THE "NOT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING"
Holt Morris is in denial about many things, not least that it stands at the very apex, the apotheosis of dance "cool." "Strictly" afficianados will have a more realistic perception. So at a kind of "gathering" that took place at The Mount Pleasant Club on Thursday last, 7th. Jan. in lieu of much-needed practice, the side casually, but somehow formally, arrived at a series of what can only be described as "decisions," relating to both the previous and the forthcoming dance years. A document has been mysteriously produced which chronicles in truncated form, the "conversations" surrounding the conclusions arrived at, which, in other organisations, might be construed as "minutes." Heaven Forfend!
As a consequence of the event, it would appear that your chronicler has been shoe-horned, if a little relunctantly, into the role of "Squire for the year 2016" after the incumbent for the year 2015, Patrick Cousins, has eased himself away into the kind of oblivion that only he can achieve, and so it falls to me, in my first public, power proclamation to thank and congratulate him for his exemplary dedication and commitment to the role during the last year.
It would appear that whilst most things will remain the same, Baggo Ray Dixon is still Baggo, Chris Tunnicliffe as connoisseur beer man is still Pub Co-ordinator, Jack Slack is still The Great Communications Stupendo, our wonderful musicians are still our wonderful musicians, our younger dancers are still displaying exciting enthusism as our younger dancers and our older members are still our older members, a couple of further changes have been instituted.
Stephen Tucker is now our Dance Co-ordinator and Martin Moyes is now responsible for all things "Social." In addition, after many years of Brewery Sponsorship, our association with "Box Steam Brewery" has drifted into a state of rigor, through apparent mutual lack of interest, so wherever any reluctantly lingering references alluding to such association still exist on this site, they may be safely ignored. Whether other things will change or not may become apparent as time moves inexorably on, or as the case may be.
Since our inception we have deluded ourselves over the processes of decision-taking in the belief that chaos is somehow more relaxed, warmly intuitive, organic, democratic, fuzzy and nice. So.... Was this conclave an..... AGM..... or not?
SWANAGE FESTIVAL SEP. 2015. OR "A FINE DAY AT THE SEASIDE"
Life commenced early on Sat. 12th Sept. as we had decided to make this event a day trip necessitating a 2hr. drive in each direction.
The organisers were very considerate in allocating our first dance spot out on the end of the pier at the furthest end of the town away from the car park. Were they trying to tell us something? Fortunately we shared this spot with Quayside Cloggies fr4om Poole whose dances seem to go on for ever necessitating a reduced input from our superbly fit, eager and disappointed dancers.
The next spot, 1 hour later, was at Prince Albert Gardens by the entrance to the pier with MAGOG, a stave dancing side. These ladies were very sociable and polite and danced very well, but I am still none the wiser on the history or principles of stave dancing. They just seem to wave them about in a threatening manner.
Lunchtime and the chippy along the sea-front called. Terry and Ray lost their way and ended up in The White Swan for a pint. The wisdom of this decision became apparent as more and more team members drifted in. It would appear that the chippy’s offering was not up to par this year!
After suitable refreshment we wandered further along the sea-front to the strategically placed "New Toilets", which provided much-needed rest and recuperation facilities before the next dance spot with a team who, it would seem, appear nameless.
On completion, it was a hike back to Prince Albert Gardens for the start of the procession. The side in front of us took off like a bunch of racing snakes, prompting PC (Patrick Cousins, our Squire) and BB (Bryan Baker, an erstwhile Squire) to try and match them. This initiated loud calls to "SLOW DOWN" from the senior members bringing up the rear and gradually things settled down to a steady pace which we were able to control reasonably well, whilst still satisfying the many, many requests for our photographs from the adoring, watching punters.
There were no further dance spots, and it was time then to take stock and count the casualties. Young Peter (Smith, an erstwhile Squire) had done extremely well to stay the course whilst recovering from a heavy cold. He deserves the morris equivalent of a "Brownie Well Done" ( when we discover what that is!). Everybody else, 6 dancers and 2 musicians, checked in more or less OK. Old and new members alike aquitted themselves in fine manner, and all in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable day. The weather stayed fine with plenty of sunshine and a gentle breeze. We met many friends, old and new, making it well worth the extreme effort to attend. An excellent day out!
