And finally, the following Saturday, what was to turn out to be the last dance event of the year – the Big Caper show along with the Outside Capering Crew at the Haddenham Festival. Overall this was probably one of the best Big Caper shows the teams have ever done, really showing the benefit of the afternoon rehearsal immediately beforehand, as for the most part the show was fresh in everyone’s memory. This meant in particular that the joint dances, the interplay between the two sides, and all the changeovers between dances, worked pretty well as planned throughout. Of course, there were some unscripted challenges along the way, not least during the sword dance when Jameson’s calf muscle seized up, just as Jerry’s had done at the same point in the same event a couple of years earlier. Though he got through the dance, he was unable to take part in the subsequent ones, causing some hasty replanning. But great credit to Alun and Will B for covering during the jig sequence in the jig medley, and Tim for stepping into Goblins – both without any rehearsing. Jameson did eventually limp out for the finale, which also went extremely well again, with all leapfrogs perfectly synchronised and executed. Of course though this wasn’t the end of the challenge for the evening as we were left one short for the Men in Black spot during the Oyster Band ceilidh – until Bob stepped faultlessly into Jameson’s place despite never having danced it for real before. A fabulous performance from him/her and all the side – and one which left Hugh Rippon, caller for the evening, rather lost for words.
Thursday 17 Dec was the annual Xmas meal, once again at the Thai House in Finchampstead, on a suitably cold Christmass-y evening with swirls of light snow in the air. And once again for some reason Paul missed Santa distributing his Secret Santa presents. The usual depths had been plumbed for this year’s offerings, with one of the stand outs being the yodelling flamingo Paul received. And good to see almost all the team there despite the weather. Following this the very last event of the season should have been our traditional St. Thomas Day lunchtime dance out on in Wokingham Market Place on the last Saturday before Xmas, Saturday 18th. But early morning brought heavy snow all around the area, and by mid morning it was clear play would have to be abandoned for the day. Would this mean the end of an unbroken run of over 30 years of Berkshire Bedlam in Wokingham on St. Thomas Day? Mindful of this proud record, Jameson and Emma trudged through the snow up to the town centre in order to claim another year of presence, and so the unbroken run continues (despite no actual dancing this year). Though they also took the opportunity to have a pint or so in the Red Lion while watching the snow – which spookily stopped at exactly 12 noon, our normal time to start dancing – obviously fate wants the side to carry on again in 2011 …..
