Eight dancers and a whole band of musicians came together to represent Adderbury at Mr Hemmings Abingdon day of dance. Mr Hemmings are one of the 4 oldest Morris sides recognised by Cecil Sharp for having a continuous tradition since probably the 1600s. The day was incredibly warm but we were joined by a Bride to be, belly dancers from Ashnah and Summertown Morris who all danced through the heat. Credit union particular to Summertown who were step perfect all day!

Mr Hemmings declared, “It’s a hot summer’s day!” (And he’s danced it for four hundred years). With banners and horses and corn dolls in tow, The dancers and bride and the belly-dance show, All filled up the market with cheers and cheers.

We hid in the shade and the music was sweet, Jenny Jones started the day with the girl we loved best rushing in Haste to the Wedding. While Constant Billy set town halls a-ringing, With stick-clashes, bells, and fantastic display.

Then into the sun where the Shepherds make Hay, A monstrous task in this heat! But with Hemmings’ own bride, Elijah and Adderbury stood side-by-side, As Summertown and Ashnah watched on in the day.

A spot of Shooting just right before lunch, Left hobby horses dropped on the ground. Revival was found at the Kings Head and Bell— A pub with two names so exceptionally swell, The finest refreshments – just as well!

Revived by the ale, The Black Swan’s sharp cry, Soon drew the sides back to the heat. The Bluebells of Scotland rang out to the sky, As the Princess Royal watched eight men dance by, Before finding shade from the street.

Back to the square for the heat of the sun, An Old Woman joined in to watch a Jockey go to the Fare, who leapt to the tune, Bound for Brighton Camp under a midsummer moon,

The shadows grew longer as the day reached its close, The music began to subside. But the echo of bells lingered in the air, As the Morris men and women scattered from the square, Drifting home on the midsummer tide.

Iain Wilkinson

Our thanks to Claire Scott and the Christopher Rawlins Summer Fete team for inviting us to dance again on Saturday 4 July. We share an Adderbury connection and the fact that that a number of the younger members of our side are former pupils or currently attend the school. Our thanks also to Donald, Mark and Svetlana for the photos and video clips that can be found on the Adderbury Village Morris Men Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064617467206 Hundreds of people view the video clips and we are grateful for all the kind and encouraging comments.

Richard

Website and FB page manager

There are few occasions more quintessentially English than a traditional village fete and amongst the vital components of such events: tea and cake stalls, bouncy castles, Punch and Judy shows, vintage car displays, ice cream sellers, silver band concerts, tombolas and artisan craft stalls, many would also regard a Morris dancing demonstration as a prerequisite for such occasions.

Thus it was that a small band of AVMM dancers and musicians found themselves performing for the third year in a row in the lovely village of Tingewick. Ryan, our exemplary Squire, led the side through a set of dances for the large crowd interspersed between sets by the Great Horwood Silver Band. That the threatening clouds failed to release their contents over our dancers was a mixed blessing, as we were decidedly hot and sticky by the end of our set. As usual, one of the highlights was our audience participation number during which I danced opposite Freya. As it was her birthday, I felt there could have been fewer more unusual presents than to introduce her to the joys of dancing Shepherds’ Hey. She seemed to enjoy herself enormously.

As soon as Brighton Camp brought another afternoon’s dancing to a close, we headed to the tea tent to enjoy the fantastic cakes provided for us as part of our fee. Musician Donald, who loves a photo opportunity, busied himself in juxtaposing our members amongst various quirky objects scattered around the field. Thus we ended up with a photo of our team alongside a vintage Morris car (Geddit?), the Punch and Judy stall with Raf sporting a string of sausages and a number of portraits of enormous cakes being consumed by the hungrier members of the sides. All very silly and rather lovely.

My thanks to all those who made themselves available so that we could once again field a full side of dancers and musicians. A member of another side recently complimented us on the frequency of our dance outs and our presence on social media, all this would not be possible without the wonderful people that make up the mighty Adderbury Village Morris.

We now have a fortnight’s rest before the Christopher Rawlings Primary School Fete on Saturday 4th July. We start dancing at 1pm. See you then.

John

Our huge thanks to Jessica Wood (Jess) and all involved in organising the annual Fringford Beer & Cider Festival. It is a privilege to dance at this wonderful event every year, thank you for inviting us again!

Fringford in the 19th Century is associated with Flora Thompson’s ‘Lark rise to Candleford’ trilogy. She largely bases Candleford Green on her childhood memories of Fringford, where she worked in the village post office from 1891-1897. Our thanks as always to our musicians and dancers and in particular to Ksyusha, our fantastic young jockey for hobby horse ‘Percy’. Ksyusha was wearing her Adderbury Village Morris outfit for the first time at the Fringford event.

On Sunday the 31st of May we attended the Kirtlington Morris Lamb Ale along with other sides from far and wide. Kirtlington have a long-standing tradition with their Lamb Ale, and we were so grateful to be attending again. The day started with a procession through the village to the Church where an uplifting and folk inspired service took place. Hymns, songs and even dancing filled the Church and echoed outside into the Churchyard.  Afterwards, we linked up with more members of our side, and began assembling with more arriving teams to form a larger procession through the village. Dancing to Speed the Plough, we made our way through the village as our band of musicians played for cheering crowds and spectators. We ended by dancing into the Primary School as you may have seen from some of the previously posted videos! Soucha and Dimitri did an excellent job of performing our horses, Percy and Charlie, who very much enjoyed leading our team. 

We watched Kirtlington Morris begin the day with dancing some of their routines, and then all sides split into different areas of the village to provide further entertainment. We started with Summertown and Stroud Morris at the Dashwood Arms – Stroud featured a brilliantly dressed Squire as a sheep dog, with another member dressed as a sheep which fit perfectly into the Lamb Ale! Summertown danced elegantly with a member holding a beautifully made banner showing Summertown’s name – something we could only aspire to match with our flag! We headed to the village hall and danced with our fellow side from Adderbury, Sharp & Blunt, and Mason’s Apron. Onlookers were keen to join us, so we danced a communal Shepherd’s Hey with the audience, members of Sharp & Blunt and Mason’s Apron. Everyone did a great job and it was a good opportunity to get everyone involved in our tradition.

We headed over to the Oxford Arms to link with another fellow Adderbury side, Adderbury Morris Men, and Berkshire Bedlam. Berkshire put on a brilliant display of energetic capering, double stepping, and exchanging sticks in tight movements. Requests from our side to try that were swiftly met with a “no” from me – I like to keep a hold of my own stick for the duration of a dance! Our final venue for the day was the primary school, where we danced with Shakespeare Morris and Kirtlington Morris before the other sides joined us. Shakespeare sported their own impressive Hobby Horse which made us very pleased to see our Percy and Charlie weren’t the only horses attending. Hopefully we can see Shakespeare’s horse again at our own Hobby Horse event in October.

Whilst other members had a well-deserved lunch break, John and I danced a Jockey to the Fair jig which the Kirtlington MC commented was one of the fastest they’d seen. We don’t like to hang around when it comes to dancing and even a harder jig like Jockey is no different! Each of the sides performed one final dance, and of course for us it was all up for Brighton Camp. It was brilliant to see all teams come together for a final dance to round off a brilliant day of Morris in Kirtlington. Adderbury Morris Men invited everyone to join a mass Shepherd’s Away with a multitude of sides participating, which out team of course couldn’t pass up. 

We should like to thank Kirtlington Morris for a brilliant and well organised day to celebrate the Morris – a tradition which brings people together from all over, and is a wonderful thing to share in our own unique ways. Thank you to our dancers and musicians who took the time to attend and travel all over the village – you all did excellently. 

Finally thank you to everyone who submitted photos and videos – it took Richard almost 2 hours to upload them all to our FB page where there have been thousands of views. We love having photos and videos of our team. Thank you for the continued support, and we’ll see you at our next event!

Squire Ryan

On Saturday 16 May, we attended the Moulton Village Festival at the invitation of Simon Care of the Moulton Morris Men. We arrived at the Artichoke pub with dancing already in full swing. Alongside Moulton Morris Men, were Chelmsford Morris, Thaxted Morris Men, Belle D’Vain Northwest Morris, and the Belles of London City who showed off their unique styles of dancing in turn and turnabout. 

After everyone had performed, the May Cart procession began with Morris dancers taking the reins and pulling the cart through the streets of Moulton to the familiar tune of Brighton Camp. At the top of the village, the turn and turnabout continued with our side performing a vigorous version of Constant Billy and, with the help of Pete Jordan, I broke a stick for the first time in my Morris career, and I couldn’t have chosen better place to do it!

Alfie Jordan joined me and the rest of our group in pulling the May Cart down to the Telegraph pub, where Moulton Morris Men performed their version of ‘Lads a buncham’, we then danced ‘Old woman tossed up in a blanket’ followed by a well-deserved lunch break. After that we assembled for the Carnival parade through the village, in which the May Cart once again featured. Cheering crowds lined the streets as we walked with an orchestra of musicians leading the way. At times, the Morris dancers pulling the cart would lift it above their heads to show off the beautifully decorated arches of flowers and foliage. It was a truly unique experience and a great deal of fun to be a part of. 

Each side went to dance in different parts of the village, and we found ourselves back at the Artichoke with Belle D’Vain and the Belles of London City. We performed turn and turnabout until one of the Belles of London City asked to dance our version of Shooting. Matt volunteered to don Percy and be shot at the end of what was a brilliant and enjoyable dance. 

I’d never understood until seeing other sides perform our dances how wide spread our tradition is, and it reminded me that it’s an honour to be part of preserving it. With so many sides there, it only seemed appropriate to invite them to perform a Shepherd’s Hey jig, with members of Belle D’Vain, Thaxted, and the Belles of London City joining us. We then made our way to the public gardens for the final performances of the day. Here, we performed Brighton camp’ and the lyric: “and let it be wet and windy” was apt considering the heavens had started to open!

Thank you to Simon and Barry Care, Moulton Morris Men and all the participating teams for being so welcoming and friendly, it was a joy to joy in all the fun! It was also a wonderful opportunity to see teams that reflect a wide range of dance traditions, and we’ll aim to be back again next year. 

Ryan

Another great morning’s dancing at The Kineton Farmers’ Market, this time not only celebrating May, but also our dancer Raf’s 70th birthday. Happy Birthday Raf. What better way to ward off the passing decades than dancing with Adderbury Village Morris in this lovely location.

Two hours of our usual sensational dancing in the sunshine, left the locals delighted. There was a brilliant mass Shepherd’s Hey which narrowly avoided Penny Varley’s Pottery stall on the  ‘foot down’….that could have been an expensive way to get her husband Rob involved in Morris dancing.!!!

Raf danced like the young man that he is, proving that Morris dancing is the key to a long, happy and a very fit life. Along with great dancing, there was terrific drumming from Alfie,  some great international Morris ‘horse’ activity, precise ‘Shooting’ and a unique six man Jockey to the Fair. With our Cavalry, ‘guns’ and drums it is hardly surprising that we were reminded that we danced a short distance from the Battlefield of Edgehill. (1642) Thankfully our guns, drums and cavalry brought a message of peace, joy  and dance to Kineton.

Thanks to all for a great event.

Donald

PS Safe travels to our dancer Theo on his European adventure. 😎

Our third May dance out in as many days, found us in the picturesque South Warwickshire Village of Preston on Stour. This was a wonderful, traditional May Day in the very best of senses.

We danced The May Queen elect, all the way from The Village Hall to The Village Green and on to her throne where she received her floral crown. Surrounded by her handmaidens, flag bearers, Adderbury Village Morris Dancers and assembled villagers, she became The Queen of the May as the crowd cheered, applauded and cried ‘all hail The Queen of the May.’ That was when the May revels began…

The Preston on Stour May Song was sung to our tune ‘The Landlord’. We danced a selection of Adderbury Village Morris Dances by the massive Maypole. We coaxed the villagers to join us in Shepherd’s Hey. Games and races were organised for the children. We drank tea and ate lots of cake. We had our photographs taken and then danced again, finishing with another mass Shepherd’s Hey and of course Brighton Camp.

Then the tug o war. Preston v The Rest of the World….again.

What a wonderful afternoon. Thankyou Preston on Stour, see you next year. ‘All hail the Queen of the May’.

Donald

As AVMM seem to be called upon to perform at an increasing number of village fetes about this time of year, I got to thinking how all these peculiarly English festivals seem to have certain factors in common: sunshine perhaps, ice creams and marquees and gazebos abound. However, all fetes are of differing sizes and reflect the local communities whose hard work make such events happen. This was the first time our side had danced at Finmere. We found ourselves in a pleasant green space with views of the local church, for which funds were being raised. There were the usual tombolas and stalls selling flowers and vegetables, local crafts and second hand books. At the extremities one could see tractors, ancient and modern, some beautiful classic and vintage cars and there were pony rides for small children.

Musicians Donald and Malcolm led our six dancers into the main arena at the prescribed time. AVMM waited in the warm sunshine while a pair of girls finished singing a selection of songs from Disney films of the early part of the century and then the announcer did what announcers do and we were on. As usual we performed a selection of our dances expertly chosen by Squire Ryan appropriate to the age and experience of the team and the dancing surface. I think horse racing fans would have described the ground as “good to hard”. After our inevitable audience participation dance was judged a success: Lots of smiling faces, no injuries, over 20 participants of all ages from grandparents to toddlers and only one crying infant, soon appeased with an ice lolly, we concluded our set with a finale consisting of Bluebells, Washing Day and Brighton Camp before yielding the arena to The Dog Show and later a Circus Skills Workshop. At this point some of us decided that dancing was rather thirsty work and took advantage of the beer tent. Rebellion Brewery IPA and Saxby cider, rather than gassy lager, were the preferred choices of our discerning drinkers. Others opted for the café or the burger bar. Each to their own.

Tomorrow we have another fete at Preston-on-Stour. 

John

The May Bank Holiday Weekend is always a fun time in The Morris World.

We commenced the festivities with a May Wedding at the Warwickshire, Church Farm  Brewery. A wedding in a brewery !….what could possibly go wrong?

Well we didn’t perform our most popular dance.. the drinking jig. Thankfully we were trying to set a good example for the newly weds so we concentrated on the dancing and left the excessive drinking to the guests. Those guests were clearly enjoying the local produce and joined us for, not one but two, mass Shepherd’s Heys. Great fun was had by all.

We played an hour long set of our greatest hits, featuring ‘Haste to the Wedding’ of course and culminating in our grand farewell dance ‘Brighton Camp.’

This time however ‘ the girl I left behind me’ was the bride ‘riding’ a Morris horse to everyone’s delight.

She said.. ‘it made her day’.

‘What about the wedding’ I said ?

Oh yes she replied ‘how could I forget that.’

Congratulations to bride and groom..cheers 🍺

and don’t forget to Morris On.

Donald