Last Updated 23rd February 2001
[p159 - Souvenir Programme - Ludlow Ring Meeting]
[p160]
"The Lads in there hundreds
to Ludlow come in for the fair,
There’s men from the barn and the forge and the mill and the fold,
The lads for the girls and the lads for the liquor are there.."
This quotation from A.E. Houseman Shropshire lad was used on the first circular sent out for
The 71st meeting of the Morris Ring at Ludlow, 25th-27th of September 1959 the hosts being the Ludlow Morris Men. The following clubs had men attending: - Bedford, Burton-upon-Trent, Cambridge, Colchester, Coventry, Derwent Valley, East Surry, Gloucestershire, Green Man’s Morris, Headington Quarry, Jockey Men’s Morris, King’s Men Newcastle, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester, Merseyside, Northampton, Orpington, Stafford, Thames valley, White Rose, Woodside – 22 Clubs.
The weekend began with a Friday evening Ale; the dancing on the Castle Square with the aid of floodlights affixed to the adjoining Town Hall, and the drinking in the building. The men slept in
[p161]
Dinham House, the home of the Squire of the Ludlow Morris Men, and elsewhere in the town. Here the Ring Bagman arrived at 7 a.m. on the Saturday; he found the Jockey Men in an ancient building erected against the Castle walls, they having spread their bedding on strewn straw beneath a row of antlers used for performances of Comus in the Castle adjacent. Washing was to be done in cold water; and the ever resourceful Jockey (to whose organizing genius the printed programme properly paid tribute) produced a very Rusty tin bowl which they considered fit for the Bagman.
An ample, well cooked breakfast at the Town Hall preceded a smooth get-away of the six tours to Knighton and Clun; Church Stretton and Longville; Bridgenorth and Highley; Bromyard and Great Witley; Presteigne and Kington; Ludlow and District. As far as the Bagman is aware, these went according to plan, in lovely sunshine. Tour 5 on a narrow road towards Lingen came up to a half dozen sheep which ran hard in front of the cars for half-a- mile. The leading car pulled up, a Green Men’s man jumped out
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to continue the chase, and man and beast vanished over the hill ahead. Fortunately the animals turned down a side road, miles from home, and the tour continued. Tea, again an ample meal, was at 5 o’clock in the Town Hall. At 6 o’clock massed dancing began in the Castle Square, called by the Squire of the Ring, who had been motored to Ludlow by Charlie Jones. The moving of one or two cars to the edge of the Square was accomplished, as usual without starting the engines.
There can not be a setting better designed for the Morris, then Ludlow Castle Square; the Town Hall is to the East, ancient Castle Lodge to the South; a grand Georgian house to the North; and a great common and the Castle Square to the west; these and their pavements bound a space thirty yards by fifty; within this is a smaller rectangular space outlined for car parking; big enough for six score men to dance at once, and small enough for no spectator to feel remote from the single team displaying.
Here until 7.30 the team and massed displays were given to a large
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audience, appreciative of the dancing in proper fashion as the collecting box went round.
The feast began soon after 8 o’clock in the Town Hall; the Town Clerk's deputy read the Morris Grace. Guests included the Mayor of Ludlow, Councillor Leonard Holden, and the Chief Constable. A fine hot meal was followed by the toast of "The Queen" and "Cecil Sharp" at 9.15 and 9.20. At 9.22 Past Squire Bill Cassie proposed "the Morris Ring". He said that a fine hall such as that in which they now sat was necessary to accommodate the large numbers of men attending Ring Meetings. He expressed his pleasure in seeing non-member clubs at Ludlow; they were always welcome. Speaking of records, he said that a log of meetings was kept by the Bagman; but there was also pictorial records. He asked new clubs to provide notes and cuttings for the Ring Scrapbook. He asked that these should be sent at once; their value grew with the years, however unimportant they might seem at the time. Finishing with a plea for more support for Reg Howes, he was followed by the Bagman; who merely re-inforced
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the plea, after being told from the hall "to speak up." Nibs Matthews then proposed the toast of the Ancient Town of Ludlow and Ludlow Morris Men. Speaking of his pleasure in being in such an attractive town, he went on to say how close the co-operation of all appeared to have been; between police, publicans, townspeople, and the Ludlow Morris Men. He had known Arthur Reynolds for years; Ludlow had a reputation as a dancing centre, and always produced a Morris team when the occasion arose. He displayed the programme for the meeting, to considerable applause. The Worshipful the Mayor of Ludlow, replying, began "Mr. Chairman (I beg your pardon; Squire) Gentlemen -------’ (Numbers of voices "That’s right!") "I beg your pardon" He said that this was a far different function from the usual ones in that hall, and he was pleasurably impressed by the unique occasion. Arthur Reynolds, making a second reply to the toast, spoke of his great pleasure at seeing the men there, and of his hopes of a further meeting in Ludlow.
The log of Whitly Bay was read, public acknowledgment being made to Arthur Blake of the Jockey Men’s Morris, who had written it;
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The Bagman knocked over his own beer; Arthur Reynolds spoke of an extension of hours at the Angel and another hostelry, and in the town hall itself; and the Squire of the Ring sang "Jones Ale." Then Fred Jordan of the Dale sang "Young Fellow From The North Country" to an intent audience; the last applause brought as an encore a version of "Barbara Allen". "It was one day in the month of May when flowers were a blooming."
The assembly went out to dance at 10.15. This took place, as far as the Bagman saw, in the floodlit Castle Square; in the street before the Angel; and at the Bullring, in the light pouring from Curry’s cycle shop windows. Dancing went on until 11.30 p.m., when men found their way to their beds.
The club’s representatives met in the drawing room of Dinham House on the Sunday morning.
At 10.15 a procession, in tour order except that the Manchester Men moved to the rear, danced and marched up Dinham, through Castle Square, down Mill Street, along Bell Lane, and up Broad Street to the Butter Cross, and the Ludlow Parish Church of St. Laurence. In this fine building, heated for the
[Order of Service - Ludlow Ring Meeting - pasted between p165 and 166]
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occasion, the men saw mayor and mace enter in procession, as they had done every Sunday for centuries. The Right Rev. the Bishop Sara preached a straightforward sermon; dealing with the loss of joy in religion, and expressing an opinion that social and corporate dancing was the only pure form of art today.
This fortified the men field out to proceed to Castle Square - where once, more spectators, standing in golden sunshine, gave freely in appreciation of some fine dancing; the Manchester clogs resounded; and Bonny Green Garters took the men to the inns and thence to the Town Hall for the final meal of the meeting. This was served amply and expeditiously, by Mrs. L.M. Beeston of the Blythwood Hotel, Ludlow. She and her lady helpers had undertaken the weekends feeding at short notice. During the meeting these ladies had been up and down two flights of stairs many many times, earning the thanks of the men who had been Getting Upstairs themselves just for the fun of it.
The meeting’s programme was marked by an unusually fine cover; undoubtedly this helped to sell it. Further, the insertion of advertisements on the inside of this cover helped to meet some of
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the cost of printing. The organiserers of the meeting decided to dispense with the usual tickets for meals; and showed that, for this meeting at least, they were unnecessary.
The only man that the police were after was David Wall, of the Ludlow M.M.; in their search they fetched several householders out of bed. The local sergeant, perhaps wanting his, remarked, "we were getting a bit tired of them by half past eleven in Broad Street; but they were all having a right good time."
The Log records the deep debt of the Ring to the Jockey Men’s Morris Club, who with the Ludlow Morris Men organised this most memorable meeting.
The Bag was £110
[Signed]
Nibs Matthews
23 Sept. 1961
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