Wakefield Morris 2006

For information on bookings or to send us an invatation or request for an event contact our bookings secretary using the link on the current years page.

| April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December

****** April ******

22nd - Amounderness Ladies Day of Dance in Chorley Lancs. Wonderful hospitality and we even forgave the instructions where left meant right! Generally speaking a good performance with a near complete turnout of the team. The chaps got to flight test the new sashes and baldricks, the lasses got to do some light shopping and all were happy. Mind you Peter's reluctance to dance Stocksmoor because of "the arrogant swagger" takes a bit of believing. Must get the girls to take him to one side and apply some persuasion.

28th - 1st May The 10th Moor and Coast Festival Whitby. Well what can I say? We stayed dry - all weekend. Bit dodgy weatherwise up at Gothland on the Saturday but we cracked it. Wonderful to have Persephone along as the performance thing is just so much easier with a team who know what it's all about. Celidh spot went OK even if I say so myself.
Sunday morning saw the world premier of a new molly team "The Rhubarb Tarts", an off shoot - geddit! - of Wakefield. The team seemed to enjoy themselves, most of the time, and once over the hurdle of that first outing things will calm down. So one to watch out for there during the summer as they mature then, or maybe they are planning a bit of forcing, who knows? Good to see the youngsters from Flamborough out giving a very tidy display of the sword dance. The procession on Sunday a bit different in that it was on the level which takes some doing in Whitby. But the price for this was the cobbles down Eastgate and the biggest collection of grids and grates we have ever encountered.
By Monday there seemed to be just us, Persephone, Green Ginger Garland and Jet Set in town. So we entertained the crowds for a few hours before heading for home. Not a bad weekend all round.

****** May ******

1st - Invited to the Rochester Sweeps Festival. Opted to give it a miss this year as we had the invite to the 10th Moor and Coast Festival in God's Own County.
6th-7th Invite to the re-vitalised(?) Holmfirth Festival - yes there will be one this year thanks to the landlady at the Nook and the Slubbing Billy's I gather. Anyway we failed to generate a team so if any of us are there it will be as spectators. But the Rhubarb Tarts made it for a second public performance which goes to show that enthusiasm will win out in the end.
20th - Invite to a Day of Dance with Kern Morris in Durham. Could not raise a team.
26th - 29th Invite to the Cleethorpes Folk Festival. By general agreement if we are going the Scout hut is a definite no this time round! But as we could not raise a team this is acedemic.
28th or 29th - Invited to dance at Crich tramway museum. No team available.

****** June ******

Practice night is now out of the hall until September. See below for details.
5th - Practice night in kit at the Greyhound Saxton. Another great evening at a great pub with a good crowd. How many of the crowd turn out every year I wonder? Some of the kids seem to be getting old enough now to start their own team. I'm sure we did a "joining in" session with the Gisburn dance a year or two back. Maybe one year we can go out to Saxton and be the crowd rather than the turn. Just a pipedream but hope is what keeps us going folks.
9th - 11th Invite to the Wimbourne Folk Festival in Dorset. Another one bites the dust as we just fail to get enough to put a team out.
10th-11th - Horbury Street Fayre. What can I say? Usually far too much comes the reply. We got two of the hottest days of the year as a change to the usual rain, which was nice if a bit tiring. We got a really neat write up in the programme with the added bonus that if we were at the first street Fayre and they are celebrating their twenty fifth then we must have been dancing now for at least that length of time. It's a perenial discussion point in the team as to just when the team started since no one though to write it down at the time.
But I digress; as usual. So the weather was scorching and the crowds were thronging. At least until the kick off of the first of the England World Cup matches on the Saturday. The Sunday was just as warm and we had another splendid turn out of dancers and crowd to round out the weekend in our home base.
12th - Informal practice night at the Brewers Pride. Thanks to Sally and Mel for the hospitality
17th - My notes say "DIVA event in Ossett". Its a dance showcase but can we raise a team? Apparently not.
19th - Practice night in kit at the Kings Arms on Heath Common. The editor was unavoidably detained and so we will just take it as read that this was a splendid occasion.
23rd Invite to an Argameles event in Lancashire which clashed with Four Fools and Four Fools won. 23rd - 25th Four Fools Folk Festival at Lostock Hall near Chorley. Invite sponsored by Newburgh Morris.
Yes the Four Fools won but we would rather that the fools of Lostock Hall did not find amusement by running round the camp site chucking eggs and driving cars in the early hours of the morning. Still it gives you something to talk about over breakfast I suppose.
Anyway the Saturday dance tours were to Chorley. Which was a return visit for us after the Amounderness day of dance earlier in the year. Splendid morning session with the folk of Berkshire Bedlam, Newburgh, Jet Set and Poyton Jemmers. Then onward with Triskele Sword and the Northerm Belly Dance Troupe for the afternoon. The mystery of how a rapper side can get the energy to organise the Morris Federation AGM was solved when one of them revealed that there are actually about thirty of them in the side. Now that would make an amazing line, just imagine the length of the bar a pub would need to accomodate it. The belly dancers were great to watch and in the joining in segement of their routine Malcom revealed an alarming facility and ease with the dance. Oh and if you're ever dancing in Chorley folks make a point of visiting the bus station, great surface, good acoustics and in the event of rain it's dry!
Sunday sessions marred somewhat by the fact that we were a bit sleep deprived thanks to the car driving fool who having woken us once returned for a second trip only to find that the local police were in wait for him. So there is some justice in the world after all. I have a hazy recollection of doing "West Bretton" on a rather dodgy surface but apart from that not a memorable dance performance. Although John O'Gaunts did do a version of Wyresdale or the Old Man's Jig that kindled an interest in putting this back into fettle for a little filler piece for us.
26th - Informal practice at the Brewers Pride.

****** July ******

1st-2nd - Cleckheaton Folk Festival. Team dancing on the Saturday only.
And so we did. If we thought it was hot at the Horbury Street Fayre we can tell you it was hotter still at Cleckheaton. Ran into Kesteven Morris at the Wickham Arms Hotel, which was nice. But maybe we could persuade the dance organiser to schedule teams in groups for a joint display over say forty five minutes rather than single teams at a venue in thirty minute slots. That way we could have had a decent natter rather than just passing in the night so to speak. Something to keep in mind if we get invited again.
3rd - The Chequers at Ledsham. Due to some confusion the Wakefield Express had us down as being at the Kings Arms Heath on this date. And Ken for some reason figured we were at the Plough at Warmfield. Any way splendid turnout of the team with a vast crowd and a sultry evening. It just keeps getting hotter this year. Thanks to the gaffer for being so welcoming and clearing us a spot to dance on the slabs rather than up on the terrace. We'll be seeing some of the Ledsham folk again when we're back again in September.
7th-9th - Invited to Fylde Coast Weekend but opted to take a break this year. The up side being that Fylde are coming to our weekend of dance so we can repay some small part of the hospitality they have shown us over the last few years.
8th - Horbury Bridge J&I school. Future recruits? Maybe not. Very thin crowds at least for the dancing, for what was a lot of enthusiastic organisation put in by the staff and parents.
9th - Pennine Camphill Community Open day. Once more we do our bit. Nice to meet up with Gary and Caroline and my aren't the kids growing up. If ever you feel like stepping back into the clogs we are always ready to make a space in the set for you.
10th - Informal practice night at the Brewers Pride.
14th-16th - Our Weekend of Dance. Sadly Westrefelda had to pull out of the weekend at the last minute. So Phils carefully and beautifully made badges featuring the three teams due to attend will become a talking point for years to come. But Fylde Coast Cloggers made it; in spite of a spate of new grandma's rushing off to coo and cootchie-coo over the new borns. No problem there been there, done that myself - twice.
Saturday. Did I mention it's getting hotter? Cannon Hall found the teams dancing on a south facing terrace and we could have fried eggs on it. Lunch prepared and delivered by Aileen and Meg was eaten with nearly the entire cast of dancers seeking shade under the nearest tree, a sweet chestnut Ian and Karen inform me. Aprroximately 150 years old based on it's girth of 12-13 feet and one inch of girth per year of growth. Don't say you never learn amything visiting this page.
Skipped the display at the pub as zero crowd. But the National Coal Mining museum produced an appreciative group of spectators who clung the walls of the buildings seeking shade. The evening do at the Parklands went well. Team spots, kids games, some social dances (thanks George), a belly dance (thanks Mo now we know why Micheal always looks happy) and splendid food thanks to Yvonne and her team at the parklands.
We also took the opportunity to give Corinne, our squire and long time member of the team, a gift This is the item folksto mark her move to Wolverhamton and a new job. After so many years it will be a wrench to lose a terrific team member and wonderful dancer. However we have every hope that Corinne will still be there as a "country member" who we might tempt out to play for the odd dance out in the years to come. We will especially miss the discussions on art between her and Ken. Miss them yes but stop talking about them never. And the tale of the Cockermouth coffee cake will remain in our memories and no doubt grow with each re-telling. Thanks Corinne from all of us.
Sunday. Pontefract surprised us all, visitors and locals alike I think, in just how many old and fine buildings it boasts. That's before finding a really vibrant and beautifully organised festival in full swing when we arrived. A great dancing spot with huge crowds. In fact a steward was having a quiet panic at one point about the display blocking the street off and could we tuck our elbows in. Mind you we did point out that the crowd were not so much spreading out to give the dancers space as clinging to what shade they could find near the buildings - that "hot" thing again.
Thanks to Fylde Coast for being wonderful guests and adding that extra something to a great weekend. And a huge thank you to Anne for working so hard to organise things and people and for dealing with the last minute panics.
17th - The Plough at Warmfield for a practice night in kit. Scrubbed as the pub is running an event for their victorious darts team I gather. So it's an informal practice at the Brewers again folks.
23rd - Invite to dance at the National Coal Mining Museum - Caphouse. It's a miners gala say my notes. And so it was once again the editor was elsewhere on the day. So the feedback I got was that it was hot and the crowds at the gala got soaked up in the site.
24th - Informal practice night at the Brewers Pride. More a last social chat before the August break sonce we did not dance a step. Nice to see Barbara back from her Canadian jaunt to see Shelly and Amanda.

****** August ******

On Holidays.

****** September ******

2nd - Dance out at Ledsham Fayre. It rained - and rained and then it rained some more. The only real use for the sticks according to Malcom would have been to play Pooh Sticks on the river running down the middle of the road.
4th - Back from our holidays and back in the Methodist Hall for practice, or to compare sun tans.
8th - Invite to dance with St. Clements Clog in Kent? No team = No go.
8th - 10th Invite to the Southport Sword Weekend of Dance. No team = No go.
9th - Invite to a day of music and dance at the Sair in Linthwaite. Which clashes with the Lincoln event below.
9th - The BIG Morris event in Lincoln. Its not big in the sense of large but an acronym. Must find out what BIG stands for. The answer is "Business Improvement Group" who sponsored the event.
A good day out with some fine dancing. Good to see Grimsby out and always a pleasure to se Ken Watson showing how a pipe and tabor accompaniment should be played. Good company with teams who just got on with the displays to keep the public involved and happy. And also a good guide in the shape of Liam who was always there for our group and who's support made life so much easier to get around the city for those of us who were new to the place.
24th - The National Village Show at Nostell Priory beckons. It's a TV thing with none other than Alan Tichmarsh presenting. First contact suggested a 9am to 6.30pm day! But this is now a more sensible middday start. Usual problem with creative types who think Morris is all dancing on the village green, not much fun in clogs for us or the grass. Still we'll play it by ear just for the fun(?) of watching how the production of thirty minutes of TV takes a minimum of 9 hours. Sadly not to be as the creatives wanted morris dancers and thats grass, hankies and flowery hats isn't it love?

****** October ******

****** November ******

Tuesday 7th or possibly 14th. A chance to teach some innocent young people the arts of the morris. Or more exactly the Gisburn Street dance. Where? Ryhill Junior. What time? 1.00 - 3.30 (ish). Why two dates? We're giving the head a choice.

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

26th Boxing Day at the Kings Arms, Heath Common. 12.30 pm. Weather wise I have to say "dull". No frost, no snow, no sun, no rain. But there was a goodly crowd in fine humour to enjoy the display. Regrettably the new dance being worked up during the autumn was still under wraps so we’ll save that as a treat for 2007 shall we. But we did show off the "Crossing Gates" figure in Horbury Junction without too many complaints from the team. And we did give young Alex his first public performance as a Morris dancer so there was some novelty there. Actually given the cheers and applause when Alex got into the set I wonder if he has his own fan club.
Great turn out from the team with some faces we've been missing due to work or college commitments showing up for the display. The band adding carols and Christmas tunes to their usual settings for the dance and coping wonderfully with the odd stray passing musician to great effect. So not a bad finish to the year. Onwards into 2007 and who knows new dancers, new dances. Stick around folks we’re still here and still having fun!

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  2005   2007