The following weekend we were down near Exeter for one of the highlights of the 2010 Morris calendar, Great Western’s 40th birthday weekend. This was based at the site of the Village Hall at Christow, which provided ample room for camping and a spacious hall for various of the weekend’s events – just as well it was spacious with close to 40 fine teams assembled, including some who had reformed just for the event like Paddington Pandemonics, Downes-on-Tour and several other illustrious blasts from the past. Friday evening consisted of a getting-to-know-you-again reunion and scratch band ceilidh, and was followed on Saturday by 4 separate bus tours using 7 buses to various charming parts of Devon. BB’s tour, which included 7 Champions, Muddy River, Iron Men and 7 Gilders, and one of the many GW sides on tour that day, went to Newton Abbot, the Rising Sun, and River Dart Country Park – all good dance venues, especially in the great weather the weekend was blessed with. After the tours finished it was back to Christow for tea and cake, and then a chance to dress up in whatever was appropriate to the secret letter each team had been given. BB had been given the somewhat challenging but ultimately suitably macho letter X, and chose to include a reference to Xmas in our evening attire which for the BB boys was Men in Black outfits (yes, again). Respect to Paul though for going that little bit further and producing the full Santa Claus outfit, though this confused one small child who was marched up to him to relay his Xmas wishes. That ultimately confused Paul more than the child, but fortunately Paul was able to defer to Elf Sue standing nearby to sort out the actual detail of the child’s Xmas list. After wrapping ourselves round the hog roast, the evening was then taken up with a series of spots from most of the teams – some musical, some dramatic, some funny, some slightly weird. We came on towards the end to do Men in Black in a tiny space, which nevertheless went down a storm after an initial false start when not enough space had been cleared. The evening was topped at the end though by a truly fantastic spoof film which GW had put together, featuring the antics of the 4th Emergency Service (“Police, Ambulance, Fire or Morris?”) assembling a team of dancers to perform at short notice at a village fete. Several members of GW had been asked to contribute short clips of themselves supposedly answering an emergency morris call from various locations, but with no real idea of what the whole thing would look like and on the evening, only Pete Merrett, who had spent much of the previous weeks putting it together, knew what was to be shown. The result was an outstanding film which must pass swiftly into Morris folklore!
The next day, all sides danced at various locations around Exeter before assembling at the Exeter Quays where an excellent pizza lunch was provided, and then a massed stand at the Piazza Terracina nearby. A truly memorable weekend, excellently organised as ever, and great fun to be a part of. And a special mention too for our boys, especially Alun, squires-for-the-weekend, who made an excellent job of organising the team and choosing dances. A lifetime’s morris secretarial duties may be in store (please) …….
