See list of Honorary Life Members and Friends of the Morris Federation.
Frank Lee – Honorary Life Member (2023)
Nomination by Martyn Harvey on behalf of Crook Morris at our AGM in 2023:
What a magnificent stalwart of the traditional dance world this man is. There are very few people who have contributed anywhere close to what Frank has given us all. Crook Morris happens to be one of the first sides who ordered 4 sets of swords back in the mid 1990’s. Those early blades are still flashing well and haven’t even needed reblading!
Carlisle Morris Men was started by Ed Mycock and Sue plus a small select band of men from around the Carlisle area. Frank joined in 1975. They asked us in Kendal Morris Men to go up and teach them some Cotswold around 1976 and so started off as a Cotswold side. It was obvious to all of KMM that here was a man who really cared about the traditions and dances, with a deep questioning on detail and nuances.
We also heard what a superb musician he was, but we weren’t able to tempt him to move or travel 50 miles south to join us. Oh well we tried!
On a personal front, a number of traditional sides – Carlisle Morris Men, Feet First Appalachian Dancers, Hexham Morris, Flag & Bone Gang, Carlisle Clog & Sword and Black Gate Morris have benefited hugely from his superb playing. Also, innumerable entrants in the Sidmouth Folk Week John Gasson Jig Competition have stood a far better chance of success with Frank as their musician.
First thrown into repairing some swords Frank then made a set for Carlisle and he’s never looked back. I’m not at all sure that Frank realised what he was letting himself in for, but he’s made over 2,500 rapper swords since then and counting. All are numbered as well. Crook Morris is pleased and proud to recommend to The Morris Federation that he absolutely deserves to be made an Honorary Life Member of The Morris Federation.
Frank received his certificate and badge at the JMO 20th birthday day of dance in Newcastle, October 2023.
Frank Lee was also awarded an EFDSS Gold Badge at the same event in 2023, see: Frank Lee’s EFDSS Gold Badge Citation by Burt Hunter. And awarded Honorary Membership of Open Morris at their AGM in November 2023.
Frank has also submitted some additional background on rapper sword making (May 2024):
A few ‘for what they’re worth’ thoughts on rapper sword making.
I was very happy to receive the award of honorary life membership of The Morris Federation for my ‘contribution to English culture’, but to the extent that it was an acknowledgement of my sword-making ‘cottage industry’ I ought to share the accolade with the late Jim Killner, of Southampton. I had mentioned him in the course of accepting the award and have been asked to submit a fuller account of where I see our relative contributions to the unique spectacle that is rapper dancing.
Jim’s involvement came about after my first wife, Angela, died very suddenly from a brain haemmorhage in 2008. She left a big void in the clog and step dancing world, but had also been a great help and support during my early rapper making days, sometimes helping with production, other times saving me from household chores and cooking, but always contributing, directly or otherwise to production time in the workshop. When she died, there was some concern about my intention to continue making swords, as at the time I had been the sole supplier. This was understandable, but to those who asked, I explained that I had no intention of closing my workshop, but also cautioned that output, never fast, would be slower in the future.
Somehow, through the medium of ‘Chinese whispers’ , Jim had evidently been given the impression I’d be retiring. So he set about addressing the matter of rapper making using the resources available to him.
Now Jim had an engineering company, with useful contacts in the business, and using the latest digital technology, embarked on the task of ‘future-proofing’ the production of rapper swords.
Hitherto, I’d made rappers using pretty much the same methods as had Tyzack’s for many decades previously, and these rappers had the advantage over the more recent products of Tyzack’s successors in that re-blading was possible. Although this meant returning them to me for the work, I detest the notion of throwing away the whole of any artefact when a single component has failed. Rapper making is quite time-consuming, as the only components used ‘as bought’ are the three screws used in securing the fixed handles to the blades. The blades are supplied as 20kg coils which have to be cut to whatever length is required. The other 20 components are made ‘in house’. The work can be done in the typical garden shed workshop to be found in every suburb throughout the last century, but sadly, disappearing as fast as our pubs with a change in the way society uses its corporate leisure.
Jim’s approach was to replace much of the hard graft of forging and welding bolsters, and punching and riveting blades, and the subsequent 9 stage polishing process, with a digitally controlled multi-machining process. This would result in repeatable accuracy which I had no hope of achieving, and this in turn meant that replacement blades could be supplied ready-punched, and screwed into place by their users.
So Jim’s operation involved more buying-in of components, and assembling them in his home workshop, which on the face of things, is the way forward. But there’s one big drawback. The universal machining centre used to produce the turned, milled, drilled, and threaded bolsters from a billet of aluminium or brass at a single setting, cost, according to Jim, £650,000, and machines such as this have to pay for themselves as well as provide their owners with a living. Now unless rapper dancing is introduced as a compulsory element of the national school curriculum (unlikely) or becomes a universal olympic sport (equally unlikely), demand for rapper swords is not likely to justify batch production at an acceptable price in the immediate future. Jim occasionally asked me to increase my prices, but my objective was to make the swords at an acceptable cost. As it was, while I heard folks say mine were ‘too cheap’, others lost interest when I quoted the price, so I guess the price must have been about right! I think we both knew that neither of us was making much money, even if any, making rapper swords, (probably the reason Tyzack’s were pleased to give it up!) but it has to be said that once digitally controlled machining is more widespread and available, and competition reduces costs, the effort Jim had put into designing a more practical rapper sword at a reasonable price will bear fruit. It’s a great pity he died before this could really get underway.
Two other individuals deserve a share of the honour, namely, Malcolm Hills, of Otley (Wayzgoose – Open Morris) who created and has maintained my website throughout, and Peter Lloyd of Hallbankgate who processes large planks of timber into manageable sizes for handles. Both have given their time for free in the interest of our great tradition.
Frank Lee, May 2024
