We were recently forwarded a collection of fantastic images of the team dancing in Finchingfield, which we think are from some time in the early 1950s.
Please have a look through, and get in touch with us if you’ve got any more specific info on any of them!
It’s an age-old story – you’re out at a pub one summer evening when your evening is unexpectedly enhanced by the appearance of a set of morris dancers, and you say to yourself, “I’d really like to give that a try – it looks like fun!”. Well, the excellent news is that it is, and YOU CAN!
On Wednesday October 9th will be holding an open practice session, and anyone who wants to come along & learn a dance will be welcome.
We’ll be going through the basics of the structure & form, learning about key differences between different Cotswold village dance Traditions, some warming up techniques (note: the pictured method is not recommended) and then learning the “figure” and “chorus” moves of a couple of the dances – the end goal is that by the end of the evening you’ll have learned one or two (depending on time, progress, and how distracted we get talking nonsense) complete morris dances.
We’ll provide the hankies, sticks, and traditional music for the evening. You don’t need to bring anything other than enthusiasm. No experience necessary*.
Please send Lewis, our Bagman, an email on newbagman@westminstermorris.org if you’d like to attend, or have any questions.
7:45pm until 10pm, Napier Hall, 1 Hide Place, Westminster, London, SW1P 4NJ. Closest tube stations Pimlico (Victoria Line) & St James’s Park (District/Circle Line).
* that’s experience of morris dancing, not experience of being enthusiastic.
We’re very proud to be celebrating the team’s 60th anniversary this year – it’s widely known that Westminster first danced out in public on the Queen’s Coronation Day (which also makes it a lot easier to remember significant milestones). One of the celebrations therefore was to hold a grand dinner of team members past and present, partners, and our dear friends from both within and without of the morris.
Saturday night saw a Who’s Who of Westminster descend on Brown’s Brasserie in Old Jewry – a building once housing the London branch of Australia’s Commonwealth Bank, itself well-known for its distinctive yellow and black livery.
People came from far afield to join the evening of conviviality and reminiscence – guests from all corners of England, plus a few who’d made the considerably longer hauls in from Guernsey and New Zealand! And of course the locals made an appearance (although the Westminster men are spread further afield than you might think – from Cambridgeshire to Wales, Petersfield, and The Cotswolds!). There was plenty of mingling over the champagne reception with people catching up with their comrades not seen in years, and also newer members being introduced to their terpsichorean forebears, and finally putting faces to names spoken of in team folklore.
As the dinner bell was rung, 60 years of morris history made its way (slowly) up the staircase to enjoy a delightful 3 course meal – accompanied by toasts and speeches as befits such a moment. Daniel Fox of the Thaxted Morris Men delivered a fine piece in tribute to theme of Westminster. A Westminster man of old, Angus Morris-Coole responded with quite an epic tribute to our friends and guests (we were delighted and honoured to be joined by representatives from Chester City, Monkseaton, Headington Quarry, Thaxted, Moulton, Martlets, Winchester, Greensleeves and Etcetera Morris Men), including those present and absent – notably the rural Dean of Hackney, Father Kenneth Loveless. Robin Ainley passed on a message in absentia from our immediate outgoing Squire, his son Rupert: recently relocated to Nanjing and unable to join us.
With the formalities concluded and every belly in the house satisfied, we repaired downstairs for further catching up and merriment as Mitch Hursey and Brian Jackson deftly wielded their accordion and fiddle.
And as the magic hour approached and people slowly bundled into taxis to return to the various corners from whence they came, a certain unicorn was seen reclining in a corner – with a little smile playing over its face.
A big thanks to all who attended, and also who helped organise this grand feast (and grand feat!) – especially to the evening’s chief architect, Mike WIlson-Jones.
Not strictly a Westminster press mention, but about 2 minutes into this clip from Room 101 Paul Merton is trying to convince Julian of reasons why he shouldn’t dismiss The Countryside, and a couple of chaps we know from Headington Quarry make an appearance…
It’s not strictly relevant, but it is interesting – here’s a colour film of London from 1927.
https://vimeo.com/7638752
Unicorns are a topic close to our hearts, and news this week surfaced of an exhibition in New York featuring 16th century tapestry, “The Hunt of the Unicorn”. From the article in The Economist:
The most moving work on view is “The Unicorn in Captivity”, a tapestry from the Rockefeller series. A unicorn rests inside a wooden enclosure. Thousands of flowers cover the ground. A gold chain links his collar to the trunk of a pomegranate tree (a symbol of fertility). Red juice drips onto the unicorn’s pure white coat. The wild creature has surrendered himself to love. This is a sensual and tender image. The remaining tapestries, in a room nearby, tell a different story—about aggression, betrayal and death.
Though our Unicorn is the last left alive, people will recognise the ancestral behavioural themes: love, aggression, and resting. Not so much on the pomegranates latterly, but a link’s a link.
Another article in The Times reminds us, for those who maybe can’t make it over to New York, that replica tapestries created by weavers for West Dean are to be found in Stirling Castle.
Further interesting Unicorn information can be found on the BBC’s Listen Again website from the “In Our Time” programme with Melvyn Bragg.
Please find attached the details and arrangements for this year’s Gloucestershire Tour, with many thanks to Robin for all his chasing around. In response to feedback, this year’s accommodation arrangements are different and similar to the Cotswolds. Indoor camping will be in the Scout Hut in Minchinhampton which is 5-10 minutes’ walk from The Crown. There is a kitchen where we will make some breakfast and we have the luxury of indoor toilets! The Scout Hut address is: Minchinhampton Scout Hut, Doctor Brown’s Road, Minchinhampton, Glos. GL6 9DD. I hope that’s more amenable to everyone.
We’re a little tight on numbers this year so I’ve cut one pub from the Saturday tour which means, I’m afraid, that there might be some more time sitting in the pub drinking beer/singing/playing etc. Our apologies for that.
If anyone else fancies adding themselves to the list for the weekend, please don’t hesitate to shout!
2013 sees the 60th anniversary of the first performance of the Westminster Morris Men – we first danced out in public on the Queen’s Coronation Day, and we thought that if Her Majesty is allowed to celebrate her impressive milestone then perhaps we should also.
Our budget didn’t stretch to a floating carnival on the Thames – however we recently held our annual Day of Dance, celebrating 60 years of dancing in London. We were very happy to be joined by guest teams from around England, who danced with us in Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, and all around Westminster in the sunshine for the enjoyment of locals and visitors alike.
This year we have a busy & varied programme – featuring tours of the “historical buildings” of old favourite London areas such as Belgravia, Baker Street and Clerkenwell, and introducing a few trips out to places we haven’t explored so much, like Clapham and Richmond. Further afield, we’ve visited our friends in Thaxted, danced at the Oxford Folk Weekend. Later in the year we’ll be in Gloucestershire & Chichester and in July we’re off on our annual pilgrimage to The Cotswolds.
In the autumn, to mark the 60th year of the team we’re holding a dinner for friends, our families, and members past & present.
If anybody has any photos, stories, or memories of Westminster that you’d like to share with us, please get in touch!
That’s another marvellous Day of Dance in the bag – and we thought we should share this great video made by an audient of the show, featuring the lunchtime massed performance in Trafalgar Square.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAB6THh6RUc
Many thanks to krasnapolski2000 !
On the eve of the 2013 Westminster Day of Dance, our indefatigable bagman Lewis Elliot was interviewed for the London City Hall blog:
http://www.london.gov.uk/city-hall/city-hall-blog/2013/05/a-bagmans-tale-of-morris-dancing-in-london
Our event was also featured in their calendar:
http://www.london.gov.uk/get-involved/events/westminster-morris-men
