Last Updated 3rd March 2001
[p201 - Souvenir Brochure - Whitley Bay Ring Meeting]
[p202 - Information Sheet - Whitley Bay Ring Meeting interleaved]
The 75th meeting of the Morris Ring was held at Whitley Bay, Northumberland, from the 23rd to the 25th of September, 1960 at the invitation of the Monkseaton Morris Men; who, in undertaking this work at six month’s notice, and a mere two years after organising their first Ring Meeting, had in mind the special honouring of George (Geordie) Osborne, for half a century the captain of the Royal Earsdon Sword Dancers. The men slept and ate at the Hartley Territorial Camp, whose Commandant, Capt. Leach, had made the arrangements with Army authorities for the visit of the Ring.
About 130 men attended this meeting, with representatives from the following 19 clubs: - Beaux Of London City (full side), Bedford (full side), East Surrey, Headington Quarry (full side), Jockey (full side), King’s College Newcastle (full side), Manchester (full side), Merseyside, Monkseaton (full side), Newcastle (full side), Rumford, Stockton (full side), North Skelton White Rose (full side), Thames Valley, the White Rose of Leeds; and the Royal Earsdon Sword dancers (men’s and boy’s side)
This meeting began on the Friday evening
[p203]
with local inn and club tours by the northern sides, while men from the south were driving north. One Monkseaton man remained on duty all night to show late arrives to their beds. Stockton danced at Newcastle and Wallsend; King’s College and Headington at Ahsington; Monkseaton and odd bodies locally; Newcastle with Douglas Kennedy and Nibs Matthews Earsdon and Backworth was the intention; "but half the team were lost en route, and the V.I.P.s finished up visiting Geordie at Dairy Cottage and eating Sally’s pease pud! No performance at all was given."
On Saturday morning the tours assembled around the Nissan huts, and went out dancing as shown in the Information for Dancers leaflet inserted here. Tour D. had the honour of dancing at Dairy Cottage, Backworth. Here besides the usual dancing, the Royal Earsdon Juniors gave a special performance before George, who sat on a chair at his gateway to watch. Then the tour was invited inside the cottage to eat Sally Osborne’s pease pudding and meat rolls, and to enjoy the old people’s company. Tours C.D. and E. at their little massed show in Newcastle at St.
[p204]
Thomas’s Church, had a big crowd in welcome; and gave a long show on rather yielding turf or on the firm flagstones of the pavement, as opportunity offered; or, particularly so for the Manchester clogs, as necessity demanded. It was at this display that a Scotsman, asked if there were any Englishmen doing these dances and being told that the dancers were Englishmen, protested that they were all Scots tunes! The only police intervention during the day, so far as the Bagman is aware, was at the Bradling Arms; where a point duty officer, peremptorily stopping a car, picked from its roof the Colchester pipe and tabor, and primly handed them through the window in wordless reproof.
The show at 5.30 in the Panama Gardens was the climax of the day’s good dancing. Here in a arena that might have been made specially for a massed Morris display, the men tea’d and rested, danced to a large audience which could look down a little from curving terraced paths to the flagged space below. That audience saw George and Sally Osborne arrive in a beautifully kept Ford tourer of pre-1914 manufacture; saw George receive
[p204]
the golden badge of the E.F.D.S.S. from Douglas Kennedy, who told all present just what dance lovers owed to George; and saw a unique display of rapper by seven teams together- two Royal Earsdon, Derwent Valley, King’s College, Monkseaton, Newcastle, and Stockton. When the great display was ended by a long line of men Green Gartering up the curving path of the Gardens, the dancers returned to the camp.
The Feast held in the canteen at the camp was eaten by 135 men; or considering that remarkable person the Deputy Mayor of Whitley Bay, 135 1/2. At this meal the ladies of Monkseaton, who at breakfast and tea had shown already their remarkable flair for catering, really found the way to the men’s hearts, along the traditional road. The menu for this unique feast is affixed hereto; Pease Pudding Osborne has been explained already in this log; Fish ‘n’ Chips a la Tradition Anglaise meant just that; a big cardboard box contained each man’s portion in traditional greaseproof and newspaper wrapping! The Bagman of the Ring, put up to propose the two-fold toast of Whitley Bay and Monkseaton Morris Men (after the formal toasts had been drunk) made it three-fold
[p206 - Fest Menu - Whitley Bay Ring Meeting interleaved]
by adding "The Monkseaton Ladies;" made acknowledgment, in the name of all the men present, of their endless hours of work in planning the menus and preparing the food. The men showed their feelings by tremendous acclaim as a large box of chocolates were given to the ladies; and by an equally tumultuous drinking of the three-fold toast -one by one - "Whitley Bay" - "Monkseaton Morris Men" - " Monkseaton Ladies." The first reply by the Deputy Mayor, whose speech showed his East Ham origin even after thirty years in Whitley Bay, began "Mr. Squire, the lot", and thought that stewed eels in the middle of dinner might have been preferred to the fish ‘n’ chips. Saying that the Lady Mayor attended the fancy occasions, while he had the tough ones, he referred to her as a good sport, who would be jealous when she heard of this particular dinner; especially when he spoke of the chap who came round topping up the glasses. Tony Foxworthy promptly did so, and the deputy Mayor kept the jug; to cries of "drink it" he replied "What! After that pease pudding?" Alan Brown, replying for the Monkseaton Men, expressed his pleasure at seeing once again a gathering of morris men
[p207]
in Whitley Bay, boldly proclaiming for the North-East a pre-eminence in English hospitality. He paid tribute to Harry Etherington for his detailed report for the previous meeting, which had helped them so much. Saying how proud the Monkseaton Men were to have Earsdon as their neighbours, Alan said that although the future of the rapper was less dependent now on the traditional teams, those teams were necessary to keep us on the right lines; and not merely in the steps and figures, the Royal Earsdon team could keep us infected with the right sprit. Alan then launched into a discourse which purported to recount a Scot’s invasion of Newcastle; the Scot’s viewing some rapper; their attempt to seize the ball at a football match to make a haggis; and how, arraigned before Henry VIII, they attempted to placate that monarch by trying some rapper; and the lock fell to the ground, and the Scot’s danced in rage on the swords, fists clenched in the air; and that was how the Scottish sword dance was invented. Douglas Kennedy rising to propose the health of the Ring, thought that Alan’s folklore was a trifle shaky; and while he, D.K. a Scot, was prepared to accept the sword dance theory, he thought that his Northumbrian friend had got his haggis mixed
[p208]
up with his balls! He went on to speak of the solidarity that men achieve when doing together something that they enjoy; and the harmony and wonderful brotherhood of the men in Whitley Bay that night. The Morris was all embracing; the Cotswold Morris danced that day by Headington; the Manchester Men’s ritual dance; and, here in the North-East, the vital and virile ritual of the rapper, with its lightness and life. In many countries the sword was a symbol of high authority; for the men of the Morris Ring the sword was a symbol of enjoyment, high life; let them rise and drink to the Morris Ring. Bill Cassie proposing "Geordie Osborne and the Royal Earsdon Sword Dancers," marvelled that the North-East, and England, was so little aware of its traditional dances; these brought down the house abroad; why not here? No country but England would so neglect such a tradition. He listed a number of villages where the rapper had died out; referred to Mr. Flanagan and son from Amble; and praised Geordie as one of the few hardy sprits who had preserved the rapper dance. Who was to blame for this neglect? In an old newspaper which he had been reading a few
[p209]
minutes ago (pause, glance at Alan, much laughter) there was written concern of the future of the North-East; but what effort was made to use the traditions of the locality to add to its attractiveness? That the rapper had been kept alive at all was largely due to Geordie Osborne. George had aimed at a perfection of stepping. Praise must be given as well to Jimmy Mckay the musician; not only had he given life and sprit to the rapper sides, but he gathered the musicians around him and taught them. Royal Earsdon had been, and was, a distinguished team under a distinguished leader. It was an important thing that the men did tonight to rise, and to drink the health of Geordie Osborne.
The Squire then proceeded to the main business of the evening. Taking up one of the old Earsdon swords, now silver-plated and inscribed, he presented it to Geordie Osborne, after reading the inscription. When the applause had ceased, he picked up a set of new rapper swords. Stating that he had now lived for forty years ("Why?" from the Deputy Mayor) without meeting another Nibs, he handed the lock to Nibs Pearson, leader of the Royal Earsdon side. The Northerner, acknowledging the gift and facing the need to make a speech, thought of himself in a dilemma; and gave as his
[p210]
definition of that predicament a man with diarrhoea, two sore thumbs, and a new pair of braces!
The reading of the Headington log followed. Then the Monkseaton Men gave the Squire a yard of Newcastle Brown Ale, which he shortened by several inches. That done he was presented with a stick of Whitley Rock, disguised as the Squire’s staff. Now Guthrie Gibson, Jack Kirtley, and Nibs Pearson ranged themselves in front of the serving hatch and sang The Spaniard - an energetic and tuneful performance by past masters in the art of self-entertainment. Now "the twins" of the Northumbrian Pipers Club, Forster Charlton and Colin Caisley (who had replied to their invitation that they were coming with their pipes and empty nose bags) played for the men; at the end of their performance they moved quietly together to George Osborne, playing "Keep Your Feet Still Geordie Hinny."
The Feast, as such, ended at 10.30 the men cleared the trestle tables, and the long hut was free for general dancing; for a Laudnum Bunches from the Headington men; for a clog dance from Johnson Ellwood; for some polished accordion playing by Joe Bennett; and a Manchester mixture of tonight we’ll merry merry be with
[p211]
Adderbury stick tapping; this Log dispenses with the final verse. Men were proceeding to bed until almost 1 a.m.
The Sunday church procession to St. Paul’s went from Oxford Street via Whitley Road. In the church the seating arrangements were; north aisle and north nave, the general congregation; south nave the Morris Men; and south aisle the local girl’s school. The whole congregation stood as the familiar but always impressive, procession of Squire’s carried to the altar the staffs of association in the Ring. The Squire of Monkseaton M. read the first lesson; the service was conducted by the Rev. Henwood. The collection was taken up by four men of Monkseaton and two of Derwent Valley. The staffs were taken back by the Squires; the men processed to the Promenade; and rounded off the weekends dancing with onlookers above and below, still air, warm sunshine, and a backcloth of smooth quiet sea.
The weekend’s catering by the Monkseaton ladies ended with lunch in the Cook House, with all the cheerful hubbub of men content with a common purpose fully achieved.
This log formally records that the heartfelt thanks
[p212 - George Osborne Presentation Fund Balance Sheet interleaved]
of the Morris men who attended this meeting are given to the Monkseton men who arranged the accommodation and dancing; and to the Monkseaton ladies who provided and served every meal for so many men for a whole weekend.
The Bag was £99.8.1 including programmes. Liquor consumed, on "site," so to speak, was 288 pints of draught ale; 169 pints of bottled ale; and 48 pints of cider; a grand total of 505 pints!
Extract from Alan Brown’s letter to the Bagman 10.1.61
"George Osborne’s inscribed sword. The plaque on the fixed handle is of silver reads: -
THE ROYAL EARSDON SWORD DANCERS
Presented by The Morris Ring to
GEORGE OSBORNE
to mark his 50 years as Captain
September 1960
[Signed]
Nibs Matthews
Squire
9th September 1961
[p213 - blank]
Archive Homepage|Traditions Page|Author Page|Publications Page|Access/Charging