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1 December 2019

Paul White’s Diary

Porch. Vestibule. Hallway. Lobby. Verandah. They differ in varying degrees. But any one of them would do.

Our cottage door opens straight out onto the garden. The elements have no trouble gaining entrance. Leaves and grass cuttings carpet the floor. And where to put muddy boots, dripping raincoats and wet doggies?

A vestibule would be my choice. I don’t know how it differs from some of the others but it is such a lovely word and it sounds the business.

As a stop gap we erected a greenhouse just outside the door. This was going to be a repository for welly boots, soggy garments and winter coats, as well as a towel to rub down the dog. And it worked! But gradually, it filled up with other stuff, too. Hammers, saws, screws, electric drills, chisels; indeed, all manner of tools and implements as well as large lumps of wood.

A greenhouse is not the ideal building in which to be manipulating lengths of 4 x 2 and sheets of plasterboard. But needs must. For not only do we lack vestibule but we are also without any kind of workshop. So far, amazingly, no broken glass. My next big project is to build myself a workshop and then the greenhouse will once again come back into its own.

Despite its relative success as a sunny workshop, there is the odd event that serves to frustrate. There was a case in point earlier this week. Two members of our fledgeling morris side have discovered that they both have a talent and penchant for Appalachian dancing. They’ve got the energy, the desire, the shoes: now all they wanted were boards to dance on.

I had the materials lurking in the depths of the greenhouse and while the construction is ostensibly a simple task, finding the bits and cutting them to size in the confines of the greenhouse/workshop/welly store proved just the opposite. Finding space to chop plywood into the right shape was not easy. I had to be careful with lengths of batten in order to leave the glass walls intact.

These obstacles I overcame but I lost a complete day looking for the wood glue and panel pins. Not in the greenhouse. Not in the car. Not in the place where I keep the lawnmower. They had clearly been nicked! They eventually turned up, of course, but I only found them by accident. In the kitchen! Don’t ask me why, I have no idea.

But we now have two boards, two eager dancers and once they hop aboard and strut their stuff, all the frustrations of the construction phase will be instantly eased.

For they will be part of our performance, which will be a good thing from many perspectives. It will instantly increase our range of dance, it will give two musicians a chance to get up and boogie like the rest of us and it will be something very different for the audience.

Our side is small but, of course, perfectly formed. Eleven people altogether. Four musicians and seven regular dancers. The dancing element is made up of four women and three blokes (including yours truly).

Recruitment is an ongoing process. People come and people go. Those who come sometimes can’t hack it. Others look for challenges elsewhere.

We have tried posters, which have had limited response. Stories and pictures in the local press have gained us recognition but thus far no newcomers. A Facebook page (Common Morris) gets people talking.

Perhaps the best results so far have come as a result of our performances. That gets the word about as well as anything.

One night when the hall wasn’t available because the local gardening club was staging its annual show, we all headed for the pub, invited friends along and had a really enjoyable music night. We repeated that the following month and there is another one coming up. These sessions also help to spread the morris message.

There is another recruitment method I am about to try. My middle name is David. One of the other blokes in the side is called David. And so is the other. Two weeks ago, we were aware of a bloke hanging about outside the hall. He was there to try out this morris thing. His name is David.

The David factor is strong in this side. Problem solved. A quick email to everyone in the parish with a David moniker should boost numbers handsomely.

Calling all Daves, and when is a greenhouse not a greenhouse? Paul White’s DIARY Sally’s board in action Journalist, editor, ukulele player, and singer, Paul White has been dancing the morris since the year 2000. He is a founding member of both Wreckers and Cat’s Eye in Cornwall, helped form Couptrain Morris (France) and Turncoat, and has also danced with Lodestone. Paul can occasionally be found in Europe introducing fellow campers to the joys of morris, using baguettes, umbrellas, or tent poles for sticks. contact: pwhite420@btinternet.com twitter: @morrisbells or Facebook

Filed Under: Uncategorized

1 December 2019

Malkin Morris awarded Heritage Lottery Grant

18 month old Malkin Morris specialises in researching, performing and promoting the dances and tunes of Burnley, Pendle, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley in Lancashire. They raise the image of traditional dance and music, the culture and identity of the area and provide opportunities for participants to have fun, improve physical fitness and learn performance skills.

Three of us started with a workshop in May 2017. 16 musicians and would-be dancers aged 17- 67 arrived so we learned ‘The Whalley’ the dance from a nearby village. The dancers included those with no experience, some from Clitheroe Country Fayre (c1976), others from Bobbins and Reelers (1980s), Park High School Bangles Beads and Bloomers (1980s) and Polyolbion.

Our musicians, the ‘Roughlee Ruffians’, play a range of instruments: flute, melodeon, accordion, concertina and mandola and are determined to work to make the tunes fit the dancers and not the other way round. We are so grateful to them for this support.

We look for local tunes and only perform dances from our local area, both step and NW processional morris and the resulting dancing has been exciting, energetic and very creative.

We have been awarded a grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund to produce a nationally available, readily accessible, free resource of local north west processional clog dance, step dance and local tunes, the project runs until August 2019.

This funding has helped us offer workshops to schools and community organisations, IT resources and clogs, as well as with collecting information from archives, libraries, books, newspapers and hopefully readers of this article! Dances and tunes are being lost over time and we must act quickly to preserve these now if they are not to vanish for ever.

Whilst talking to Padiham Rotary Club, the Shawforth was mentioned as being just outside our area. One of the Rotary members jumped and asked us where we had obtained the dance. David Cooke, (Rochdale Morris and Colne Royal) had written it, but we had obtained it from a workshop with Belfagan in Cockermouth. The Rotary member told us how it was originally taught at a folk club, and as he was a traditionalist and didn’t want to teach a current dance, he taught them basic steps and figures culled from other dances.

If you have any memories or records of morris or step dances and tunes from our area we would love to hear from you.

Contact Gin Crewe, Squire: 07887 844025 familycrewe@hotmail.com Facebook: @localmorris

Or join us! We practise on Monday nights in Roughlee or Barley Hall in Lancashire

Filed Under: FedExtra

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