2011

What is it, I wonder, that impels intelligent people to to forego the warmth and comfort of a fireside armchair to dance on a windswept pub forecourt in the depths of winter? Last year I battled through snow and ice to maintain our Boxing Day dancing ‘tradition’ at our favourite rural pub. No such problem this year, but with family commitments and so on reducing available numbers to single figures I was expecting a fairly low-key event. Well, my spirits were uplifted way beyond all expectations. Though small in number gave a full and enjoyable performance to an appreciative audience. I wouldn’t have given a thought of swapping it for my armchair by the fire!

In this issue there is an added bonus – two extra pages containing Paul White’s column (arrived too late for printed edition) and some extra photographs. Another advantage of the on-line magazine is that all the photographs are in colour, rather than just the cover and possibly inside centre pages. So, all of you who are happy to access the on-line Newsletter, please tell all your colleagues how to find it and extol its advantages!

Once again the morris welcomes in the May with dancing at remote and unpopulated locations at an ungodly hour for those who really like to get into the spirit of things, or to the masses at festivals, fetes and such like. Some sides have already travelled to foreign parts, and many are planning to do so during the summer. Apart from these, and other regular features, the Summer Newsletter includes ideas on recruitment and training, the place of traditional dance in fiction, and much more!

Mummers and wassailers didn’t let the weather curb their customary appearance over the festive season, the Cheltenham Folk Festival in February brought morris dancers out on the streets again, there’s a new side in Adderbury to look forward to at the village day of dance in April, and Great Western have persuaded Roy Dommett to come out of retirement to lead a workshop in Exeter.