Great Ormond Street Hospital - May 3

 The first Tuesday in May is our For our annual visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital's Scout Troop.  As usual, there's a familiar bunch of leaders, and whichever children are in hospital are in hospital and ready/able to to do scouting.

We danced some (ahem) three-man Morris, interspersed with  talk and discussion.

One young scout congratulated James on being really good at playing melodeon.

Then a little chat about the importance of traditional instruments was suddenly drowned out by.... Jeremy's sax.

This led into a Nutting Girl, the only bit we got photos of, as James had his hands free.

The scouts joined in from some stick dancing - Balance the Straw and Young Collins - with the "simplified hey" that makes ad hoc mixed ability Morris so much more possible. Just replace the hey with a "whole gyp" like movement, and suddenly no one goes wrong, and Morris can be danced by any number....

[Jeremy assures us that this is all perfectly acceptable for Morris scholars, as we are simply evolving the dance backwards to its courtly roots in the Inns of Court in London]

We lowered the flag with the scouts,  and went for a drink with the Scout leaders. Thank you Great Ormond Street Hospital, for having us once again....

May Morning, Primrose Hill

How lovely! Well, Peter and Peter couldn't be there, but a good number of London Pride, Belles of London City and Sharp Morris were there at 5.32, for a crisp and beautiful sunrise. 

There was dancing, and then there was breakfast at Cecil Sharp House. Nice work everyone!

St Mary's Church Hendon - Music Festival

Starting the season, we danced at the Music Festival of St Mary's Church Hendon.

We were on immediately after an Evensong which featured a lovely choir singing good anthems, and a beautiful string quartet.

For our part, we danced in the church - hats off, including the Bampton sidestep medley and some Fieldtown dances.

The congregation joined us for Bonnie Green, we danced Lord of the Dance outside, and then adjourned to the Greyhound.

We had a lovely welcome, and liked the place a lot.

Dancing for Datacenter Dynamics

On 27 November, we visited DatcenterDynamics, where Peter J works. We found the other staff there were enthusiastic to join in. Viola learnt the Nutting Girl as she went along, and George and Emilly did a great job in Brimfield..... 

Apple Yowling / Wassailathon

 Wassailing is getting more popular, and it took us to Walthamstow.

In the early afternoon, there was a wassail at the Meadow Orchard Project in Crouch End, where Peter J went as a supernumary musician with Sharp Morris.

There was singing, outdoor oven-baked pizza, mulled cider and cake.

In the evening there was more wassailing at the Ferryboat in Walthamstow. Here we danced with the lovely Blackhorse and Standard Morris.

There was more singing, more cider and a general good time.

Feast - 6 December 2014

Our Feast was at Holy Cross Centre, The Crypt, Holy Cross Church, Cromer Street.

There was dancing and feasting. It was good to celebrate another successful year.

Our guests were Hillary Blanford and Maggie Holland.

If anyone has photos or more to add, please feel free to do so....

Apple Day Walthamstow, 11 October

LP danced at the annual Apple Day festival at Vestry House Museum Walthamstow. Celebrating all things to do with apples.. including cider. 

Costermongers' Harvest Festival 28 September

This year we didn't dance in the Guildhall square for the annual Costermongers' Harvest Festival. We didn't join the procession. Instead we were asked to dance outside St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside till the procession arrived.

Morris is a traditional part of the Festival, but the main attraction is the Pearly Royalty on display, and there is also Maypole Dancing, Chelsea pensioners and all manner of other stuff, There's plenty of Morris in the square, and we enjoyed a chance to mingle with the other sides and people, before having a spot to ourselves outside the church.

There is a video of Peter Kanssen's jig on Facebook.

Angel Canal Festival, 7 September

The Angel Canal Festival is a highlight each year, on the first Sunday in September. It's a long day with lots of dancing and music, and happy audiences. 

We started at 11 with some music and dancing at our usual first spot, outside the Prince of Wales pub. Sadly this was closed this year.  

Next stop was the "plaza" by City Road basin, which this year was a beach - with deckchairs, sand, a pirate ship and pony rides. 

After that, we had a "music only" stand at the Lock Island. There's no dancing on the lock island, for safety reasons, but Nick managed a jig on the tow path. 

We danced at Packington - the far end of the canal festival, where some of the audience watched from railing above us, and a number of people joined in enthusiastically. All were invited to practice on Tuesday evenings, of course. 

Then back to the Plaza for our last show. We were pretty strong in numbers by this time, so we managed Upton Stick Dance and some other less standard dances. 

As usual, we spent a lot of time chatting and posing with passers by between shows: some people asked for music so they could show us their moves.

After four shows, our feet were tired but we skipped lightly home (no really).   Pictures by Richard Askew. 

St Giles Fayre and Phoenix Gardens Agricultural Show, 6 September

We like the Phoenix Gardens - it's a haven in the centre of town, in the shadow of Centre Point. And St Giles in the Fields is a beautiful and historic church. So we like the Phoenix Gardens Agricultural Show and St Giles Fayre, which comes at the start of September every year. 

This year we danced in the churchyard, where there was tea and cakes, and a barbecue, as well as animals from the City Farm, and produce such as honey. 

Other acts included a Punch and Judy show, as well as the Crystal Palace Brass Band. 

Some of us went on to a London Pride country dance event. Others went to Trafalgar Square where a demonstration welcomed a group who re-enacted the Jarrow March, calling for action to keep the NHS public.  

Photos by Josh Askew.