Last Updated 3rd March 2001
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The twenty-eighth gathering of Morris Men in Thaxted, and the 78th meeting of the Morris Ring, from the 26th to the 28th May 1961 came in the Jubilee Year of the Thaxted Morris.
About 230 men shared in the celebration of this joyous half-century; they were drawn from these 29 clubs: -
Bedford, Benfleet Hoymen, Burton, Cambridge, Chanctonbury Ring, Colchester, East Suffolk, East Surry, Foresters, Greensleeves, Hammersmith, Jockey, London Pride, London Rodney, Lutterworth Boys, Newcastle, Offley, Oxford City, Ravensbourne, Roding Valley, Rumford, St. Albans, Stafford, S.W. Essex, Standon, Thaxted, Westminster, Winchester, Whitchurch.
Although men were arriving in Thaxted on Friday from late afternoon onwards, it was understood that dancing in Bolford Street Hall never really got under way; and that activity was confined to tongues and elbows in the various inns of the town.
At 10 a.m. on a somewhat cool Saturday, but a dry one, the six tours assembled
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at points in Thaxted as follows: - Tour 1 at Water Lane behind The Bull, whence Whitchurch, Greensleeves, Hammersmith, Bedford and Ravensbourne were led by John Bull and Colin Townsend to Debden, Newport, Clavering, Arkesden, and Saffron Walden; Tour 2 at the Guildhall, whence Standon, Colchester and S.W. Essex were led by Peter Lawrence to Lt. Easton, Canfield, Aythorp Roding, Good Easter, Pleshey and Great Waltham. Tour 3 at the British Legion Hut, whence Burton, Cambridge, London Pride, Stafford and Rumford were led by George Scrivener, Eric Brown and Dick Johns to Gt. Sampford, Hempstead, Steeple Bumpstead, Birdbrook, Ridgwell, Clare, Gt. Yeldham; Tour 4 at the Church Hall whence Fred Caton, Russell Caton and Wilfred Abbs led Chanctonbury Ring, St. Albans, London Rodney, Foresters and Benfleet Hoymen to Gt. Easton, Dunmow, Saling Oak, Gt. Bardford, Finchingfield; Tour 5 at Bolford Street whence Father Jack and Arthur Caton led East Surrey, Winchester, Jockey and Offley to Henham, Bishops Stortford, and Stanstead; and Tour 6 at the Swan Yard
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whence John Lankester led East Suffolk, Roding Valley, Oxford City, Newcastle, Winchester, Lutterworth Boys, to Wimbush, Radwinter, Haverhill, and Saffron Walden.
At 4.30 the men took tea as usual, inside and outside the British Legion Hut. After tea, Tours 1 and 2 assembled in the Swan Yard; Tours 2 and 3 at the Windmill; and Tours 4 and 6 at the Rose and Crown. These three files of men entered upon the Market Square dancing the Wheatley Processional, well rehearsed during the day. By skilful timing and the fortunate arrangements of the hills in Thaxted, each Morris man could see at least one of the other files, with its rise and fall of handkerchiefs and bodies.
The files were to flow into the Abram Circle, also well rehearsed during the day; but the Squire, seeing his men compressed into an unusually small space by the large crowd, called them into "Getting Upstairs, for everybody"; and if ever a microphone were a blessing, it was then. Everyone heard; and the audience could never have realised that an abrupt change of pro-
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gramme had been made. So at this point the Log records the gratitude of the Morris Men at Thaxted that day to Bill Warder of the Offley Men for setting up the amplifying apparatus. It was used by the Squire to announce these display dances: - Shooting (Hinton) by Bedford; Lads a Bunchum by Benfleet Hoymen; Old Woman Tossed Up (Fieldtown) by Cambridge; Over the Water by Colchester; Fieldtown Country Gardens by East Surrey; Fieldtown Heel and Toe by Jockey; Sherborne Constant Billy by Offley; Bledington Leapfrog by Oxford City; Fieldtown Shepherds Hey by Ravensbourne; Longborough Young Collins by St. Albans; Fieldtown Country Gardens by Thaxted; Adderbury Princess Royal by Westminster; Badby Beaux by London Pride; and Queens Delight by Greensleeves. The massed dances were getting Upstairs, Bobbing Joe, Swaggering Boney, Brighton Camp, Constant Billy, and Bonny Green Garters.
At 7.45 the Annual Feast in Two Parts took place in the Church Hall and in the Bolford Street Hall; in Bolford where past officers of the Ring F. Hamer, G. Metcalf,
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D. Cassels and R. Wortley were in a company of 107; and in Church Hall, where past officers Arthur Peck and Bob Ross; the Squire, Bagman and correspondent for the Unattached Dancers sat with nearly another hundred. At Church Hall there was a quarter hour's delay while Father Jack was awaited, borne without any protest from the men. The Squire had asked the Thaxted hosts to send round the beer at once. At both halls the meal proceeded in the usual way; eating, formal toasts, smoking, and speeches. In Church Hall the Squire proposed the Health of the Ring, referring to the high standard of dancing seen that day, and wishing it an infinite continuance. Arthur Peck proposed our Thaxted Hosts. He reminded the men that the first Committee Meeting of the Ring was held in Thaxted; Spoke of fifty years of Morris in the town; and with the Thaxted Morris Men he joined the names of Mary Neal, Conrad Noel, Alec Hunter, and Father Jack. Father Jack, in his reply, spoke of the inevitable difficulties of organising an annual meeting for over 200 men; and made his oft-repeated plea, that men should
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notify both their hosts of their time of arrival; and, indeed, confirm that they were still coming! He himself had walked out the paths of the three Wheatley files, to ensure that all three should arrive on the site on the same day. In Bolford Street Geoffrey Metcalf had proposed the Health of the Ring; and he, too had spoken with pleasure of the improvement in dancing and in presentation seen that day. Donald Cassels, proposing Thaxted M.M. reminisced upon past meetings in the town. The reply was by Wilfred Abbs. Songs were sung here; Jones Ale and Green Grow the Rushes O! particularly, producing magnificently rolling volumes of sound. Both Feasts ended about 9.30; and the men spent the rest of the evening until 10.30 or so dancing by the Guildhall and at the inns.
On Sunday morning there was the usual scene before the service; the arrival of photographers, amateur and professional, including a party from the Rank Organisation; groups of Morris Men carrying chairs from the Church Hall to the Church; others making their way to favoured places in
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good time; and worshippers filling the warm church while Thaxted dancers were quietly organising the procession. This great procession sang through the south door, round the east end of the church, and in at the west door. Farther Jack preached from a text in Leviticus; concerning the Thaxted jubilee, he said that Morris dancing showed the pattern of God; as the men had to dance together, so the human races must work together; while that day in Thaxted men celebrated their jubilee, so must come the day of the great general dance, the greater jubilee when all men dance together.
During the singing of the offertory hymn the Westminster M.M., accompanied by the Unicorn and the Squire of the Ring, moved up the central aisle to the crossing; and there after the hymn, danced the Staines Morris.
After the service the Greensleeves men danced the Fieldtown Rose, in the whole and in parts, outside the west door, for the benefit of the Rank cameramen. Then followed the usual dancing in the Swan Yard
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thinning out more quickly then the spectators as lunch-time drew near, until at 1.10 p.m. the last six, drawn from five clubs, did Brighton Camp, and all dispersed.
In the afternoon a very large number of people gathered at the Vicarage lawn; and with the country dancing and Morris for all men who cared to make up sides, were shown Queens Delight; Old Woman Tossed Up; Longborough Cuckoo’s Nest; Swaggering Boney; and Balancing the Straws; by Westminster M.M., Cambridge, St. Paul’s Hammersmith, Offley, and East Surrey respectively.
Heavy rain began just after the dancing ended. It was too late to spoil any of the enjoyment of a magnificent weekend, spoken of by many men as "the best ever". The annual recording is here made; that the Morris Ring acknowledges with an abiding gratitude and affection the labours of Father Jack and the Thaxted Morris Men to provide so much enjoyment for so many men; not least, in the annual engagement of a craftsman who can organise the feeding of scores of men, at suppers, breakfasts, Feasts and lunches, in not less than
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three buildings well away from each other, from a distance of twelve miles – Mr. D. Luff of Clavering.
Nibs matthews
Squire
16/6/62
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