WAKEFIELD MORRIS DANCERS DIARY

Wakefield Morris 2005

For information on bookings or to send us an invatation or request for an event contact our bookings secretary using the link provided on the page for the current year.
March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

****** January ******
8th - Unveiling the Horbury Tapestry - Horbury Library. This was not actually a dance event but it did involve the team - sort of. The small, but select, band who attended the event were rather amazed at the size of the crowd turning out. But then the tapestry covered almost every company, group, church and pub in the village so one representative each gets a good turnout! If you have not seen the actual item do so. The quality of the work is near photographic in some areas! And yes Malcom and Sue are immortalised for all time right up there centre top!

****** March ******
12th - Darlington Spring Thing. A hardy perennial this and always worth a trip, if only to see what the weather can throw at us this year. Well no rain or snow on the day but a wind that whilst not strong was chill. Like they say in Lincolnshire "I'm not sure where that winds coming from but I sure as hell know where it's going". Dance spots a curates egg with a new route for the procession. Actually for the longer serving team members it was a return to an old route with the chance to make a wonderful noise whilst dancing through a flagged ginnel, or snicket, or snickleway; OK lets just call it an alley. And crossing the park we actually had a crack at processing the Prescott dance!
HUGE thanks to Barry Evans compere of the dance dance showcase who took on board the idea of team furthest from home gets early spot and putting us on first. Members of the audience who got the idea that North West is short and sharp might like to know that we cut down the number of figures to fit in three dances and keep to the time slot allocated. Hope we made it Barry?
19th - The "Mother of All Fig and Date Fayres" by the river/canal in Nottingham. A navigational challenge to find and once there an eye opener in terms of the numbers of folk who actually made it. By my reckoning the Berkshire Bedlam crew must have travelled furthest for the event. Anyone out there know better? I left early myself but I'm told the evening was a great success with the playing of antique music (for the young) or sounds of your youth (for the rest of us). Malc much agrieved that his butternut squash "vegetable conker" was deemed to be a weapon of mash destruction!

****** April ******
23rd - St. Georges day in Newcastle on Tyne. Actually we found that from a pedants view point South of the Tyne is Gateshead. So we started in Gateshead at the Baltic Mill , then on to the Sage just up the river. Wonderful buildings and great surfaces but sadly not a huge crowd. Inside the Sage great acoustics and a real buzz.
Over the river for lunch and the search for a real pub and grub. Failed on the pub but if you are ever in Newcastle try the Quayside Cafe just off the quay near the swing bridge. Any staff that can cope with not one but two Morris sides descending for food deserves a medal. The all-day breakfast was a real winner even with the vegetarians.
Massive afternoon crowds at our first spot and the reverse at the last spot. Our thanks to Fee Lock for the calm and tactful way she dealt with the "let's join" idiots who seemed to have descended. Actually heading away from the last spot we found several "real" pubs so there may, just may, be a connection there. Oh and as we passed the Quayside Cafe they were flat out re-decorating. I always knew Cotswold dancers were enthusiastic but could the Bunnies From Hell really have knocked that much paint work off the place?
23rd - Invite to the Amounderness Ladies Day of Dance. There's the rub there are other events also planned to celebrate this very English day; but not as yet a Bank Holiday!
29th - Rochester Sweeps and it's still a long way to go - but worth it. Just three days dancing with a procession as the last lap. Just why is the south so heavily into border/blackface/other morris? I actually started to look for a Cotswold side to cast a little light into what at times seemed like wall to wall black. Though Poacher Morris showed that there is an option to black. Long live the Yeller Bellies.
Mid way through the procession I suspected that our guide/leader was an ex bus conductor. We seemed to stop every 100 yards or so for reasons I never quite understood. In fact Robin and Chris got to the point where they decided to swap over with Robin playing and Chris dancing for a while.

****** May ******
20th - Kirtlingtom Lamb Ale and the key word here is WET. Not "wet" as in "Do you fancy a wet mate" but wet as in "I'm so wet I think I'm drowning standing up". Which was a real shame as Steve and the folks of Kirtlington had done a wonderful job of organisation. Mind you the "How many Morris dancers can fit under one shop awning" event in Wood stock was fun and the hail was pretty spectacular. Must get back again and find out what happens to the Dashwood Arms. I don't believe that two pubs in a village that size is too many.

****** June ******
4th Swaledale Festival - Richmond. An interesting day out to racehorse country. Very skittish your thorough bred. At least they are in Middleham. Is it crowds or Morris dancers that make them frisky? Maybe that's why they run like blazes past the stands - not racing but trying to get away from the crowds. Reeth was different and the company of the team from the USA made for a different angle on the whole morris thing. Announcements in a gentle Southern drawl sound so genteel. Must have confused the tourists more than a little.
11th - Horbury Steet Fayre. Two days spent entertaining in our "home" village. For once the weather held off until the very end of the event on Sunday and then let go with a vengance. But before that we got in some good displays and might even have found a recruit or two. Lets see what the Autumn brings.
17th/19th - Invite to a week end with Hoxon Hundreds down in Suffolk. The last time we went it was so hot that the tarmac was melting on the roads, in fact in places there was grass growing down the middle of the road. Thinks "It was hot at Broadstairs when we went there", maybe it's always like that down South. Looks like we cannot raise a team folks so no trip to Silly Suffolk then. That's what a local, to Eye in Suffolk, told me they call it anyway.
24th - Local history event? What is this all about then squire? Nope still no idea and I'm writing this on the 28th! So I guess we did not do it then.

****** July ******
1st-3rd - Our first week end of dance for some years. So far we have Oyster Morris making the long and daring journey up North. More details will follow whaen I can track down a committee member.
I gather we had an invite to dance for the centenary of the Horbury Library on the 3rd. That's a Sunday. Do libraries open on Sundays? The message came from a musician, wonder if he's trying to recyle last years diaries - again? Watch this space.
The Weeked of Dance then. Well we could not have foreseen that Live8 was going to clash with the weekend could we?Saturday gave us a first when Castleford Longsword found themselves caught short, of dancers that is. So after years of playing the music for them Chris found himself roped in to dance. We have pictures of Chris realising the awful truth! Being from Bradford Chris is the one one with belt AND braces. Then on to the Museum of Rust, well that's what Neil calls it anyway. Lovely surface down at the pub and lunch at the top of the hill. On to the Kirkstall museum and we actually found a crowd.
Sunday and it has to be the Kings Head at Heath. Real beer, real sun, real dancing. Possibly due to Chris Pitt having eaten(?) something that affected his system we got the first ever mixed Oyster dance Maybe it's mixing with Wakefield that did it? "Mixing" -Geddit!
7th The Race for LIfe event. This when last seen involved the women of the team doing a 5km fun run in Roundhey Park. Being our lasses this was actually Fun Gisburn for 5km. And yes they danced every metre - I was there! Will they be mad enough to repeat this fund raising effort? Will they decide Prescott is quicker? Watch this space.
I have no idea if this happened or not. Must ask the ladies.
8th/10th - The "Seaside Shindig" at Lytham St. Annes. The glorious golden sands - the glorious(?) Golden Mile. Buckets and spades out folks we're off to the seaside. Remember it's Lancashire and don't mention the war - of the Roses that is.
Once again this comes as a wonderfully well organised weekend. Good company, good weather, good entertainment and terrific food. Thanks for the invite and thanks to the amazing Lytham support crew.
15th/17th - Something about an invite to Stafford and misdemeanours. It's actually a commemoration of a prosecution of Morris dancers in Puritan times. For the young, educated with "modern" ways, the Puritans were an early form of New Labour i.e. believed they knew what was best for everyone but somehow got it all tragically wrong. The chiming of this with the near miss of the PEL legislation was too good for someone to miss. Unfortunately we will miss it as we found ourselves unable to raise a team for this one.
22nd/24th - Just the best Folk Festival in the Universe folks. Yes it's Warwick and even better this year as we shall be there as guests. If we really get our act together we might even be in the programme of events. For more details check out the festival web site.
OK Saturday was fun all the way. Well apart from the standing still bits of the procession when Hammersmith decided to weave a hey through the length of the procession and my thoughts on drums got darker and darker by the minute. But best draw a veil over Sunday. Full marks for the length of the procession from church to Guildhall but zero marks for the weather. Maybe it was me saying the "sun always shines on Warwick"? But invite us again and we van we test the theory perhaps?

****** August ******
5th-9th Broadstairs Folk Festival. Yes we are actually going to do this -again. Notice that the festival is for a week but we have cunningly scheduled in time for the long run North by heading home on Wednesday. In March they were talking about a hose pipe ban "Darn Sarff" does this mean we are in for another long hot summer? If so are we going to repeat the frying the egg on a car bonnet trick at Broadstairs?
Not quite as hot as last time which was actually a good thing. So we got to dance and really have fun. West Bretton is a real crowd pleaser and when dancers tell you it's good then it must be true. A couple of cracking spots in the company of Westrafelda just put the ice on the cake. Hey if I actually end up saying nice things about Cotswold then it must have been good. There would be pictures except I lost my camera in Honfleur so to coin a phrase "you just had to be there"

****** September ******
There's a Kite Festival up on Heath Common some time in this month. Maybe we should find out when and arrange a dance out at the Kings Arms? There was a kite festival but somehow we missed it and the chance for a dance out. Still maybe next year?
3rd - Ledsham Fair. Odd sort of do really as we danced on the road for the first spot. Fine but the traffic was still using the road. Second spot we found a really cracking surface in a fram yard outside the barn where theh produce show was being judged. I was a bit worried when a load of the team started showing a big interest in the retirement cottages behind the church. I figure we're safe though because as far as I can gather you have to be a resident of long standing to get a billet there.
4th - Sowerby Bridge Rushcart - Someone told the newer members of the team that the Sunday was the "easy" part of the tour. How cruel was that? As we trekked over the moor to Triangle and Ripponden I could hear Martin Ord's voice murmuring "We would have danced all the way when I was in the team". True but I recall that one year the dance was the Swedish Masquerade rather than Gisburn.
Still great weather for dancing and really good company. What was really great was seeing the pullers who have done every year of the festival mixed in with the younger and new team members and really being part of a community. Brilliant. Until you've seen the Sowerby team pulling round a really sharp bend you can't say you've been to a Rush Bearing. Poise and panache just ain't in it these folk have style oozing out of them. And we weren't bad either.
8th - Yes this a Thursday and yes we have an invite to an evening event. Sounds rather posh folks. Will we get a team? Can we do "posh"? Thats NO and NO then.
11th - Now this is more like it. Invite to dance at the Anglers Country Park Wintersett. Or at least I think that's where it is, I missed the previous dance out. Strange but I can't think that anglers would welcome a bunch of clogwearing Morris dancers. Maybe someone has a theory that fish can be charmed like worms and want's to test drive it. I must check the stength of my medication, my mind seems to be moving in tangents again. That seems better a little more water in it does the trick.
Well what a disappointment from the angling view point. Miles from the water but very close to the cafe. So my theory about fish charming remains unproven. What was proven was the fact that with a good strong team out we can get through an afternoons entertainment and still have dances to spare. Pity we crocked Robin's knee, let's hope it's mended soonish.
23rd-25th - Morris Federation AGM in Hastings. Wakefield have only ever been to one MF AGM - and that was in Bradford. We're not proud of that I just mention it in passing. Especially as I made the trip down there. Did I not mention I was on the committee?

****** October ******
8th - This is October! What are we doing here? Oh it's a fund raiser event for Wakefield Hospice. Can we refuse?
No we didn't and fantastic as it might seem even though we were dancing at the back of the "New Pot Oil" in Wrenthorpe we never went in - at least not en-mass. Maybe the kind gesture of providing free pie and peas at the community centre explains that. Thanks folks for the hospitality, hope the event went well for you. Oh and we got rained on for the first time in ages. Not proper rain though and we did get to debut the new "Crossing Gates" figure in Horbury Junction. Much to the surprise of some who did not know that we had added a figure. Valiant work by all there then.
22nd - Huddersfield - 12.00 noon at the back of the library is the place to be for fun and fundraising frolics. Christmas event! Bah humbug. I prefer to think of it as a Trafalgar Day event. Anyway we got some dancing in and avoided the rain so a success then. Nice to meet some charming and friendly people and especially Kevin who I hope enjoyed the confidence buiding of chatting to the massed might of Wakefield Morris.
31st The Plough at Warmfield will be the venue the time 8.00pm the event Halloween. Now there's a first for us at least.
So good a venue that it has gone onto our list of Summer dance outs. Thanks to the crowd who braved the cold and dark to watch the display and thanks to the team members who got into the spirit of the evening and donned spooks and ghosties rigs to add to the atmosphere.

****** November ******
Any time now the subject of Failsworth will be coming round again. Plus some other back boiler stuff. Or new to you stuff for any new comers.

****** December ******

26th Boxing Day at the Kings Arms, Heath Common. 12.30 pm Once again a wonderful finish to the year. Some doubts about the weather as the rain started to come down at 12.30. But we got the clouds moving and the display was blessed with clear skies and a terrific crowd. Thanks to all those who came out for this traditional day of celebration. Good to see some old friends in the crowd and especially Carolyn and Gary, and the kids. Oh and the couple from Kent who had made the effort to find us.
As an added bonus for the regulars in the crowd, Leeds Morris Men came along to add a Cotswold flavour to the day and give Phil and Peter a chance to show they can caper with the best of them. Though just to balance things out we saw Pete, the other Peter that is, get his public debut in North West mode. All this inspired the Molly dancers in the Wakefield side to give their first ever public display! Something new every year? What will be coming up in 2006? Watch this space.

NOTES:
* Evening dance out means about 8.00pm or thereabouts (ish). If the musicians want to have a session this is the time to get it together.

Back to Home Page " "2004" "2006"