Last Updated 23rd February 2001
[p171 - Photograph of William Kimber inspecting the plaque at Sandfield Cottage]
[p172]
The Plaque Ceremony At Sandford Cottage, Headington, Oxfordshire, on Saturday, 26th December, 1959.
Extract from Arthur Peck’s "The Morris Dances of England", P.2. 3rd Ed. "At Christmas 1899 Cecil Sharp happened to be staying at Headington. On Boxing Day he looked out of the drawing-room window and saw a curious procession of men in white clothes coming up the drive. It was the Headington Quarry Morris side, William Kimber among them, coming to give a performance of their dances (at the wrong time of year, because they were out of work, and wanted to turn an honest penny)."
Extract from the Squire's letter to the Bagman, 28th February 1960. "Here is a report of the Plaque ceremony. On Boxing Day Morning (10.30a.m.) 1959, the Headington Quarry Morris Dancers, Representatives of other local Morris sides, local Representatives of E.F.D.S.S., and members of the general public, gathered at Sandford Cottage, Headington, to see
[p173]
William Kimber unveil a plaque which had been placed on the house to commemorate the meeting of him, William Kimber, the Headington Quarry Morris Dancers, and Mr. Cecil Sharp, sixty years before to the very day. On the cold and wet morning William was asked to pull the cord; this done it revealed a bronze plaque one foot six inches by one foot, set on an oak plinth fixed to the wall of the house very near the window from which Mr. Sharp was looking to see his first Morris dances.
The inscription reads
"Here Cecil Sharp first heard William Kimber play the Headington Morris dance tunes."
The unveiling over, the Quarry Men danced the two dances, Laudanum Bunches, and Rigs of Marlow that Cecil Sharp saw, with William Kimber playing sixty years before. Mrs. Blackburn, the owner and occupier of the cottage, was thanked for her very kind co-operation in this matter.
A loving cup which had recently been presented to the Quarry Men by the
[p174]
Rev. Kenneth Loveless was passed around filled with the necessary for such a morning and occasion; this being provided by Mrs. Blackburn’s son, who was unable to be with us on the occasion."
The annual Meeting of Club Representatives, on the 16th January, 1960, agreed to meet the cost of this Plaque, about £20; and while the plaque should be considered as the property of the Morris Ring, the Headington Morris Dancers would be its guardians; to inform the Ring of any proposed redevelopment of the site of Sandford Lodge; and in the event of its sale to endeavour to have a clause inserted in the conveyance ensuring the continued use of the Plaque on the site.
[Signed]
W. Fisher Cassie
11.VI.60
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