John writes: Thanks to musicians Jim, Mike and Sue and a  warm welcome to new recruit on fiddle, Isobel and to all our dancers for a lovely afternoon together. One of the crowd complimented me on the youth of our side and we talked about the need to preserve the tradition and the aim of our youth policy. I haven’t kept a record of our age and birthdays, but imagine that with Alfie, Freddie, Dylan and Hector, all still at school, dancing today, along with young Ryan, who called and danced impeccably, today’s side might have had the lowest average age of any side AVMM have fielded in many years. So well done, one and all.

Our thanks to Trisha and the Fete organising committee. We enjoyed the event and greatly appreciated your kindness in providing a gazebo under which we could shelter from the hot, but welcome, sun. We also enjoyed the excellent cakes on offer. You have some very talented cake makers in your village!

Trisha writes: I’m writing to say a big thank you to you and the team for joining us at Saturday’s fete. You did an excellent job and the village feedback commented on how the Morris Dancing just added to the village country fete feel we wanted  …so thank you for that and we hope you will be able to join us again next year. Everybody has said how much they enjoyed the whole day and to have such glorious sunshine was just wonderful. All the stalls did well with sales, our Tombola was a complete sell out and our raffle tickets sales were the best ever !! Plus our Friday café ladies always deliver great cakes for all our events as you now know ….so all is good!

John writes: A big thank you to all for making our performance at the Fringford Beer Festival such a happy occasion. The weather was challenging, to say the least but we enjoyed occasional glimpses of the sun. Particular thanks go to our excellent musicians, Donald and Malcolm, who had to put up with a cold wind and occasional heavy showers without the benefit of dancing to warm themselves up. Still, the crowd enjoyed our performances and the effect of the excellent beer and cider made itself evident when we pulled in unprecedented numbers of enthusiastic and well refreshed volunteers for our second Shepherds’ Hey Jig. David and Charlie the horse survived a nasty fall during one of our dances but are none the worse for the experience, David’s black eye notwithstanding. It was a great joy to welcome back Luke, Troy and Owen to the side. They all danced very well and I was delighted to be joined by grandson Owen as my partner as one of four pairs for our 8 man Jockey to the Fair Jig. Our thanks to Troy for the lovely photo (below).

Thanks again to all for your excellent company, fine dancing and playing and support for our wonderful and unique tradition. Finally, we would all like to thank Jess and the Fringford Beer Festival organising committee for inviting us to dance again this year. This is a favourite annual event and we always look forward to participating.

John Ekers

Many of us will have recently enjoyed the play ‘Lark Rise’ at the Chipping Norton Theatre, which featured the dancing of our friends Sharp and Blunt. On Wednesday evening we were dancing out ourselves deep in the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside, this time at a quintessentially beautiful pub in a village setting so similar to that portrayed in the wonderful play at the theatre. The Butchers Arms at Balscote was the setting for that evening’s traditional Morris dancing. The audience received us warmly, the sun shone, we had four musicians playing fiddle, hurdy-gurdy, English pipes, and melodeon, all giving a beautiful accompaniment to our traditional repertoire. We also did our regular audience participation version of Shepherds’ Hey and amongst the various audience members was Andy, one of the technicians that had worked on the Lark Rise play. Perhaps it was the spirit of Lark Rise that had got into his soul, as he said that he felt that the Morris tradition was a really appealing pastime that he is keen to try!

I always think it’s curious what we as individuals find difficult in our Morris dancing; when we had the four pairs of dancers doing Jockey to the Fair that evening, with my partner Ryan’s excellent calling I found myself allaying some of my fears about that dance and I felt I had finally done my best. Visually, the setting of us four pairs in a cross formation in the pub garden with the backdrop of the church and with all the musicians standing in the middle of us must have looked spectacular. I congratulate our entire team for their energy and enthusiasm and their joy of dancing and playing music together, but I feel special mention should go to Dylan, who called both Constant Billy and Princess Royal with aplomb.

Kate and Simon from the Butchers Arms were so welcoming, and we were pleased to be able to sing Landlord to them. Their beers, served straight from the barrel, were the finest Hook Norton beers I have tasted in a long time!

David Snell