In this issue Interview with Dick Stanger Morris Olympians John Gasson Jig Competition Jubilee Year Celebrations Channel Hopping Paul White’s Diary Morris for Children In Need Our Cotswold Heritage Plumpton Traditional Dance Festival © THE MORRIS FEDERATION 2012 Morris Federation Committee President Notation Of cer Barry Goodman Jerry West 23 Avondale Road, Fleet, Hants, GU51 3BH tel: 01252 628190 or 07754 435170 [email protected] email: [email protected] Secretary Newsletter Editor Fee Lock Colin Andrews 28 Fairstone Close Bonny Green, HASTINGS Morchard Bishop, TN35 5EZ Crediton, 01424-436052 EX17 6PG [email protected] 01363 877216 [email protected] Treasurer Jenny Everett Co-opted members: Corner Cottage 2 Lower Street Web Site Editor Sproughton Kevin Taylor IPSWICH [email protected] IP8 3AA www.morrisfed.org.uk 01473 742334 [email protected] John Bacon – Licensing Bill Archive Of cer [email protected] Mike Everett Corner Cottage Adrian Williams – Dommett Collection and 2 Lower Street Wantage [email protected] Sproughton IPSWICH To contact all email-able Federation members: IP8 3AA [email protected] 01473 742334 To notify us of a change of contact details: [email protected] [email protected] NEWSLETTER 15th November 2012 15th February 2013 COPY DATES 15th May 2013 15th August 2013 Contributions for the Summer edition to the Newsletter Editor by Thursday 15th November 2012 [email protected] www.morrisfed.org.uk CONTENTS EDITORIAL Autumn 2012 By the time you read this Newsletter, the Olympic Games will be well and truly over, and life will have returned to normal. Though many of us may feel there was a missed opportunity to present Morris in the rural setting of the opening ceremony, it did feature, Committee Contacts 2 much to our surprise, in the closing ceremony. Many sides Federation Shop 4 will also have performed at the Olympic venues or during the President’s Prologue 5 passage of the torch around the British Isles. Overall, then, our Morris for Children In Need 6 traditional dance should now have a higher pro le on the world Interview with Dick Stanger 7 stage and a positive image in the eyes of the British media. Coming Events 10 Morris Olympians 11 I hope we can build on this Olympic exposure by encouraging Jubilee Year Celebrations 16 more young people to get involved with Morris. Many of us, Review: Sword Dances of N. England 18 including John Bacon, whose report appears on page 24, are Channel Hopping 19 already working with schools and youth groups. Paul White’s Diary 22 John Gasson Jig Competition 9 It is also very encouraging to see dynamic sides like Great Plumpton Traditional Dance Festival 24 Western with several 2nd & 3rd generation young dancers. Our Cotswold Heritage 25 The ‘dance off’ between GW and Hammersmith on the Sunday Snippets 26 evening at Sidmouth was amazing - something I’d not seen before. I’ve been at Sidmouth for most of the past forty odd years, but I enjoyed this year as much as any. I tried Molly for the rst time and I’m tempted to in ict my experience on my own side when our winter practice season starts. Colin NEWSLETTER ADVERTISING The Newsletter is the quarterly publication of The Morris Federation does not necessarily endorse any product the Morris Federation. The aim is to provide a or service advertised in or with the Newsletter. 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All copy & payment to the Newsletter Editor. Front cover photograph: Knockhundred Shuttle dancing at the Olympic Park Printed by: Hedgerow Print Ltd, Crediton, Devon. 3 4 President’s Prologue Newsletter. This is the rst time that all Morris sides in the country have been asked to contribute to one single charity – even if your side already This has been a terri c summer for Morris dancing collects for a good cause, I would urge you to generally, despite the unseasonal weather! put a proportion of your annual bag towards this The progress of the Olympic ame around the appeal, or to send the collection from one dance country offered opportunities for Morris sides out as your side’s contribution. You will not only to get involved along the route, including two be supporting a very worthy charity whose work dancing torch-bearers (Gemma David and Keith can be seen making a difference to children’s Leech), giving the public a taste of what we’re lives in the UK and worldwide, but you will also all about, providing great photo opportunities be helping to raise the pro le of the Morris in a for local papers and TV, and ensuring that there very public way if we can raise enough to make would be a presence on the Olympic stage for an impact on the Children In Need TV show in Morris. Additionally, and at the last moment, an November. opportunity arose for sides to dance in the Olympic Park – despite the short notice and organisational As I write this Prologue, I’ve just returned from issues regarding transport and security that Sidmouth Folk Week, where Redbornstoke this entailed, a number of sides were able to were dancing as a booked side for the week. perform in the Park (probably the nearest to Seb We danced with all the other sides on the Coe’s “5,000 Morris dancers” we were likely to programme, and I was very impressed (but achieve!). And then – the biggest surprise of all not surprised) at the high level of performance – Morris sides dancing at the Closing Ceremony standards of all the teams. Coming on to the (Blackheath and Rag Morris) and a big picture dancing space and coming off at the end of the of Debbie Chalmers from Belles of London City dance had been thought out and organised; right behind Roger Daltrey of The Who! positioning of the musician (often behind or to the side of the dancers to prevent audience Not quite 5,000, but certainly more than 50 sightlines being impeded) had been arranged; Morris sides converged on Stratford-upon-Avon announcing the name of the team, the name for this year’s JMO Day of Dance organised by of the dance and something about it (witty Open Morris and supported by Stratford Town or otherwise) established a rapport with the Council and the Royal Shakespeare Company. audience and kept them informed. Bags, sticks, The venues for the dance-spots were varied, and musical instruments and other paraphernalia generally attracted good audiences, especially in were generally kept tidy in one place, away from the area around Shakespeare’s Birthplace and the dance space and out of the audience’s way. I by the canal. Teams from the three organisations know that a lot of sides keep these things in mind, met and danced with each other, providing them but it’s not universal! The difference made to the with opportunities to look at how other sides dance way a side is perceived by the audience just by and present themselves to the public. Although putting on a “professional” show is immense – it it’s dif cult to devise a programme where each shows that you care about the experience they side can get to dance with a wide range of others, get, and that can only feed back on the dancers, the organisers from Open Morris did a good job who will perform so much better when there is of mixing up the styles and sides from all the an audience that really wants to watch! organisations during the day, and the weather was kind as well! My thanks go to all the sides who The dancing standards in the John Gasson Solo represented the Morris Federation in Stratford Jig Competition at Sidmouth Folk Week were (I managed to watch about 35 sides during the higher overall than any that I can remember, and day altogether) and to Bethan Holdridge, John the judges had to look at the smallest details to Clifford and Phil Watson of Open Morris for their decide the winners.