The sun always shines on the…………well, we’d like to think so anyway! The forecast today was rain but it only arrived as we drove from the car park at the end of the day as is so often the case when we dance out.

Rewind five hours and we were arriving at Attingham Park for our four-spot dance performance on Bank Holiday Monday. The omens were good as we were met and welcomed by the lovely staff who kindly allocated us their restroom for the day and offered us tea, biscuits and…….cake!
Now, as anyone who knows us will tell you we NEVER pass up the offer of cake so this was an excellent start to the day 🙂

The team was a little minimal due to various reasons but we had enough ladies and men to perform and everyone, from musicians to dancers gave their all and did a great job, entertaining good and appreciative crowds at all four spots throughout the day. We met lots of friends and supporters who kindly came over to say hello (we love meeting people).

One of our newest members brought her family to watch her Shrewsbury Morris debut and, if she felt nervous she didn’t show it as she piled in and did really well. We couldn’t clog as the surface didn’t lend itself so the Lasses and Men danced alternate slots and we were able to throw in several mixed dances too, finishing each time with our old favourite Steeple Claydon.

A lovely day, in a great place, with super people and gracious and pleasant holiday crowds.

Next stop Wellington Summer Fayre!!

Graydon

Scorchio! was how Mon 6th May dawned and it just got more Scorchio as the day progressed 🙂 After the slight chill at Upton two days previously we were able to slap on a bit of cream, buy some new shades and dance in the morning sun with our good friends at Coed-y-Dinas near Welshpool.

We received our usual warm welcome from everyone there and enjoyed entertaining the Bank Holiday crowds out in the sun for the first time in a while. The Lasses danced very well and Shrewsbury Clog got a good outing too on a really nice surface.

Bull and Pump had six men to begin with which enabled us to widen the repertoire a bit although we gained an impromptu seventh member (sex unknown but we have our suspicions) when a giant Lego brick with legs took up station at the end of our Gallop perimeter.

He looked (if bricks can look) really pleased to see us and we managed to incorporate him in the dance which he seemed to enjoy. He was a great sport…..a real brick!!

After a fab morning’s dancing we set off for our next spot, beautiful Powis Castle just over the road(ish). We weren’t due to be dancing until 2pm which was just as well as the whole of Powys seemed to be trying to get into the castle grounds! After finding some off road parking we settled down on a sunny slope for our customary group picnic and thoroughly enjoyed watching Ed down a bottle of red wine on his gingham table cloth….and table…..and chairs……the rest of us just slummed it on the grass 😉

From our elevated position we also had great fun telling the overworked parking men where spaces were so they could direct people to them. It was the busiest I have ever seen the castle.

Our afternoon of dance was really great, performing in front of many people although the heat was difficult (shouldn’t really complain) but everyone did splendidly. Our musicians played superbly, not easy as they had to compete all afternoon with some extremely noisy, and close peacocks who clearly were not folk or Morris fans!

All in all a truly lovely day in gorgeous summer weather (where did THAT go?!) in lovely locations. A repeat of our Jubilee programme the year before and thoroughly enjoyed by us and appreciated by lovely crowds watching.

We also met lots of Twitter friends who came up and made themselves known which was brilliant!

Graydon

The Upton-upon-Severn Folk Festival, traditionally held over the May Day weekend, holds quite a special place for us. In the days when we would camp the whole weekend, usually on the local, soggy rugby pitch, the sometimes inclement weather for dancing would usually be forgotten by the evening with a group takeaway in Geoff and Amanda’s caravan over several bottles of “not lemonade”. This would often be while singing or hooting with laughter at Ralph’s hilarious version of Little Cottage in The Wood, which becomes more hilarious the more “not lemonade ” you have…..trust me, I’m a Morris Dancer!

Upton’s a place where Morris and Folk are wall to wall for four glorious days. It’s where the traditional jingly bells and crossed Baldricks of Cotswold Morris meets the heavy drum, tatters and verbal whooping of Border.

It’s where you can sit back with a pint of “not lemonade” and watch a Mummer’s play outside a pub while next door a group of pirate women are shimmying to a slinky bellydance, and down the road a Canadian Morris team (complete with their very own Moose) delight an appreciative crowd of agog tourists.

This year was no exception although sadly we could only dance on the Saturday. Securing our usual place beside the Anchor Inn (funny old thing) early on meant that we had a lovely spot for the morning beside the river. This was shared with various other sides which meant everyone had regular rests while someone else danced. This always presents a great opportunity to meet other dancers, chat and learn about the different forms of this great, colourful tradition of ours. Although it was a cool day, the warmth of friendship between Morris people was clear and we had an excellent time. Our fabulous musicians kept all the dancers going throughout the day and our lunchtime public spot in the town centre went well with everyone having their “game face” well and truly on and doing the team proud.

The lovely (and lively) Lasses displayed some excellent lines as always, the men got through several vigorous versions of Bricklayers (one by special request of Fi from Foxes’ Border Morris!!) without becoming disemtrowelled and Shrewsbury Clog coped superbly on sometimes difficult surfaces. Margaret and Barbara also performed their own amazing clog dance to great acclaim from the watching public.

We left Upton while still on a (legal) high from our performance and headed for home, tired but happy and looking forward to some “not lemonade” with our feet up!

Roll on next year….Upton, we salute you yet again!! :))

Graydon