Last Updated 3rd March 2001
[p229 - Souvenir brochure - Birmingham Ring Meeting - pasted in]
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The 79th Meeting of the Morris Ring was held in Birmingham on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the 14th, 15th and 16th of July, 1961; the hosts were the Jockey Morris Men and the Green Man’s Morris; the headquarters was at St. Paul’s College, Saltley, Birmingham; and the 295 men attending this meeting (some-what more then the "couple of gross men" alluded to in the hosts circular letter of 26.3.61) slept soundly and ate amply in most comfortable surroundings.
The men were drawn from these clubs: - F denotes full side or more - Jockey (F) and Green Man’s (F); Beaux of London City (F); Benfleet Hoymen; Bidford-on-Avon (F); Bristol (F); Burton (F); Colchester (F); Coventry (F); Derwent Valley (F); East Surrey (F); Gloucestershire (F); Greensleeves (F); Headington Quarry (F); King’s College Newcastle; Leeds; Leicester (F); Longstraws (F); Manchester (F); Martlets; Mendip (F); Monkseaton (F); Newcastle (F); Offley; Oxford City (F); Rumford; Stafford (F); Standon; Stockton (F); Thames valley (F); Thaxted; White Horse (F); 33 clubs in all.
The host clubs opened their meeting just before 7.30 on the Friday evening, in Chamberlain Square, on a paved space
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laid down specially for Morris men next to the great fountain; by which the irreverent Jockey refer to the place as Squirt Square. An hour's dancing done, the hosts returned to St. Paul’s College to welcome incoming men to the Ale that lasted until 11 p.m.; ale and food were in plenty; and it is recorded here that Ted Cassidy of the J.M.M. sat in the Reception Office from 6 p.m. until 12.30 a.m.; and he was not the only host man working late. In the intervals between their dancing, and eating and drinking, men could go into the large Common Room to see the Ring Scrap Books, the fine series of Jockey Scrap Books, and a great range of photographs of old Morris and Sword sides, with articles of Morris garb, a collection of Monica Dewey’s ceramic Morris men, and a microfilm reader with the microfilm of the first Ring Logbook. The full list is added as an appendix to this Log.
The tours on the Saturday proceeded as in the programme here affixed, annotated to show which clubs went on which tours. That having the entire tour self-contained in one coach has advantages both social and organisational was
[p232 - Photograph of Aston Hall pasted in]
demonstrated by tour K. Each tour’s lunch was packed in a huge cardboard box; rolls, butter, tomatoes, cheese, lettuce, a sizeable jar of pickles, and hard boiled eggs; the sheer quantity of the food proclaiming the hosts club’s faith that the men would have toiled beforehand.
The tours, all successful as far as the writer knows, despite rain in places, justified the meticulous planning of the hosts by arriving at scheduled times at Aston Hall, Birmingham, for a civic reception honoured by the presence of the Lord Mayor of Birmingham; who stood on the steps of his magnificent Jacobean Mansion, watched processionals on the joint approaches,
[p233 - Photograph of Aston Hall pasted in]
and displays on the larger space immediately before him, backed by green lawns; and shook hands with each man, as the dancer followed his Squire, already introduced as the representative of his club. Inside the men found tea, food and pleasure in conversation, before hurrying away to Cannon High Park. The journey through this part of Birmingham, where to quote the organisers final circular lost cars "are sometimes not found for days," was carefully planned; the green-tabared and blue-baldricked corner signposts en route being picked up by final cars and taken to their share of the
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dancing on the tarmac strip beside the water; where people in boats laid on the their oars to see all the men dance Getting Upstairs, Bobbing Joe, Brighton Camp, The Rose Tree, and the Black Joke; and finished by Bonny Green Gartering Away; and, as individual items, the Manchester Men danced the Lancashire Morris; Gloucestershire danced Webley; Headington Quarry, Hunt the Squirrel; Beaux of London, Longborough Saturday Night; Monkseaton the rapper of the North East; Bristol the Skelton long sword; Stockton the Longborough Cuckoo’s Nest; Derwent Valley the Adderbury Constant Billy; Thames Valley the Sherborne Cuckoo’s Nest; and finally Jockey and Green Man’s, two sides each, danced Jockey Brackley. Then the mass of men, intermingled and comradely with the large crowd, which by reason of the city’s bye-laws had not been collected from in the Park, filed over the bridge to get into its transport, and return to Saltley College for the Feast.
The meal was taken in the Great Hall of the College, and in an adjoining room where to quote from the final circular, "a very limited number of men" were an overflow. This Feast was marked by a magnificent menu, with
[p235 - Fest Menu pasted in]
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tasteful wallpaper cover, a copy being placed here. This menu contained much more, then the mere list of food to be eaten and speeches to be made. In it the Morris men could find the notation of new dances- e.g., The M.I. Processional- a definition of the verb "to trunkle," and an engineer’s diagram of the most gadgeted beer mug in the world.
The principal guests at this fine gathering of Morris men were the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Alderman E.E. Mole, J.P.; the Provost of the Cathedral, The Right Reverend Michel Clarke, and the vice Principal of St. Peter’s College. At 8.15 men began eating, after grace by the Provost; at 9.5 they stood to avow their loyalty to Her Majesty; and at 9.8, their proud remembrance of Cecil Sharp. At 9.15 the 75 men from the other room came in, and by 9.30 speeches were being made.
Brian Wedgbury, Vice Squire of the Jockey M.M., proposing the health of the City of Birmingham, said that the acknowledgments in the programme represented much background work in preparing for the meeting; and whilst the workings of the City Council were something of a mystery to the
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organisers (and the workings of the Morris Ring, doubtless, a mystery to the council) they, the Birmingham Morris clubs, had received courtesy and assistance from the City in full measure. Referring to Manchester’s claim to be the second city of these islands, Brian said he would like to see the Lord Mayor at the Manchester Ring Meeting, to decide the issue.
The Lord Mayor, responding, hoped that on Sunday evening the homegoing men would feel that their stay in Birmingham had been most enjoyable. Stating that Birmingham was the second city, the Lord Mayor referred to its growth since the Industrial Revolution. Before that, possibly, there had been teams of Morris dancers in Birmingham; possibly, even, Morris dances peculiar to Birmingham; (voice, "We have them"!) He spoke of the value of old traditions; of the workings of the council being a mystery sometimes to the Councillors themselves; and his yielding one record only to Manchester - its rain fall. Finishing with a reference to the afternoon’s function at Aston Hall, which had given him great pleasure, he sat down to prolonged applause. At 9.40 Alan brown, of the Monkseaton M.M.,
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rose to propose the health of the Morris Ring. He was amused at the bickering about which was the second city in England; the first city was Newcastle-upon-Tyne, until London should cease to be part of France. He brought greetings from Geordie Osborne, who was at Alnwick, and spoke of the old mans improved health. He spoke of the one-ness of the traditional men’s dances of England - the rapper, the longsword, whiffles or hankies. The toast was to Cotswold, Midland, the North West in Lancashire - where they deserved our support in their single-handed fight against the she-wolf in fluffy lamb’s clothing - to the longsword of Yorkshire, to the rapper of the North East; in short, to the Morris Ring; and the men drank and acclaimed Alan.
The Squire, mentioning that the host clubs had proposed and seconded his nomination for his office, said that he had visited all tours during the day, and had danced a jig with the Squire of the Jockey at every site visited. He had seen good dancing, good leadership, and a public that knew that what was being done was well done. At Stratford-on-Avon a group of young foreigners had
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seen the Morris for the first time; and the girls in the party coming to him, he explained to them the folk-lore behind it; and to their questioning why no women were doing it, the Jockey Squire had replied that due regard must be paid to the girls' safety. He was gratified by the sight of many young dancers that day, since the older men could not dance forever. He sat down for Charlie Jones of the Quarry men to rise at 10 p.m., to propose the health of the host clubs. Charlie said that from his own experience he knew just what had to be done by the hosts to produce such a pleasurable weekend for the men; on behalf of all he proposed the health of the Green Man’s and the Jockey Morris Men; and the men stood and drank, with prolonged applause.
John Venables, Foreman of the Green Man’s Morris, stood to reply; he said that when the Feast arrangements were discussed, Stan Belfield had pointed out that one of the two host clubs must reply to this toast, and the other read the lesson at the Sunday service; following immediately with "I’m going to read the lesson." He John, thought that Stan wished to allay a
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popular rumour that none of the Jockey could read; but he had a suspicion that Stan was fervently hoping the chosen lesson would not be changed. Mentioning the extremely cordial relations between the Green Man’s Morris and the Jockey Men, he thanked all the men for coming to the meeting.
The Squire then presented Staffs of Association to Jonny Burke, Squire of the Stafford Morris Men; and to Jack Williams, Squire of the Bristol Morris Men; each man taking his club's staff to great welcoming cheers of the Morris Men assembled.
The Squire then rose to say "Gentlemen, I must explain what we are going to do immediately we leave the hall"—Loud laughter and shouts of "you shouldn’t drink so much" drowning his next words. Resuming, he said that ladies would be present at the beginning of the postprandial proceedings, and that he hoped he wouldn’t be remembered as the Squire that always brought his wife. The Feast ended at 10.10, and the men went to the Assembly Hall. There they sat while the distinguished Guests, with ladies, watched the Quarrymen dance Rodney; the Jockey the Longborough Trunkles; Monkseaton the rapper;
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and Manchester the Lancashire Morris. The Lord Mayor took his leave at 10.45, the Morris Men showing by acclamation their appreciation of his giving so much of his time that day.
Dearest Dicky and Monks March were danced. Then Stafford showed an entirely new sword dance, introduced by a chorus about "Nibses Army," and reminiscent of some twenty well-known dances. The Colchester men demonstrated the ultimate in over-musicianing, eighteen men playing for one man doing Shepherd’s Hey, the instruments including cornet and tenor horn. Bidford danced their own Bluff King Hal. Jim Phillips sang the Barley Mow and Jones Ale. The Jockey did Lads a Bunchum with two short sticks instead of one long one. The Squire spoke of the twenty five years of the Scrapbook, and Reg Howes replied by telling the men how he had taken it over from Walter Abson; and the men danced incessantly, with Bledington and Fieldtown Leapfrog in succession; and a fierce rapper by Stockton after a Saturday Night Bucknell; until the Rose, Dearest Dickey, Queens Delight, and Jockey Brackley were done again as at the begin-
[p242 Order of Service interleaved]
ning of the work; and the 50 or 60 men still at it were allowed Brighton Camp and the Quaker only before being sent firmly to bed at 12.55 a.m.
Sunday morning the rain came down in "pauseless malice," and it was decided soon after breakfast that the programme arrangements could not be carried out. After the representatives meeting in the Staff Common Room, then the men drove to the vicinity of St. Philip's Cathedral; and once it was certain that the traditional procession to service was quite out of the question, the men went into the cathedral. The service sheet inserted here gives the order of this most inspiring service in this most noble building. The organist played Bledington Leapfrog with variations, moving into Sweet Jenny Jones and other Morris tunes, and back to Bledington Leapfrog. The Provost took his seat towards the end of the music; the only known instance, according to a Past Squire of the Ring, of a high church dignitary being leapfrogged into his stall. 24 staff-holders, led by the Squire, went to the altar, where the staffs were presented in pairs, and the
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men positioned in two lines in front of the choir stalls before returning in procession to their seats in the front pews. After the second lesson the hymn The Staff of Faith, with a tune quickly learnt by any man knowing Monk’s March, was sung by the men with gusto which showed their appreciation of this apt choice. The provost’s address spoke of the Morris as once as much an accepted part of country life as ploughing; how mediaeval man felt no conscious change of mood in passing from one to the other; and found God not only in his church but in his work, and in his dance. While modern man could not accept the limited horizons of mediaeval men, he could come to recognise that God entered into every part of our lives; and that there was nothing incongruous in passing from the alter to the folk dance. The Morris could be the basis for a new set of values, with work and play shown to be complementary.
Then came the last hymn, the impressive return of the staffs, and going out into the rain, not so heavy as earlier on. And a brave procession danced to Chamberlain Square; here Brighton Camp and Bonny Green were danced. The Manchester Men continued
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afterwards in the rain, drawing comment from the Jockey Squire that "They are used to it."
Some men returned to transport and to St. Peter’s College; the rain eased, and mixed sides of men still in the Square did Laudnum Bunches, Jockey Brackley, Sherborne Cuckoo’s Nest, and others, collecting 36/-; Tour K last to leave its coach, carrying a packed load of men from several different clubs; those with local papers wondering at a report about crapper sword dancing.
At the final meal of the meeting the Squire of the Jockey Men gave thanks to particular men in the host clubs for arduous tasks so splendidly carried out. He presented the meetings poster block to the Headington Quarry men, who were eating in high state at the platform table; and then gave the thanks of all the men to the staff of the College kitchen; that staff represented by a lady appearing somewhat confused by the applause of the men, but sustained by an encircling arm.
The men departing left with their hosts warm thanks for a most joyous meeting; the planning for it approaching
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genius, as the magnificent displays of charts and diagrams, on show in the Assembly hall, plainly showed.
The Ring records its gratitude to the Green Man’s Morris and to the Jockey Morris Men for their work of many months to provide so much pleasure for so many men, packed into just three days.
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Appendix to Birmingham Log.
1. Material on show in the Assembly Rooms:
6" square cards with paintings of club badges; large tour map (Plan of Attack); A) large sheet of paper for each tour, with details of tour, clubs making it, and photographs of the tour leaders; B) chart of clubs attending, with details of their accommodation, and numbers of men; C) sheet with names of hosts clubs members cross-referenced with break down of preparatory work for the meeting.
[Here are thee small photographs stuck into the log, of lists made for the meeting for men to follow]
2. Material on show in the
Common Room: -
Programmes of Ring Meetings; Posters of Ring Meetings; ten old rapper swords from Amble, Northumberland; four designs
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for this meeting's programme cover; Ravensbourne’s Squire’s Cup. Two Llangollen Eisteddifod certificates for Lichfield Morris, 1958; sketches of club costume; annual scrapbooks of Jockey Morris club; Norman Peacock’s collection of old photographs- Tom Armstrong, Gisburn Handsworth, Bellerby, Kirkby, and Goathland; seven photographs of old Flamborough side, lent by T. Wall; Fred Hamers jacket with Brackley rosettes; Royal Earsdon breeches; Kirby Malzeard breeches and stockings; William Kimber's hat bands and arm bands; the Deddington baldric; Monica Dewey’s seraphic ceramic Morris men:- Green Man’s, Bedford, Colchester, Ravensbourne, Jockey, the Beaux Horse, Headington Quarry, Greensleeves, Abingdon, and Benfleet Hoymen; and a plaster figure of a Lichfield man. Two photographs of pre-war Thaxted teams, with ladies; 1913 letter of E.F.D.S.S. arranging for Morris instruction; pipe and tabor of Joe Powell of Bucknell, property of Arthur Caton of Thaxted; three Ring Scrapbooks; three Ring Logbooks; Bidford-on-Avon bells, braces, hat band, and red white and blue ribbons. Microfilm of first Ring Logbook, set up in
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borrowed microfilm reader.
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