One of the reasons why I am no longer a Morris Dancer, and there are many, is that I don’t like getting up at the crack of dawn, so well done to all those hardy souls who managed to celebrate May Day as the sun rose earlier today.
Amongst the more interesting locations for May Day dawn dancing, though not necessarily at dawn, are The E.H. Shepard & A.A. Milne Memorial where you might have found Ashdown Forest Morris Men; Glastonbury Tor where Cam Valley Morris Men conduct their Beltane Celebrations, and Felixstowe Beacon where East Suffolk Morris Men perform. I believe the Abbots Bromley Horn Dancers can occasionally be found dancing in their village at an early hour on May Day though it usually takes place on Wakes Monday, the day following the first Sunday after 4 September. However, my admiration is reserved for Southport Swords who “.. due to old age, infirmity & apathy..” will not be dancing at dawn but will be out & about celebrating May Day from 12 noon and proceeding around a variety of public houses including the usual haunts! Perhaps I should join them!
Now perhaps is a good time to remind all EFDSS or Morris sides that Unicorn Folk would be happy to list their summer programmes or other activities free of charge in the Dance Diary in The Listings on the main Unicorn Folk website. This is provided simply to do what little Unicorn Folk can to keep these old traditions going. Do take advantage if you can and send your details to info@unicornfolk.uk ideally using the Word form which makes it a lot easier to collate than just plain text in an email.
Well, the good news for this month is that Royston Live made a successful debut at The Plough in Shepreth on Thursday 25th April thanks in no small part to Chris Fox who sounds better than ever and the John Ward Trio who performedwith their usual accomplished gusto. The stage and seating in the venue worked very well and hopefully this will be the scene of many future concerts.
May is also the start of the Folk Festival season in earnest with a few festivals kicking off this coming bank holiday weekend mainly starting on Friday 3rd. Yorkshire, Worcestershire and the West Country are particularly well served this weekend but you can find a full updated list of all 90+ of the folk festivals going on in England between now and the end of October in the Festival Finder in The Listings on the main Unicorn Folk website. The Festival Finder contains newly-tested links to all the festivals listed and using them you can find all the details of who and what’s on, where and when.
I hope you celebrated St George’s Day by listening to the repeat of ‘Filby’s Folk’ recently on Tuesday 23rd April. The shows can normally be heard at 6pm on Sunday evenings on Royston Radio with a repeat at 1pm on Tuesdays. If you did listen you will have realised that the St George’s Day show featured only English folk artists whereas the show normally features a wide range of folk music including traditional, acoustic, Celtic, European, Breton, Indie folk, and of course folk rock, from the 60s right up to the present day and often features new releases and music from the latest UK Folk Album Charts. If you like the sound of any of that then please give it a listen and I would also be very grateful if you would spread the word about ‘Filby’s Folk’ and Unicorn Folk. Thank you!