Last Updated 6th February 2001
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Meeting at Cecil Sharp House 22nd September 1956
The Fifty-sixth meeting of the Morris Ring took the form of an experiment in dance revival & traditions. The Meeting was held on Saturday September 22nd 1956 at Cecil Sharp House under the joint auspices of the Morris Ring and the English Folk Dance & Song Society, and instruction was given in the unpublished dances of the Lichfield tradition which had come to light in the past year or two.
The meeting began at 11 a.m. in Storrow with words of welcome from Douglas Kennedy. He added some introductory remarks on the unusual circumstances surrounding the recovery of the Lichfield dances and the necessarily experimental approach which must be adopted towards them. The Squire followed expressing the thanks of the Ring to Douglas & to the Society for their hospitality. He gave a brief account of the Lichfield Bower ceremony & some further details of the sources of information regarding the dances, which included anonymous communications dropped through letter boxes and equally anonymous telephone messages. All this had been prompted
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initially by the appearance of the former Men of Mercia Morris Club in the Bower ceremony in 1953, and there were excellent reasons for the anonymity! Bill then introduce the two clubs who would be giving instruction in the dances - the Lichfield Men and the Burton upon Trent Morris Men - explaining that there were certain differences in their interpretations of some of the dances. The names of the dances have local significance and most of the tunes are well known airs.
There followed a demonstration of the dances by the two clubs in the Main Hall. First Burton upon Trent showed Ring o’ Bells (a double stick dance for 8 men to the tune: Farewell Manchester), The Sheriff’s Ride (a handkerchief dance for 8 men to the tune: the Wraggle Taggle Gypsies) and The Vandals of Hammerwich (a similar dance, but with sticks, to the Lichfield Bower tune). Then some of the Lichfield Men showed Shepherd’s Hey, a dance for 3 men introducing the Lichfield capers. Next Burton upon Trent performed Milly's Bequest (a double stick dance for 8 men to the tune: The Wild Rose, introducing the "galley-over", reminiscent of the Basque galley) and The Barefooted Quaker (handkerchief dance for 8 men to the tune: The Black
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Joke). A solo jig, All the Wind, was danced by Jack Brown of the Lichfield men & it was explained that this should really be performed to the accompaniment of ‘the bones’. Jack then spoke briefly about three of the characteristic Lichfield steps, the swing back step, the Lichfield caper and the galley-over. By this time the remainder of the Lichfield side had arrived and they showed Nuts in May (stick dance for 8 men to the tune: The Girl I left behind me) and Castlering (handkerchief dance for 8 men to a version of Bobby Shafto).
The men dispersed to the hostelries of Camden Town for lunch and most of them returned by 2.30 for detailed instruction in the Main Hall by Burton upon Trent, and in Trefusis by the Lichfield Men. Tea was available at the buffet and after this there was further instruction until the feast at 7 o’clock. 69 men sat down to the meal in Trefusis. The beer and cider was the generous gift of the Squire. There were short speeches by the Squire and Douglas Kennedy, and a vote of thanks to the two Staffordshire clubs was proposed by Frederick Hamer. He wished them every success in their further enquiries
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and the toast was drunk with acclamation.
The total number of men present during the day was about 110, representing 19 clubs, and the meeting was generally considered a successfully innovation.
[Signed] Bill Cassie
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