Whilst the tradition of Adderbury Morris dancing is well understood by many of our followers and readers of these news items, I had not until now appreciated the origin and ethos of ‘Apple Day’ itself. Although comparatively recent in its conception, Apple Day has been a staple of local events on Britain for a good 30 years and more. I read with interest the Wikipedia entry: ‘Apple Day was initiated by Common Ground on 21 October 1990 at an event in Covent Garden, London, and has been celebrated in each subsequent year. By 2000 the day was celebrated in more than 600 events around the United Kingdom. Common Ground describe the day as a way of celebrating and demonstrating that variety and richness matter to a locality and that it is possible to effect change in your place. Common Ground has used the apple as a symbol of the physical, cultural and genetic diversity we should not let slip away. In linking particular apples with their place of origin, they hope that orchards will be recognized and conserved for their contribution to local distinctiveness, including the rich diversity of wild life they support.”
With eight dancers, including our talented hurdy-gurdy player mixing roles, we entertained the good people of Sibford as they enjoyed their apple day at the Village Hall.
The sun occasionally shone and the apples kept getting squished into delicious apple juice as we danced. Nicky, our Apple Day contact writes: Thank you all so much for you fantastic dancing, singing and beautiful playing (we loved the unusual instrumentals also so nice to have singing included in your performance). It was also lovely to see your very competent young members!
It has been a good year for apples, and it has been a good year for our treasured Morris side. We will be rounding a wonderful year of teamwork and joy with the hobbyhorse event in Banbury this Saturday, then on the 29th November, we’ll be dancing during the afternoon at the Adderbury Bell Winter Beer Festival finally, we are dancing between 12.30-1.15pm on Saturday 6th December at St Mary’s Adderbury Christmas Tree Festival in Adderbury.
David
