to watch us, but the museum had kindly laid out some chairs and we found ourselves performing to a decent audience. After 2 separate sets of performances we were offered a ride on the museum’s own Old Kiln Light Railway – a great way to round off a fabulous weekend!
