Summary: Vol. 17 Issue 2

Published: July 1998

Table of contents

• EDITORIAL
• FLATTERY OR FORGERY by Jerry West
• THE WHITTLESEY STRAW BEAR = AN UPDATE by George Frampton
• OUT ON OUR OWN by Jill Griffiths
• PUB MORRIS- DON’T YOU JUST LOVE PROCESSIONS 
• SIMON PIPE REFLECTS 
• LETTERS 
• NOTICEBOARD 
• POST SCRIPT 

Editorial

Summer 1998. Will it ever really arrive – time was when my team used to boast that it never rained when we were dancing. Now there’s no hope of that being true – it seems to have rained almost every weekend so far! We never used to plan tours on the basis of possible wet weather venues but maybe now we should.

The theme to this issue seems to be along the lines of “morris manners” and evolution. The scope is from basic behaviour on tour to how you use other people’s material Times have changed since a team went out once a year doing “their” dance which had been handed down only by “oral tradition” Jerry West wonders when is it acceptable to “borrow” something novel you really like in another team’s repertoire and to what extent should you modify it so that it becomes your own?!

How much do you care about your audience – do you tum up at the advertised time? I Do you make sure the audience – when you have one (apart from your groupies) – can see you? Do you let them know what’s happening – announce the dances etc? While (almost) none of us are professional, a true “performance” lifts things wonderfully. One of the teams I have most enjoyed seeing this year caught my attention because of their obvious interest in giving a performance rather than just running through a few dances. Real entrances and exits!

The world has become a much smaller place – if the number of travelling teams is
anything to go by. Simon Pipe comments on a couple of visiting American teams – my own team also hosted one of them and had an extremely enjoyable, if brief, time with them. And they are not the last to visit England this year – Half Moon Sword from New York are probably preparing to travel as I write, since they are appearing at Sidmouth this year. The opportunities for exchange of material are greater than ever. However, as George Frampton reflects, some events can become victims of their own success and a morris event may get overwhelmed by the sheer numbers wanting to attend.

May the rains stop for long enough for us to dance this summer. If you do have to stay in because of the rain – write me a letter!