AVMM were delighted to be welcomed back again to the wonderful Banbury Friendship Festival (BFF) which, this year, took place in the Bridge Street Community Garden. Eight regular dancers and two Hobby horses performed to the large and enthusiastic crowd with stalwarts Donald and Malcolm providing the essential musical accompaniment.

Near flawless demonstrations of many of our most popular dances such as Sweet Jenny Jones, Postman’s Knock, Shooting, Princess Royal and Flasher brought loud applause and we had no difficulty in attracting volunteers for our audience participation numbers, Brighton Camp and a simplified version of Shepherds’ Hey for beginners. We were immediately asked back to next year’s festival and received several enquiries about our availability for other events as well as requests for more information from Will, a member of the Woodcraft Folk, who is already a proficient dancer and showed terrific potential.

Thanks to dancers, Dylan, Chris G, Ryan, Mark, David S, Richard and a special mention to Troy, who on Lads a Bunchum, called a Morris dance in public for the first time. We should also like to thank Judith and Sue from BFF for hosting us and for the donation.

Our next dance out will be on Monday 27th May at Wroxton Fete starting at 1pm.

Squire John Ekers