Newsletter Summer 2013
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In this issue Redding Moreys Whitby Shindig Hadrian Wall Dance Paul White’s Diary Ringing The City May We Be Merry Exeter Lock In No Bells No Hankies Lewes Favourites 21 Clerical Errors 25 Years of Danegeld Roy Dommett’s Farnham Workshops Franken’s Nights In Devon Bare Bones in Belgium Ringing Some Changes For Whom The Bells Toll © THE MORRIS FEDERATION 2013 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 COPY DATES 15th August 2013 15th November 2013 15th February 2014 15th May 2014 Contributions for the Autumn edition to the Newsletter Editor by Friday 15th August 2013 www.morrisfed.org.uk CONTENTS EDITORIAL Summer 2013 While the weather may not have been generally Spring- like, my dancing season got under way early in April with Committee Contacts 2 pleasant sunshine at a Farmers’ Market to advertise the Federation Shop 4 Crediton Folk Festival, a fantastic day at the JMO event President’s Prologue 5 in Exeter, and probably the best conditions ever for our Redding Moreys 500 Years Old 6 biennial weekend of dance. Being actively involved in two Whitby Shindig 8 sides I hardly seem to have been out of kit in the past few Hadrian Wall Dance 9 Paul White’s Diary 10 weeks and the only time I seem to have got off my feet is Coming Events 11 when I’ve been working on this Newsletter. Ringing The City 12 May We Be Merry 14 Once again, I’ve been amazed by the number of articles Franken’s Nights in Devon 17 and photographs that appear in my in-box. There’s a Bare Bones In Belgium 18 bumper crop of colour pics in this issue, but may I remind Ringing Some Changes 19 readers that extra copies of the Newsletter have to be pre- Exeter Lock In 20 ordered and prepaid. I’ll endeavour to post a list of sides No Bells No Hankies 21 appearing in colour on the Federation Facebook page well For Whom The Bells Toll 22 in advance. Snippets 23 Review: The Lewes Favourites 2 23 Roy Dommett’s Farnham Workshops 24 Thanks to help from Kevin, our web editor, I am now able 21 Clerical Errors 26 to upload the Newsletter myself to the Federation website, 25 Years of Danegeld 26 so it should appear there shortly after the paper copies have been circulated. 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. Enclosures, other platform for news, views and announcements circulars, and items of advertising relevant to commercial products can relating to the world of traditional dance and be distributed with the Newsletter. A fee is charged to the advertiser associated activities. The Newsletter goes out for this service. Enquiries concerning any form of advertising through to each member group and individual member the MF should be addressed to the Newsletter Editor. of the Morris Federation. Additional copies can be ordered by group members at an additional NEW ADVERTISING RATES (from Dec. 2011) cost per copy of £10 for one year’s issues. To Non-member MF Member Side or Individual be a living publication the Newsletter must be commercial business event/recruit read so PLEASE make sure that your copy Colour B&W Colour B&W gets circulated as widely as possible. The on- Full page £75 £60 £45 £35 £25 line version will be available shortly after the (portrait) printed copies have been distributed. Half page £45 £35 £25 £20 £15 (landscape) MEMBERS’ MANUAL All members of the MF should have a copy of Quarter £25 £20 £18 £12 £ 8 the Members’ Manual. This contains a lot of (portrait) material that members may need to refer to from Eighth n/a £12 n/a £ 8 £ 5 time to time. If you have misplaced the free copy sent to you when you joined, a replacement (or Limited space for colour adverts available. All adverts will appear on additional copies) can be purchased from the Web edition of Newsletter as well as paper copy. Prices are for art- MF Secretary at the cost of £6.50 (inc. p&p) work ready. Jpg or pdf format preferred for any illustrations. MS Word each. Please make cheques payable to ‘The docs may require some reformatting. Cheques payable to ‘The Morris Morris Federation’. Federation” . Discount for multiple insertions - please enquire. All copy & payment to the Newsletter Editor. Front cover photograph: High Flyers - Great Western Morris Men at JMO Day of Dance, Exeter Printed by: Hedgerow Print Ltd, Crediton, Devon. 3 4 events alive, unimpeded by unnecessary red- tape and escalating costs. Now that the dancing season is well under way, please don’t forget that Children in Need is the chosen charity of the JMO. If every side could contribute the proceeds of just one dance-out to the fund, we could send a very healthy amount to the charity in November this year. Money We had a wonderful day at the JMO Day can be paid into the HSBC Charity account: of Dance in Exeter on the 20th April. Great Sort code: 40-41-44 Western Morris hosted the day on behalf of Account number: 01729780. the Morris Federation, and did a truly splendid job, organising spots and permissions, liaising And nally, don’t forget the Morris Federation with the local authorities, communicating with AGM on Saturday 28th September in sides, producing timetables, local information, Shrewsbury. All sides should have received maps and a web page, and dealing with sides their invitations by now, so do get in touch with who appeared or dropped out of the day at Shrewsbury Morris and book your place for the short notice. On the day Great Western were day of dance, annual meeting and ceilidh in this awesome, not only keeping an eye on the historic and beautiful town. As you will already organisation of the day, but dancing as well! know, this will be my last AGM as President, More than 40 teams from all three Morris and nomination forms will be accompanying organisations took part representing a wide this edition of the Newsletter, so if you think variety of Morris styles. Shoppers and passers- you’d like to take on the role of President, or by in Exeter seemed genuinely pleased that know someone else who would, please let us there was so much great entertainment being know! offered by the Morris dancers, and the dancers themselves were lifted by the good-sized Happy dancing! appreciative crowds at many of the city-centre spots. A relaxed, convivial session in an Exeter Barry pub followed in the evening, and there was more dancing the following day at the quay for those sides who were able to stay over. The JMO Day of Dance moves around the country from year to year, and it was a pleasure to see so many sides from the South West being able to participate this time. Next year the event will be organised by the Morris Ring and will be held in Cambridge on the 10th of May, hosted by Cambridge Morris Men. I’d like to thank to everyone who provided feedback and information about the dif culties facing sides organising customary and traditional events. The results have been collated and I’ve already been able to help people with speci c issues about road closures, etc. to get in touch with others who have successfully negotiated the obstacles in their own localities. The next stage is for the JMO to take the issue to the recently- revived All-Party Folk Arts Group and see what can be done to keep traditional and customary 5 REDDING MOREYS 500 YEARS OLD The earliest record of Morris dancing in Reading, formed to try to re-create the 1513 Morris side Berkshire dates from 1513 so the town has got a and dance that day as well. They are trying to do 500th anniversary to celebrate this year. this with as much historical accuracy as possible. This is not an easy or cheap undertaking and the On 10th August 1513 the wardens of St. Laurence group is keen to hear from anyone who may be church in Reading recorded that they paid 3d able to help them nancially. (three old pence = about 1½ new pence) for, amongst other things, “ale for the Morris dancers”. A few years ago a book of dance notations and This is not the oldest record of Morris dancing in tunes came to light in Leicestershire called “The the UK but it is the oldest in Reading.