Morris dancing parents and grandparents! Lovers of Whitby! Horse fans! If this is you, then watch out for this new book Giddy Up at Whitby – a morris dancing adventure for children.
Giddy Up at Whitby tells the story of Giddy, a lovable but somewhat foolish morris horse who gets lost at Whitby Folk Week. As Giddy roams around the town trying to rejoin his lost side in time for a big performance, he meets dancers and musicians from all kinds of morris traditions, as well as a few other interesting characters.
The book is written by Katie Palmer Heathman, and illustrated by Geoff Roberts, who are both morris/sword dancers based in the North East, where Katie is squire of Black Gate Morris and Geoff is squire of Hexham Morris Men. As well as a love of morris, they share a fondness for bad puns and Dad jokes, so Giddy’s story became an obvious way to teach tomorrow’s future dancers about both.
If you wish to order a copy and have it posted to you, the book is currently seeking funding via Kickstarter to finance the first print run, with the campaign running until 9th April 2020, see: Kickstarter campaign for Giddy Up at Whitby
A bit about the morris and sword dancing backgrounds of the author and illustrator: Katie grew up watching Mendip Morris Men and always wanted to dance. She started dancing in 2007 with Pigsty Morris in Bristol, before moving on to Cardiff Morris – Y Morys Caerdydd – during her university years, followed by Lady Bay Revellers. Geoff started dancing in 1993 with Woodside Morris Men, quickly joined by Chiltern Hundreds North West Morris, and then Rockhopper Morris. Since moving to the North East he has joined the newly-formed Amble Sword Dancers, Hexham Morris and Black Gate Morris, where Katie and Geoff met as founder members.