Christmas always seems to come round so quickly, and by extension so does our Boxing Day dance out! Foggy conditions didn’t deter us as our dancers were perfectly visible to the many onlookers in the village, who were enjoying themselves despite the damp conditions. With a cohort of 13 dancers and two musicians we were soon entertaining with Sweet Jenny Jones, Old Woman Tossed up in a Blanket, the Beaux of London City and many more outside both the Coach & Horses and the Bell.

As we had such a positive audience, we invited them to join us in a Shepherds’ Hey jig that may have caused minor traffic disruption, but was greatly enjoyed by all the participants. (For any health and safety personnel reading I told them to look both ways before doing a foot down towards the road!). Among the onlookers, David and John spotted the great niece of Harry Wallin and also, Harry’s nephew – John danced the Shepherds’ Hey with him. Harry was a member of the side back in the 1900s and later killed in the First World War. Harry is memorialised at the cemetery in Arras, France. It was lovely to speak to someone who relates to Morris Dancing within the village, and show them how far dancing has come. 

Over the past year I do hope we’ve done our predecessors justice,  continuing the tradition with a strong group of dancers that have helped us put on many fun-filled events. Going into our 50th year since the revival, is an exciting prospect with many events to look forward.

Thank you to everyone who took part including our musicians Jim and Malcolm who played brilliantly during the colder weather. Our dancers also did a fantastic job despite having not danced for a few weeks – it was so encouraging to see so many young dancers out with us . We also appreciated the crowds outside the Coach & Horses, and the Bell who gave us a positive reception and as always, we would like to thank the respective landlords and staff. Finally, our grateful thanks to Hannah for fantastic action photos – see more of these on our Facebook page. We wish everyone a fun and safe festive season, and a happy New Year.

Ryan & John

Uploaded by Richard, currently in Oban, Stewart Island, New Zealand which is 11, 839 miles away from Adderbury!

Every Morris side is comprised of much more than sets of dancers and musicians: Every Morris side has an audience; an array of family members, friends, photographers, folk music fans, passing members of the public, all following their performance and occasionally, dogs too. Over the past eleven years, AVMM have sometimes been joined by a small black pug dog call Riley. His cuteness has often drawn attention away from the clashing sticks, the jingling bells and the array of Janet Blunt collected dances. In his own quiet way, Riley has been a supporter, a pet and a mascot. He accompanied us on tours of Somerset, Norfolk and France and Belgium for the centenary events related to the end of WW1, as we paid our respects to the fallen. Riley passed away on 27 November, RIP gentle boy Riley a Morris pug dog.

As is customary at this time of year, AVMM got together in good numbers to support this lovely event and to perform in front of a friendly and appreciative crowd including Father Christmas himself, who without his beard bore a striking resemblance to former Landlord of The Bell, John Bellinger. Our lunchtime slot in between the other two Adderbury sides, Sharp and Blunt and Adderbury Morris Men, suited most of the team and we were able to field no less than 12 dancers plus three musicians, Donald, Mike and Sue. It was good to meet up with old friends and to dance in such a lovely ancient building close to our brilliantly decorated tree, which drew appreciative comments from aficionados of such matters. We are particularly grateful to Sue for taking on the lead role in making our tree look so beautiful and appropriately embellished with ribbons, bells and other Morris related accoutrements. The knitted model AVMM dancer drew particular comment and there was some discussion as to which member of the side he most resembled. The majority view was that a senior member of the side allegedly originating from the county of Dorset might have been the model for Sue’s knitted doll.

As usual we navigated dancing in the rather narrow aisles of St Mary’s without major mishap and the two sets of six performed their heys most impressively, even if the logistics of three sets for Princess Royal dancing at 90 degree angles proved a challenge for some.

Someone asked me once, having played a lot of football and rugby, why I took up Morris dancing at an age when many men give up most physical activity. As I looked at the smiling faces of the team and the large crowd, I was reminded of the first line of the traditional carol, The King.

“Joy, Health, Love and Peace be all here in this place.”

See you again on Boxing Day outside the pub!

John

An annual Christmas tradition is the St Mary’s Adderbury Christmas tree festival and normally, John and David lead our AVMM Christmas tree decorating team. This year they were joined by Mike and Sue and the men stood back in awe at the creative genius of Sue Dalchau, our super-talented musician and Christmas tree creative director! John writes: The AVMM tree looks much better than it has ever done before during my 20 odd years with the side. Our particular thanks to Sue for her hard work and creativity and to Mike, John and David.

If you can, please come and join us for Morris dancing in St Mary’s church, Adderbury on Saturday 7^th December. The AVMM 45-minute slot begins promptly at 1.15pm and if you have the time, come and watch the other Adderbury sides: Sharp and Blunt who are dancing from 12.30pm and the Adderbury Morris Men from 2pm. A great festival of trees and Morris dancing!

Ryan writes: On Saturday afternoon 16^th November we had the pleasure of dancing at The Bell Beer Festival in Adderbury – a week-end long celebration with fantastic beer and food galore! Arriving late, dancing in the beer garden was already in full swing, led by John. Once I’d got my finger out (and my bells on!) we continued to dance a range from our repertoire with as many as 12 dancers at a time. We danced for about an hour with hardly any time to taste the amazing beers on offer!

Our dancing was supported by strong musical accompaniment from Donald, Mike and Sue, clearly audible along Church Lane and beyond. It was great to hear them in full swing and it made the dancing so enjoyable and with an engaging crowd joining us for a Shepherd’s Hey jig, we had a lot of fun. One lady dancing with Richard had three small children in tow and Richard arranged for an observer to hold her gin and tonic!

When Richard last did the Hook Norton brewery tour, he was told a ‘tall tale’ when the tour arrived at the stables. Apparently one of the shire horses reacted badly to Morris music and so we were imagining something of a wild west scene when a Hook Norton shire horse turned up. The man with the horse said that actually his horse liked Morris dancing though personally he wasn’t keen!

Thank you to all dancers who took part and a special mention to Hector and Freddie who danced really well and reflect our efforts to retain and develop young dancers to ensure the future of the side. Finally, a huge thank you to Rhys and Michelle at the Bell for enabling us to dance – as our ‘thank you’ we lined the corridor and sang ‘Landlord fill the Flowing Bowl’. We hope to be back next year!

Ryan Jamniuk and Richard Teare

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

On Wednesday evening 15 May, AVMM paid tribute to Tony, the long-time landlord of the Coach and Horses in Adderbury, as he prepares to retire in the next few weeks by performing inside and outside this village local, which has been a bolt hole for the side on many a Day of Dance and on other happy occasions over the years. It had been hoped to have all three local sides taking turns to entertain the crowd of regulars, but although Sharp & Blunt and Adderbury Morris Men were unable to raise a team, it was good to see the audience swollen with discerning Morris aficionados from both those sides. Fielding an impressive 14 dancers ready to perform to musicians Donald and Malcolm allowed us to dance with two sets of six and a brace of horses for most of our 18 dances. Princess Royal was danced with three sets of four performing in an unusual triangle formation, in order to reduce the risk of spilling onto the main road, whilst Jockey to the Fair featured an impressive four pairs in a star formation around our musicians. As Tony was kept busy pulling pints behind the bar, the side moved into the crowded pub to serenade him with four verses of ‘Come Landlord Fill The Flowing Bowl’, which delighted diners and locals alike and earned a hearty round of applause led by Tony. There was then time for more dancing outside and a photo with Tony before our traditional final dance of Brighton Camp.

After which we retired to the cosy interior of this fine old pub to enjoy a well earned drink. Tony thanked us profusely for helping him celebrate his impending retirement and complimented us on the number of youngsters in our side, without whom the long-term future of the side might be in doubt. Our extended version of Shepherds’ Hey Jig featured no less than seven current members of the Warriner School as well as Alfie from the local primary school. This bodes very well for the future. Dylan pointed out last night that it was exactly seven years since his debut in public for AVMM, which was outside the old Black Boy pub, now The Marlstone Tavern, in Milton. With excellent ambassadors for the side like Dylan and Theo, we should continue to attract more young dancers and musicians to share in our wonderful tradition.

We dance next at the Fringford Beer Festival on Saturday 15 June. Join us if you can!

John Ekers

After a rather damp and chilly Day of Dance, the heat from the continuous bright sunshine that seemed to be trapped in the small but beautiful market square of Kineton, provided a different kind of challenge for the intrepid dancers of AVMM. Some much needed refreshment in the form of chilled cordials was provided by the kind folk who organise the market, and this was greatly appreciated by our small band of eight dancers who worked hard to entertain the shoppers with some very respectable dancing and horsing around.

During the morning we performed 16 dances including a three pair Jockey to the Fair Jig, an eight man Princess Royal and an extended Shepherds’ Hey Jig as our audience participation number. Postman’s Knock is our signature dance and is always enjoyed by the crowd, although some of the audience were shocked by our callous treatment of the horses at the end of “Shooting”, with Dylan and Dimitrii milking as much sympathy from the audience as they could manage. As usual we finished with Brighton Camp and went home to cool off after a busy morning’s work.

I would particularly like to thank the younger members of the side who danced so well this morning. Theo and Dylan are of course very experienced and talented dancers, but Alfie Jordan also deserves credit for putting so much effort in on a very hot day when he could have been sat in the shade at home preparing for his SATs Tests next week.

We dance next on Wednesday 15th May outside The Coach and Horses in Adderbury starting at 6.45pm.

John