Wakefield Morris Diary 2014Wakefield Morris Diary 2014
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****** APRIL ******
5th Saddleworth Clog & Garland Day of Dance -Uppermill
26th St George's Street Festival, Morley two spots (2.45 and 3.30 pm)
****** MAY ******
2nd-5th Upton Folk Festival for the second year running!
10th Holmfirth Festival of Folk. 28 Feb - Unfortunately the team have had to pull out of this due to losing a couple of team members to other commitments.
*12th Practice to be al fresco in Boons Yard Horbury. That's outdoors and back of Boons pub then.
*19th With Briggate at Kings Arms, Heath for and evening of dance and splendid views.
23-25 May Cleethorpes Folk & Cider Party. The ghost of the Cleethorpes Folk Festival!
****** JUNE ******
1st Race For Life-Wakefield-Thornes Park. Controversy over the musician here as this is a ladies only event. However using the precedent of a previous running the ladies will be dancing, all be it in trainers, whilst Chris Walker and others provide the musical drive.
2nd Practice and briefing for Beercart in the Methodist Hall
6th-8th Ossett Beercart and Beer Festival. The team are organising the first ever running of what they hope will be a traditional event. The event is in aid of the Wakefield Hospice . The idea is that a beer cart will be hauled up from that mecca of real beer "The Brewers Pride" to Ossett town hall. The town hall will then be the focal point of the beer festival with the precinct providing the setting for dance displays by the attending morris teams. Ah the hauling of the beer cart will be done by morris dancers so if your team want an invite to this event in 2015, contact our bookings secretary. Barrels of beer set up for the festival can be sponsored so if you or you organisation would like to sponsor a barrel in 2015 contact the treasurer/secretary.
Teams who had shown a definite "YES" as of January 2014 are Customs and Exiles , Five Rivers , Leeds Morris and Saddleworth . With a "Maybe" hanging in the air it's Berkshire Bedlam, Briggate, Chinewrde, Pecsaetan, Persephone, Sallyport Sword and Stockport.
As at the end of April ten sides were definitely attending. Added to the four who came on board by January were Locos in Motion , Earlsdon Morris, Oakworth Village Morris Men, Boggarts Breakfast, Chinewrde, and Stockport Morris Men.
As at the start of May another four sides were on board with Stockport Morris having left the list. So a total now of thirteen sides. The new additions were Barnsley Longsword , Pecsaetan Morris, Persephone Morris , and Sallyport Sword.
Some said there was thunder, some said there was lightening, all agreed there was rain – in abundance. Yes the first run of the Ossett Beer Cart will live in the memory for years to come for those who were there. Just to add to the joy of nations on the Thursday before the run the clock tower at Ossett Town hall caught fire. But despite all the hassle the day went ahead and was a success a real credit to the hardworking team who made it possible. Special mention to Sarah Haig who leafleted all the houses along the procession route to get the support(?) of the occupants.She even threw in blue and yellow balloons to get the crowd involved. And of course credit also to John, Steve, Ian and Ann who spent the better part of a year working on the organisation for the day. If I missed anyone my apologies!
Arriving in the pouring rain the cart and pullers were drenched, Chinewrde have to win an award for the most absorbent kit, two dancers I saw seemed to carrying their own body weight in water . Maybe it’s a weather theme fot cart related events. The Wakefield men’s team only attended the Saddleworth rushcart once and got soaked then and now in a sort of quid quo pro the Saddleworth lads were getting a right Yorkshire soaking. Also balancing out the equation were Locos in Motion who’s first day of day the Wakefield team attended and got – you guessed it – soaked, though there was no cart in site at that one. A brave effort to dance in the precinct was made until lunchtime. However after lunch any prospect of dancing outside went by the board and an impromptu dance concert fired up in the town hall.
As the day progressed the Taylors, Becky and Chris, neatly sorted out the damp clothing issue by switching to a from Wakefield rig to a totally different kit. Becky switching to Pecsetan rig whilst Chris opted for Five Rivers , obviously the urge to take on the more mentally challenging discipline of Cotswold Morris (at least I think that's how Becky put it) is strong in the Taylor household. Nice to see some familiar faces in the crowd, ex-dancers Anne Lister and Helen Garthwaite and Ken Martins daughter Fiona there to see an event her dad would have revelled in. A credit to all the teams who came to the event and made the day a real success.
Of Saturday evening I have no knowledge but Sunday dawned with clear skies and sunshine giving the surviving teams a chance to try out the precinct in Ossett as a dance venue in better weather. Here’s to the start of a regular run and next year it really must be better – the weather that is.
9th Beer Cart de-brief (how very modern management!) venue to be arranged. Possibly The Old Vic on Manor Road in Ossett or is it still Horbury, just where is the boundary?
14th Horbury Street Fayre - Back on home ground after Ossett!
Well the reputation for rain was maintained as the day proved damp to say the least. But the team danced out and managed the contractual obligation to do three spots, one a bit of which I actually got to see. Rather saddened to see that the current style set by the leadership favours tunes with a more moderate tempo than I was used to. The band seems to lack any real drive or punch and indeed there is one case of the multi-instumentalist i.e. someone seeking an instument they can play. Chatting to a friend of many years he commented on the band "Are they making it up as they go along?", and I felt he may have had a point.
But what of the dancing which is what it should be about? Obviously the changes to tunes and tempo leads to a slower pace than the one Wakefield were noted for. Given the number of new (to me) faces and almost total lack of dancers with more than a couple of years experience the level of "unforced" errors was to be expected. However with one or two notable exceptions the sense of fun that generally went with a Wakefield display seems to have gone, maybe it was the weather. On a simple visual note the appearance of badges on kit does little to present a smart image, that's what the waistcoats were for lads. Just let's hope that that hall mark of the truly ploddy NW side the drum can be kept a bay - like the lepers bell the drum is a long range warning that some seriously boring dancing is happening somewhere nearbyy.
*16th Evening out with Persephone at the Savile Arms Hunsworth.
*23rd - Evening out with Leeds Morris at the Blacksmiths Arms Kirkheaton.Leeds have cried off due to a lack of side. Boggarts Breakfast AKA "The Blue Guys" to my grandson have been asked if they fancy a pint.In the end this became a "taster" session with Wakefield appearing in splendid isolation.
*30th With Five Rivers-Spencer Arms Cawthorne.
****** JULY ******
*7th Evening out with Sheffield MM -Cawthorne.
*15th It's a Tuesday evening out with Pecsaetan-Cherry Tree High Hoyland and later at the George Upper Denby.
*17th And a Thursday evening out with Leeds Morris at Boons on Queen Street in Horbury.
19th Morley for two spots. Timed as 2:00pm and 2:45pm and each of 20 minutes.
*21st Evening out with Ripon MM Sun Inn Colton
*28th Evening out with White Rose at the White Rose Emley Pub TBC
****** AUGUST ******
4th 8.00pm Jowett Court retirement home, Idle, Bradford.
30th PM The team at the West Yorkshire Nursing Home Fair - Lingwell Gate Outwood. Doing a 30 minute spot and possibly also doing a recce for rehoming the band?
****** SEPTEMBER ******
6th Ebor-York Traditional Dance Festival.Two day event which the team is at for 1 day only so don't miss them!
13th 3:00pm (15:00H for those on 24 hour clocks) Heritage Day in Ossett. So the Beer Cart caught the imagination of the good folk in Ossett then!
****** OCTOBER ******
25th Congratulations to Helen Garthwaite who is getting married today.
****** NOVEMBER ******
****** DECEMBER ******
21st White Rose pre Christmas Dance Out and social. Time and place as yet a mystery but the side are definitely going - or so the supplied spread sheet suggests.
26th Boxing Day at the Kings Arms, Heath Common. 12.30 pm
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.