Then after some of the team had been away at Whitby with Windsor Morris, at the end of August it was a return to the Shrewsbury Folk Festival for the first time in 10 years. And once again BB had the rarity of having 12 dancers, enough for 2 sets for many of the dances. The dancing started on the Saturday (27th August) at St. Mary’s (deconsecrated) church in town, followed by a spot in the main square before heading back to the festival site for a further spot on the ‘Village Stage’. On the Sunday there were more spots around the site before an afternoon procession through the grounds to the dance tent. The team decided, possibly unwisely, this should be led by Will and Alun, who for the most part led things reasonably sensibly though the owners of the double decker cocktail bus may have an opinion about the later stage. Once at the dance tent each team performed a party piece of sorts, which for us was a Knees Up. And then it was a question of keeping limbered up and sober before a ceilidh spot in the evening, shared with Seven Champions, where we had planned to do 1-6, 2 sets of Cavalier, and Fairies to finish. Minutes before we were due on for this, Jerry’s ankle went, leaving us one short for our planned Cavalier. However standing close to us while we bewailed this misfortune was Rhys, who had been performing with Sussex Junction over the weekend rather than us. Showing the speedy reactions associated with such a world class athlete, he hotfooted to his nearby tent where he just happened to have BB kit with him, did a lightning change, and with no rehearsal and little idea of where he was in the set at any time heroically performed Cavalier as the 12th person. What a star!
The next morning (August Bank Holiday Monday) we were back at the Village Stage for a final couple of dances for everyone before a mass woo to finish. Overall a great weekend, helped (as it had been all summer) by the exceptional weather.
