FASH CHAT
This is one of an occasional series about folk festivals, and I have chosen one of my favourites, the Chippenham Folk Festival.
This festival takes place over the bank holiday weekend at the end of May each year, starting on the Friday and running through to the Monday evening. It's all within easily walkable distances and there is excellent coverage of three areas of interest: dance, song and display.
I first started going to Chippenham as a member of Hampshire Garland, displaying our dances in the streets, in the Arena and in the Grand Procession on bank holiday Monday, but I soon realised that there was a great social dance scene with workshops, dances and ceilidhs plus song sessions and concerts.
The festival happens in the centre of Chippenham and the local people come in force because its one of those festivals where there is plenty going on in the streets and the park which is free of charge. The main high street is closed to traffic during the day so that the display sides which include Morris of all kinds, Clog, Appalachian, Belly Dancing, Rapper etc can perform. There is a park at the bottom of the High Street, with the river running through it, and here they set up a proper stage with tiers of seats for spectators. The various display sides and some of the bands and singers are invited to perform on the stage throughout the day and it is free for spectators. Also in the park are numerous stalls and tents selling food and drink, musical instruments. In addition there is a huge Crafts Marquee, mostly with stalls selling various items, but usually there are some people making objects as well.
You do need a ticket to take part in the rest of the festival though. Dance workshops and dances are held in several venues such as the town hall, the leisure centre and other central halls and music happens in the pubs, at the Cause Centre and in concert form in the Leisure Centre.
During the weekend Stroph and I will probably go to an evening dance on the Friday, some social dance workshops morning and afternoon on the Saturday, which might be Playford, Contra, Irish Set, general English etc, perhaps a concertina workshop and a belly dancing workshop (guess who goes to which!) and at lunchtime we almost always go the Essential Sing, a pub singaround which attracts some great singers and where the chorus songs really do raise the rafters. In the evening we might go to one of three or four dances or to the main concert which showcases some of the best talent at the festival, or just to one of the more 'folk club' type of sessions. On Sunday there is usually an early evening Contra Dance in the Leisure Centre, which is high energy, almost non-stop and great fun – we always go to that.
Every night there is a loud, busy and energetic ceilidh in the Sports Hall which attracts all ages, but it is especially nice to see lots of young people, children, teenagers and lots of people in their twenties and thirties.
There are also children's events during the weekend and all sorts of other activities in which to get involved. During the day of the opening Friday of the festival, there are sessions teaching the local school children and some of the folk from our area support this.
There is also a unique Stick and Bucket Morris Dance competition. This comes from a passing reference to Morris dancing in one of Terry Pratchett's books (and Terry has even in the past been persuaded to come and judge the event). The dances are not serious, in fact usually hilarious. Wickham Morris are particularly keen competitors and, indeed, have won the 'Golden Bucket' several times. The only rule is that you have to have at least one stick and bucket involved; apart from that
anything goes, including much cross dressing - including one winning side sporting bucket shaped handbags and (lip)sticks!
Another unique event is the 'Aqueilidh', in which attempts are made to dance in the swimming pool. Not the least of the problems is setting up a band and caller who can be heard over the noise of the pool but still able to keep themselves and their equipment dry, but it is very popular with lots of folk enjoying the challenge of manoeuvring through the water.
Many people stay on the campsites, one of which is for caravans and motorhomes, and is right next to the leisure centre and arena area. The site for tents is on the other side of the main street, but is also pretty close to everything. Others stay in Chippenham's hotels or B&B's, many of which are right in the centre of town amidst all the action.
On the bank holiday Monday the entire High Street is lined with market stalls selling clothes, jewellery, shoes, crafts and just about anything else you can think of. There is a super atmosphere in the streets on the Monday, with all the townspeople coming out to watch the Procession and the displays in the Arena Chippenham Town Morris Men, sometimes take great delight in leading the parade and then nipping back to join the end and go round again!
So, Chippenham Folk Festival is a great place to be over the late May Bank Holiday weekend whether you want to dance or sing or just relax and be entertained, and you don't even have to pay if the latter is what you want. Many people from our area attend and it is rare not to spot someone you know every day.
You can find more details online at www.chippfolk.co.uk, where I noticed that Craig:Morgan:Robson, Tanglefoot and Cloudstreet are among this year's artistes and Barrie Bullimore, Geoff Elwell and Sheila Mainwaring are amongst the callers with music from, for example, the English Contra Dance Band and Weston Country Dance Band.
'XCV' – AND STILL GOING STRONG
In a hall festooned with balloons the Birthday Tea Dance, arranged by Farringdon and Alton Folk Dance Clubs to celebrate the 95th birthday of Mary Ireson, was a great success. With over ninety friends from many parts of the country and family attending, the afternoon started with Mary leading the dancers in 'Indian Queen'. During the afternoon, as well as circulating and catching up with the news from her guests, she also managed to fit in several other dances. The programme, which had been put together and called by John Hale, included many of Mary's favourites. The musician, David Roberts, composed an interesting dance in honour of the occasion called 'XCV'.
After the cutting of a magnificent birthday cake and amidst great hilarity, some club members performed a mummer's play, with local references and jokes. This was followed by three rousing cheers and a rendering of 'Happy Birthday' for a most remarkable lady.
Mary received very many cards, flowers, plants and also a framed montage picture, to remind her of her achievements. Brian Gurney, a lifelong friend, thanked Mary for all she had done in promoting folk in the Hampshire and Surrey areas. So many people, both dancers and musicians, have benefited from her expertise and interest over the years. To finish the afternoon, the indomitable much loved Mary danced 'Shadrack's Delight' with as much energy and enthusiasm as many half her age!! Departing guests were heard to say that they would be back in five years time for the hundredth birthday!
EVENTS FURTHER AFIELD
Lawrence Heath (borodance@ntlworld.com) sends me lots of emails on events happening at Guildford. And if you want to get on his mailing list, I suggest you send him an email. I know, I know, it is hard to do if you don't have internet access or can't get to a library computer, but I know of no other way.
For example Sid Kipper will be at the Guildford Institute on Friday 2nd May, 8.00pm, call 01483 871443 or look at www.themusicinstitute.org.uk for more information.
There is a Barn Dance with Second Front on Friday 9th April, 8.00pm at the Great Barn, Warnborough. £12.50 including supper. Call 01252 781760. And a further Barn Dance with Hot Rats on Saturday 10th May in The Great Hall, The Maltings, Farnham, part of the Malting's annual "open day" - admission only £1.00. Call 01252 745444 or look at www.farnhammaltings.co.uk
Over at Lewes, at the Royal Oak on there is 1st May Claudia Gould and Ben Paley, 8th May Bayou Seco, 15th May Dana and Susan Robinson, 22nd May Jeff Warner, 29th May Beverley Smith and Carl Jones, 5th June Judy Cook and looking further ahead, I noticed Tim Van Eyken, Jez Lowe and Martin Carthy.
Also, following the article last month on the musical Workshops, I see that coming up are Cloudstreet with vocal harmony, Will Duke doing Scan Tester's tunes, Mick West with Scottish songs and Frank McLaughlin featuring Scottish music for guitar.
See www.myspace.com/royaloakfolklewes for more information or to get on their mailing list.
Looking towards the West, the Wiltshire Folk Association produce a flyer with events such as the Westbury Folk Dance Club dance at Laverton on 10th May with Chris Turner and Orion's Ring. Call 01373 822469 for details of this one or look at www.wiltsfolka.fsnet.co.uk for more events.
Last but not least, I see that Somerset and Dorset have a website under the unfortunate name of SADFolk. For lots more action in their direction see www.sadfolk.co.uk.
Local Festivals
It is great to see lots of Morris sides out once again and I hope that lots of people can get out to see them and encourage others along too. In the month of May, we have two events right in our area.
First there is the Wickham Morris Festival on Thursday 1st May. Every year Wickham Square throngs with people and this year there will be Wickham Primary School Maypole Dancers, Botley Primary School Morris Dancers, Swanmore Junior Morris and Scantabout Primary School Country Dancers. One of the aims of FASH is to encourage children's activities and so this is a great success and they would appreciate your support.
Then on 15th to 18th May we have the Winchester MayFest. In addition to lots of Morris sides dancing on the 17th, there is a childrens ceilidh, sponsored by FASH, children's entertainment and a youth ceilidh project encouraging people to play in a band. For older folk, there are concerts every night at many locations, but especially Tom Bliss, Jackie Oates, James Dumbleton and Craig:Morgan:Robson on the Saturday night. There is a contra dance on Friday 16th, where John Turner brings the Chilworth Contras to Winchester, and afternoon and evening ceilidhs in the Guildhall with Steam Chicken with Dave Hunt.
FASH WORKSHOPS and EVENTS
We have now concluded the season of workshops, but I hope you will have taken note of the ones coming up next year, see the Separate Page. The last two workshops we ran stand out in my mind as I really enjoyed them as did everyone else, judging by their comments.
The first of these was John Turner's Running Set workshop and it was a whole new experience. The pace of the dancing was fast and since we had to learn a whole new language, it was good exercise for the brain too. I had no idea this form of dance existed and since one of the aims of the workshops is to try something new, this one hit the spot.
And the last workshop of the season was run by Chris Turner. How he manages to find new things that I now realise I ought to have known, is beyond me. This session was particularly memorable for David Roberts' music. He had been asked by Chris to vary the tunes, so in one dance we started on a jig, then 2 turns through he changed to a reel, two more and we flipped to a waltz and then it all fell apart as he played a couple of turns to the Tango.
The problem is that the numbers at the workshops are going down a bit. Frankly with Chris' workshop, this was understandable as that was the day we had a few inches of snow and in fact it is to be commended that we had a good number of dancers really. But the point is that if we want to keep these sessions going, we need more people. So please come when you can, tell others about them and encourage them along.
Next season we have Rosemary Hunt with Playford style dances on 5th October and Colin Hume will be calling American Squares and Contras on 16th November. Into the new year we welcome back Ellis Rogers to teach us some Regency and Victorian dances on 11th January. On 8th February Wendy Mumford will be doing Scottish dancing and on 8th March Carol Hewson will present some recent dances in the Playford style before we end on 29th March with Barrie Bullimore and New England Contras. There is just a chance that we might be able to squeeze a Breton workshop in around May Day too since lots of people said they enjoyed the last session we ran.
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Submitted by (to whom technical queries and requests for additional links only) and Edited by Dennis Wheeler, Penshurst, Vicarage Lane, Swanmore, Hants SO32 2PW 01489 892911 editor@fash.org.uk).