Saturday 13th May saw us at the Winchester Folk Festival, a fine event with many good sides present. After some performances around the town, we took part in the procession (mainly consisting of posing for photos) and then finished near the cathedral where we danced around ex-member Mike Lyth, on a short visit from the north of England and Thailand . Later on, we somehow got a place in the show performance sets (in which we were not originally scheduled), thanks to the organisers of the spot being friendly Great Westerners. This though gave them the liberty to introduce us as ‘Berkshire Bedlam – one of the second best Morris teams in the country’ which we rather took umbrage to as we’re quite happy just being in the top 99%. The day finished well too for our young percussionist Bob who managed to find a pub in which to watch Liverpool clawing a dodgy victory on penalties from the jaws of defeat (playing a nice drum roll as Stevie G raised the trophy ….).
2 weeks later we were off to Exeter for the legendary Great Western Whit weekend tour. Overall this was a fabulous event, with a packed programme of interesting places to visit, evening entertainments, and some fine dancing throughout from GW and the other sides (Windsor, Black Adder and Glory of the West) plus some great hospitality from our GW hosts. Events started on the Saturday with dancing in Exeter city centre and later at The Quay, where one of GW’s dances involved crossing the river Exe by bridge and returning by ferry while still performing the same dance (though some of them looked a little jaded on their return). Saturday evening featured the GW Whit Tour ceilidh, while the Sunday involved a coach tour visiting several of the delights of South Devon (including a slightly chilly beach and very chilly sea at Blackpool Sands ) with a lunch break at the Seven Stars at Totnes – nice lunch but no pud provided, so Jerry, Lee and Jameson took matters into their own hands by ordering their own, causing a near riot as most of Great Western attempted to grab a spoonful.
In the evening there was a communal South Sea Islands themed party in Ashburton with various home made entertainment. Earlier in the day Black Adder’s Sarah had mightily impressed by being able to jump into her shoes from a standing position, so one of the evening’s entertainment spots was a member of each team trying to do the same – Lee battled bravely for us and came close to succeeding (but its much harder than it might sound). After him, Dave Brassington from GW, after much over elaboration, managed to do it quite spectacularly and apparently spontaneously, but we later found he had spent the entire afternoon practising …. Some of the spots took their cue from ‘South Pacific’, with Windsor washing their men right our of their hair in a variety of interesting bath robes and towels, before we recycled the cockney dance dressed as sailor boys to the tune of a Life on the Ocean Wave. We more or less looked the part thanks to Bob (honorary cabin boy for the spot) doctoring some plain white T-shirts to look like sailor outfits, coupled with Jerry’s web sourcing of suitable hats and other vaguely Caribbean gear. The dance also had some extra features such as the staggering hay on the side (including Jerry being spectacularly seasick in Mike Boston’s lap), before finishing by Bob climbing the horizontal rigging (made by the rest of BB lying down flat), giving everyone a good kicking along the way while ‘climbing’. You had to be there, really …. After our turn, Black Adder performed a dance in a communal pink outfit that was part elephant, part octopus, but was very entertaining anyway, and then GW, also as sailor boys though with an American slant, hammed their way through a spirited rendition of Nothing Like a Dame (and indeed Quinton was absolutely nothing like a dame though the lipstick was good).
The Monday saw us at Topsham for more dancing for all the sides, including birthday boy Simon being hoisted aloft by GW, and some of GW being physically danced on top of (using a dance board) by most of Black Adder (not quite hard enough though – really stamp those clogs next time ladies). The day finished in a minor gale outside The Lighter on Topsham Quay, after which it was time to head back temporarily to real life in Berkshire – though just a few days later we were heading west again to join Holt Morris at the Holt (village) music festival. After a particularly uninspiring period of weather (and very wet May) it was good to have the first truly hot day of the year for this, which turned out to be a very pleasant event, with morris being performed before the event and during the afternoon on an outdoor boarded area in between the various musical acts taking place in the main marquee. As usual it was good to see our friends from Holt, who are always excellent company and fine dancers, and there were also a number of other attraction on the large playing fields, with some of BB being particularly attracted later on by a hay cart ride (because it was free, chaps and chapesses?).
The next weekend (Sunday 1 June) we were once again at the Kirtlington Lamb Ale. We were somewhat depleted at the start of the day when our planned side of 6 was reduced to 5 when Lee (or ‘Lobster Boy’ as he is now known) found he was suffering badly from sunburn from the day before, particularly on his legs, and decided he couldn’t make it. Nevertheless the 5 who did go carried on as best they could, including doing a somewhat depleted procession (though you will be reassured to know that we posed wherever we could) and performing ‘Knees Up’ later in the day (now firmly established as John’s all time favourite dance) as the show spot to a somewhat bemused audience. To his credit, Lee did appear later in the day, mainly so he could pick up Jameson to accompany him to Manchester where Jameson was being filmed the next day in University Challenge as a member of the Reading University team, where his knowledge of the Green Cross Code apparently came in very useful (watch his episode in autumn 2006 to find out more….).
On Thursday 15th we were at The Bell at Aldworth again with Old Speckled Hen and Rockhopper for a fine evening’s dancing and the customary sandwiches from the pub, and then the following Thursday (22nd) it was our annual trip to the Red Lion at Avebury around Summer Solstice time for an evening of dancing and later singing with our friends from Holt Morris again – as usual a good time was had by all, especially as most of the solstice nutters had cleared off by then. Some particularly fine singing this year, with Andy doing us especially proud.
Finally in June, on the weekend of 24th/25th, a select contingent set off for the Four Fools Folk Festival, at Chorley, near Preston . The Saturday’s dancing consisted of quite a lot of precinct and not much pub, but the Sunday on the main site was better – although Paul had to leave early, the side was joined for the day by Mike Lyth who was very welcome and showed he could still trot out all the old standards – though posing opportunities were a little limited.
Thursday 13th July saw us at The Cricketers, Hartley Wintney, along with Mayflower and Fleet, for a very pleasant evening of dancing in what is always a great setting. Jane joined us briefly, but sadly not with fiddle, on account of having done a Wayne Rooney and fractured a metatarsal (though I don’t believe Wayne also had a pregnancy to carry around as well while recuperating). This was followed by the Windsor Day of Dance on Saturday 15th, in the middle of a particularly hot spell, involving some good venues around Windsor before some of the side finished off the day with a trip on the Windsor Wheel, a temporary ‘London eye’ type structure in Alexandra Gardens alongside the Thames. Strangely though Jameson, who gets vertigo going up stairs, didn’t join us for it …..
Then on 22nd / 23rd we were at Warwick for what has become a biennial appearance at the Warwick Folk Festival. This is always one of the highlights of the season for us, with a good mix of teams taking part and good dance spots around the town on both days. After starting on the stage at the campsite on Saturday morning, we went into town where we took part in the BBC local radio’s ‘Big Dance’, an attempt to break the world record for the number of people simultaneously doing the same dance up and down the country. For 15 minutes we followed the choreography being demonstrated on a show stage, along with about 500 other people, many of whom were other morris dancers or festival goers. I think it would be fair to say we put our own interpretation on the dances, but nevertheless had a good time and later found out the attempt had been successful – so we are all joint world record holders now, and a photo of Simon and Yvonne grooving away made the BBC Radio Coventry website. In the afternoon we had a good spot outside The Roebuck, but then the heavens opened, and we had to spend the next 2 hours in the pub waiting for a break (though Jameson briefly cheered himself up by finding a nearby garage to get some much needed brake fluid, as you do in the middle of a Folk Festival). Anyway, there’s only so much Morris Charades anyone can stand so eventually even though the rain hadn’t quite stopped, we made our way to St. Nicholas Park where the rained off procession would have finished, and performed to a bedraggled and bemused group of Japanese tourists who had merely being trying to shelter from the rain, though I think they enjoyed us, especially one of them who joined in enthusiastically throughout. After our customary Warwick pizza, it was off to the ceilidh with Jabadaw, where after Flag and Bone did the early evening spot we did the later spot, performing the same set we had done earlier in the year at IVDF i.e. Wheel of Fortune, Swords, and Fairies, all in swords kit, which always gives fantastic opportunities for posing, eagerly seized by several members of the side. As far as we could tell it went down well again and we had some good feedback – though we noted Sally Wearing couldn’t stop laughing throughout – you’re supposed to swoon with admiration, Sally, not laugh your head off …..
The Sunday featured more dancing in town, finishing at The Zetland, a fine venue on the Sunday when the street outside is closed to traffic and the crowd brings the best out of most of the sides, though we possibly established a record for the most sticks ever dropped during Jolly Jockey Sticks, and another one for the most coconuts broken during our Coconuts dance, much to the chagrin of Simon and Yvonne who knew they had the doubtful pleasure of replenishing the coconuts stocks (yet again) before the next outing.
A particular mention here too as the season draws on of the fine contribution of our melodeon player Sue, and drummer boy Bob, who support the side tirelessly throughout the season, and consistently produce excellent and uplifting music for the dancers to perform to, despite frequently only getting a nano-seconds notice of the tune they are required to play for the set that has just formed and is waiting expectantly. We would be totally lost without them (and are only occasionally lost with them)! Nice too to have Jane join us for the Warwick ceilidh spot despite her broken foot and dodgy shoulder – I’m sure the 10 minute spot has fully justified the extra months of pain which will have been caused by taking part …..