This is the 2008 diary for Winterbourn Down Border Morris. The status shows whether a commitment has been made to dance at the event. The comments are for any snippets about or after the event. Further information will be added as it becomes available.
We practise most Mondays; for details click here. But in the summer we alternate practices in the village hall with practices at local pubs - a schedule is posted click here below. Regular practices in All Saints Church Hall start again some time in September.
Date |
Event |
Status |
Comments |
| Tuesday 1st January | Priston Jubilee Morris, at Priston | Done and dusted | Serious disturbance in Somerset Village. Toddler forced to perform on a musical instrument in public. Innocent motorist surrounded by a midwinter gathering of local weirdos - not shown on his OS map. Note - Pitchfork Rebellion also started in this vicinity - (Norton St Philip, 27/6/1685) |
| Thursday 1st May 2008 | Brandon Hill | Confirmed | 4.45 am up the hill. That's a.m., as in After Midnight but before dawn. We danced our socks off and finished off with a slap up breakfast down on Welsh Back, organised by our social team headed (and footed) by Cedric. Sadly we had to pay for it ourselves - what's happened to the corporate sponsorship team? |
| Saturday 3rd May 2008 | Upton upon Severn Folk Festival | Confirmed | More socks were danced off, ours included, once we sorted out our lines. But where were the Bunnies from Hell? It has to be mentioned that one of our dance spots was outside the Fire Station, in Minge Lane. (Stop sniggering at the back, there.) Minge, of course, means a small biting fly, and the lane was named by the good burghers of Upton to indicate the low-lying, marshy nature of the area. Any more questions? |
| Monday 5th May 2008 | Winterbourn Down Carnival | Confirmed | 12-12.15 at the Methodist Chapel, 12.45 to 1pm at the Station Rd Junction, ample time for Ice Creams in between. Winterbourn Down is a well-drained area, except maybe down Terry's way, so no street name problems here. |
| Tuesday 6th May 2008 | Bradley Stoke Beavers. Holy Trinity Church, Broadcroft, Bradley Stoke BS32 0BD | Confirmed | This was a demo to help the beavers towards their "Global Challenge" badge. Linda gave a good talk about the various forms of Morris, aimed at the kids, so I actually learnt quite a lot. Still can't dance, though, and they said they'd have to have an examiner's meeting to see whether I qualified for the badge. |
| Saturday 10th May 2008 | Charfield Primary School | Confirmed. | This is all hearsay, but a little bird told me that one of our musicians - who shall be nameless - forgot that after A comes B. (How she ever taught ABC in her working life is yet another wonder.) Fortunately this error did not faze our dancers, who as usual moved to their own mysterious internal rhythms. |
| Saturday 17th May 2008 | Lincombe Barn Spring Fair, Downend | Confirmed | We had to be on our best behaviour because one of the beavers from Bradley Stoke (see above) turned up, and was dead keen to drive the bottle stick again. So we put in a flawless performance as usual. The police CCTV Unit was there, observing us closely - but discreetly - and we haven't yet received a summons for disorderly behaviour. Have to ramp it up a bit next time, eh guys? |
| Saturday 7th June 2008 | Frampton Cotterell Church Fete | Confirmed. | After last Monday's success in roping in two Pert Morris Dancers to do Dilwyn, today we had a very much not unwilling novice again for Dilwyn - the leader of the Line Dance team who were performing before our spot. |
| Sunday 22nd June 2008 | Wotton Under Edge dance weekend | Confirmed | From 11.30 am, dancing at Full Moon, Town Hall, The Star and The Royal Oak. Joint dance with Ramrugge Clog Morris, all the way from sunny Hertfordshire. A bright but very breezy day, good dancing, good music from a variety of players, helping Susie who very ably stepped up to the mark in the temporary absence of our usual leads. And she found the energy to do the Hambrook Broom Dance as well! |
| Saturday 28th June 2008 | Ragged and Old Day of Dance, Eastcombe - Scout Hut | Confirmed. | But it was an all day job, with pubs intervening in a manner destined to alter the arccurarcy and percision of our preformances. Lovely weather, more morris sides than you could shake a stick at, an ever-changing array of cloggies (I'm sure at least some of the faces stayed the same) and all neatly wound up by cakes and ale. Thanks again, Ragged and Old. We just might come again.
|
| Sunday 21st September. | Priston Festival | Confirmed | We danced in the company of Rag Morris, Somerset Morris and our hosts Priston Jubilee Morris. Wonderful time, thank you Priston. |
| Sunday 28th September. | Tetbury Food and Drink Fair | Confirmed | No sign of TRH's but we had a loyal and happy audience. Some even cancelled their lunch in Bath to be present at our 2nd spot. Such fame! |
| Thursday 16th October 2008 | Frampton Cotterell - Kelbra twinning. Crossbow House, School Road, Frampton Cotterell |
Confirmed | Frampton's German visitors got to grips with Morris terminology, joining in Dilwyn and soon adding their own expletives. Sehr Gut/Gert Lush |
| 13th December | Staple Hill Xmas Fayre | Confirmed | Alan got a tour of the Mighty Organ, there was a shoot-out between the Staple Hill cowboys and Red Indians AND we danced all our best dances. Christmas must be the reason for all this excitement! |
| 26th December | Boxing Day Mummers & Dancing in Winterbourne Down | Confirmed | A crisp, sunny day exactly right for crowds of happy people and their dogs. One dog was very bemused by the whole affair and barked its socks off while the Mummers and dancers wowed the generous crowds. (See total for 2008) Thank you, everyone! |
We are also on tour around the local pubs on summer Monday evenings. Generally we meet at 7.30 for an 8pm start, Morris time. Other Mondays, we're in the hall as usual.
Date |
Pub |
Village and Post Code |
Comments |
| Monday May 12th | Anchor Inn | Gloucester Rd, Thornbury BS351JY | Lovely warm evening, nice pub, a good bash. |
| Monday May 19th | Live & Let Live | Clyde Road, Frampton Cotterell, BS36 2EF. | With Priston Jubilee Morris. A dry but cold evening - how come we're not dancing in California like some other sides I could mention? |
| Monday June 2nd | Fox Inn | Inner Down, Old Down, Tockington, BS32 4PR. | Done and dusted. And drizzled and rained on. But we did turn and turn about with Rag Morris, so we sheltered on the pub's verandah while they danced, then they dried out while we had a go. Who said Morris dancing isn't fun? It was such fun that a morris dancer from Perth joined us, and we taught her and her friend Dilwyn - in the rain. Makes you want to emigrate. |
| Monday June 16th | Codrington Arms | Wapley Road, Codrington, BS37 6RY. | With Applejacks as well as us, strutting their Appalachian stuff. Smart and sassy. And Somerset Morris and Pigsty too. That's four sides for the price of one, and that one was free. Bargain!!! I wasn't there, nor were our usual lead musicians, but I'm reliably informed that everybody chipped in with a chord or two to keep us moving in reasonable time to the beat . And a good time was had by all. |
| Monday July 7th | Bird in Hand | High Street, Saltford, Bristol, BS31 3EJ. | With Priston Jubilee Morris again |
| Monday July 21st | Anchor Inn |
Church Road, Oldbury-on-Severn, Bristol, S. Glos, BS35 1QA. | With Rag Morris |
| Monday July 28th | Swan Inn | Duck Street, Tytherington, Nr Wotton-under Edge, Glos, GL12 8QB. | With Applejacks again. |
Contact : WDBM |