Adderbury Village Morris Men were honoured to be invited by Rosy Burke to join a large crowd of town councillors, representatives of local community and faith groups and interested passers-by to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the official opening of the magnificent Fine Lady upon a White Horse statue, which was designed to represent the Queen of the May and stands by Banbury Cross. One of our members pointed out that the evening before May Day has in the past been celebrated as the pagan feast of Beltane and therefore dancing and a certain amount of wild behaviour were not inappropriate. The evening started with a mass recitation of the nursery rhyme “Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross” led by our button accordion player, Donald. Then it was time to dance. A Bagman’s lot is not always a happy one and it is often difficult to know with any certainty how many members will turn up for any event, particularly as this booking came just five days after our most enjoyable, but physically demanding Adderbury Day of Dance. In the event I need not have worried. The team did me proud and a quick head count revealed four musicians and no less than 13 dancers. Right, two sets of six and a jockey for our Hobby Horse, Charlie. Perfect!
We rattled through a selection of our dances, kicking off with the traditional Sweet Jenny Jones and Haste to the Wedding and then several more dances including Postman’s Knock, which always draws appreciative noises from the crowd. The sun was shining on an unusually warm spring evening and it seemed as if everyone in the audience was smiling. Morris has that magical effect. Before long it was time for speeches and photographs of our team by the statue as well as the local councillors, who work so hard on behalf of the town. We also thanked Rosy and those whose vision and generosity led to the commissioning of such a universally admired piece of art.
But before that, our Squire Ryan pointed out that since the statue was officially opened in 2005 by Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, it would be appropriate to perform our Princess Royal Dance around the statue for three sets of four. This dance concluded with all the dancers and our Hobby Horse capering around the Horse as requested by Rosy, our lovely host.
After a couple more dances by the cross, we proceeded to Parsons’ Street and continued dancing outside the Olde Reine Deer Inne. Here we danced Shepherds’ Hey for two sets and then invited members of the audience to join us in the Jig version of the dance. Further entertainment was provided by The Beaux of London City aka Shooting which concluded with the ritual shooting of Charlie and his jockey. After having enjoyed suitable refreshment and being looked after so well by the staff of the pub, we came into the body of this ancient hostelry to sing “Come Landlord Fill the Flowing Bowl” with David and Donald sharing the verses.
As dusk started to fall we said our farewells and all agreed that that was one of the best evenings we could remember: full of laughter, joy and good fellowship. Whether it was the significance of the occasion, the marvellous crowd or the balmy weather, it is certain that the spirit of the Lord of the Dance came to Banbury yesterday evening. Last night was the first outing in public for Mark Skevington, who having only been at practices since the start of March has taken to the Morris like the proverbial duck to water. Special mention also to two teenagers in the side, Hector and Dylan, who showed that they are fine dancers already and whose impressive capers and sticking can only improve in the years to come. Our younger members are the future of the side and we very proud of them. Lastly, thanks to our brilliant musicians, our unflappable Squire and to Rosy for inviting us.
John Ekers