Highside Longsword Logbook 2013
HUNDRED and SIXTH PUBLIC PERFORMANCE 20th January 2013
PERFORMERS :-
Musician - Ray Waite
Captain - Peter Meese
1 Ted Dodsworth
2 Roy Waite
3 Keith Worden
4 Geoff Hyde
5 Jim Coulson
6 Paul Freeman
The first Plough Blessing with Caroline Falkingham as the vicar. We had new Plough Blessing order of services that didn't mention sword dancing which was a bit concerning. It became obvious that Caroline thought we danced after the service rather than part of it. We needn't have worried as the choir put her right and we danced in the usual place.
Ray played quite fast and we danced very well. The lock went in better than ever. Massive applause.
Andy Ryland, the Diocese Rural Officer took the sermon. We all had to take a pebble with us into the pews and at the end of his talk had to place the it in the font to symbolise getting rid of anything negative in our lives. His talk was about ploughing, burying rubbish ie stubble.
Coffee and biscuits afterwards and chatting to a lot of people asking questions about sword dancing. One lady said it was all very good but where are the young people as we were all getting older! We then beheaded Caroline.
Nice buffet lunch afterwards at the Water Rat in Ripon.
HUNDRED and SEVENTH PUBLIC PERFORMANCE 20th January 2013
PERFORMERS :-
Musician - Ray Waite
Captain - Peter Meese
1 Ted Dodsworth
2 Roy Waite
3 Rob Thew
4 Geoff Hyde
5 Jim Coulson
6 Paul Freeman
Masham Plough Blessing was on the same day as Kirkby's. The church was less than half full though but the weather was quite bad although the same could be said of Kirkby which was still well attended.
Andy Ryland gave the same speech as at Kirkby with the pebbles. We beheaded him straight after the dance. After the service, talking to him, he was interested in Ceilidhs and folk in general.
The usual sausages and mulled wine afterwards and then to the White Bear for a beer or two. A pleasant evening.
HUNDRED and EIGHTH PUBLIC PERFORMANCE 12th October 2013
PERFORMERS :-
Musician - Ray Waite
Captain - Peter Meese
1 Ted Dodsworth
2 Roy Waite
3 Keith Worden
4 Geoff Hyde
5 Jim Coulson
6 Rob Thew
This was the Sword Dance Union's weekend of dance and Longsword tournament which we jointly hosted with Pateley Longsword. The event was held in Ripon, the tournament itself on the Market Square. We didn't take part in the competition but danced as a demonstration.
As Ray has been undertaking chemotherapy we needed to cover for him if he was ill on the day so we practised in Jim's office with Iain in my place so that I could play. In the event Ray was fine and Iain gallantly stood down.
We danced second and put on an average display, it was quite cold and there were a lot of our sword dancing peers watching (about a dozen other teams).
HUNDRED and NINTH PUBLIC PERFORMANCE 26th December 2013
PERFORMERS :-
Musician - Ray Waite
Captain - Peter Meese
1 Ted Dodsworth
2 Roy Waite
3 Rob Thew
4 Geoff Hyde
5 Jim Coulson
6 Paul Freeman, Iain Thew
Boxing Day in Kirkby Malzeard started, for us, at 1pm at the Queen's Head. We were inside, having a drink when someone came in and said there was an audience outside! We had Iain with us and had run through the lock a few times with him at number 6 but for the first dance Paul danced at 6. It all seemed to go very well except for 1 dodgy call!
We then thought it would be a good idea to dance at the junction of Longswales Lane near the Highside Butchers. As we started, the Main Street became like a motorway with dozens of cars coming along. We did a short version of the dance without all the single unders. Iain danced.
We then went up to the Ringbeck triangle and danced the short version again but with another single under between double under and over your own sword (for Roy's benefit). Quite a crowd gathered but at the other side of the road! Iain danced again.
Then down to the Green to dance for Joan Clark (short version) and behead her. The picture was put on Facebook much to her family's amusement. Paul danced. We collected £22.20 and a box of chocolates!
Because the Drovers' Inn at Dallowgill had burned down earlier in the year we had to break with tradition and go to the Crown at Grewelthorpe. I had arranged this with the landlady Sue who had only recently taken over the pub. The pub was packed with friends and family and Sue let us dance inside. It was tight but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. We beheaded Anneke Imeson who seemed totally bemused. Paul danced.
After soup and roll on the house we had a music session with Carol & Mike Johnson who live in the village. Very enjoyable, even some dancing from my Grandsons to the music.