Highside Longsword Logbook 2021
HUNDRED and THIRTY FIFTH PUBLIC PERFORMANCE
26th December 2021
PERFORMERS :-
Musician – Ted Dodsworth
Captain - Peter Meese
1 Rob Thew
2 Iain Thew/John Creedon
3 Colin Fine
4 Andrew Bodey
5 Keith Worden/Jim Coulson
6 Jim Coulson/Iain Thew/Peter Meese
Our first dance out for nearly two years thanks to the Covid pandemic. Quite a bit of change in the team. We very sadly lost Roy this year, due to cancer. Roy, a founder member and stalwart of the team, only missing two performances (due to injury) will be sorely missed by all of us.
We do, however, have two new members in John, who lives in nearby Galphay and Andrew a long time resident of Kirkby Malzeard. So, in late November we met at Rob's house and taught them the rudiments of the dance. Then in December, hired Studley Royal Village Hall for three Thursday evenings to polish their performances.
Boxing day itself turned out to be the warmest ever and despite raining all morning turned out dry in the afternoon. We met at Colin's house, next door to the Queen's Head for a run through in his garden, it was very slippery on his patio! By 1pm we were ready to perform at the cross. Iain danced 2 so that John could watch and the dance went quite well. A reasonable crowd and we beheaded our friend Jamie.
| |
|
In to the pub for a drink after which the landlord provided us with tumblers of whisky, too much to drink really, so we decanted it into a hip flask for later! Roy's wife Hazel and his children and grandchildren had arrived to support us.
 |
 |
Then on the triangle at the Ringbeck end of the village for John's debut. Jim stood out so Iain danced at 6. The performance was filmed by Anita and put on YouTube. Couple of minor hitches but mostly a good performance with a goodly sized audience. Watching was Stevie Smith, brother of Brian who has played and sung for us in the past. We beheaded Hazel for the first time in 34 years!
Back down the village to dance outside Andrew house. This time Iain stood out and again a reasonable performance. We beheaded a young man from the houses opposite.
We then travelled to the Crown at Grewelthorpe where the landlady had arranged to move some dining room tables so we could dance inside. By this time Keith and John had left so Peter danced in at 6. Another good performance and we beheaded Izzy, Anita's daughter who was staying with us. Her boyfriend Thom told us he learnt longsword dancing at school in Frome! Also watching were the Imesons and MacNairs, always good supporters of us. One of their friends mentioned that she plays concertina and had played on a Sharon Shannon CD!
Andrew and the Thews left at this point but
the rest of us had a mini session. A very enjoyable day and great to get two
new dancers out with respectable performances.