27052023 Admiral, Ash Vale
Err sadly no photos and no writeup either!
06062023 Barton’s Mill. Old Basing
Another lovely evening at Barton’s Mill in Old Basing.
Unlike previous years there was a very small audience. More people inside than out.
The side had slightly more dancers this week due to the tentative return of Paul and Andy and Tom limiting his stepping to those of being the fool for the evening and dancing along with the set.
Baz decided that the best part of valour was to abstain until he felt confident to dance.
Usual stalwarts these days were Phil, Ian Y, Keith, Mark, Gunter and Mike with the Squire, Paul and Andy filling-in where capable.
Music from Ian S, David, Steve and Mike.
The horse made his customary appearance but with limited audience outdoors decided to try his luck indoors. Although directed by the fool to keep his head down on entry to the the pub horse forgot about the second low beam near the bar and after a robust collision ended up dazed on the floor.
Pleading by the fool to the drinkers to help revive our horse fell on deaf ears and so it remained for the horse and fool to extricate themselves with a slight wobble.
It should be noted that although YMM seek to entertain it may be that their key role this evening was to save the audience from the midges.
It is well known that midges are attracted by feremons ( or sweat to you and me) and only Keith complained whilst dancing…… Nuff said!
However as the evening wore on it was decided some would adjourn indoors after the dancing to avoid the little critters.
The evening however ended with an excellent outdoor music session from Gunter and Andy Y. The audience were in raptures with the music as can be seen from the enclosed photo taken by Phil.
13062023 Coach & Horses, Rotherwick
Tonight finds Yateley Morris men at the Coach and Horses in Rotherwick.
Our dear friends from Basing Clog were with us for a memorable evening of Cotswold Morris and North west Clog.
Great for the audience to see two very different styles of Morris dancing.
As usual Basing had a cast of thousands( music) and some dancers.
Well drilled and a delight to watch.
Yateley mustered a few more dancers than previous weeks with Andy P and Paul supporting the dances. Our alternative, alternative fool (Tom) managed a couple of dances for the first time in over 6 months. A long way to go for full fitness but maybe a light at the end of the tunnel for Tom.
Unfortunately we could only present four dancers for our opening dance of skirmish, where this dance usually requires eight. However we are now skilled at managing dances versus numbers.
It was refreshing to share a venue with another side which meant we had a breather between dances and a bonus for us in that clog dances are extremely long.
No horse this week as he stayed in his box but sure to appear in the Netherlands next week.
A good selection of beers at the bar with strong support from the Pots brewery.
Many thanks to the landlord for keeping his beer prices to £4.50 per pint.
No Tuesday night next week as we are off at crack of sparrows to sail over to bonny France and then up to the Netherlands.
Wonder if Holland will have any beer ?
04072023 Golden Retriever, Bracknell
It rained a lot. An awful lot.
The ever wonderful Jackstaws accepted a late invite to dance with us, and many arrived promptly at 7:15 for a 7:30 start. YMM trundled in just before 8:00, a wee bit of confusion on timing…..
Tim squiring tonight, he quickly grabbed management and a wholesale re-org of the undercover dining area produced a dancing area. Sadly the Crooked Billet had no such area and the bagman was despatched to make our apologies – they were very sorry not to see, but a bagpromise to perform ‘soooon’ seemed to mollify.
A slightly nervous Mike was our only musician and he came powered up, fortunately Jackstraws had brought some grizzled old hands to help out.
First dance, Bumpus O’Stretton, Ilmington – utter disaster with the desperate foreman screaming ‘dance across the music’ and ‘just keep going’. Jackstaws tried hard not to giggle… Our dancing did improve!
Jackstraws, as ever, danced well and enthusiastically. Uncanny how similar our repertoires are…almost as if there had been borrowing going on… Taking advantage of this, much mixing of sides, blending of dances and general hilarity took place.
It continued to rain…
…but despite an evening of fun and much laughter, so much so that no-one took any photos.
Thanks Jackstaws!
Artistes
Andy Pobjoy, Keith Colbert, Mike Clarke, David Wright, Paul Lethbridge, Baz Crossman, Gunther Clasen, Tim Lloyd, Ian Sutherland, Ian Young, Ross Healey, Robin Acreman in civvies, The Beast
110723 Winchfield Arms, Winchfield
Very nice to share a spot with Berkshire Bedlam, a side local to us who have have had, inexplicably, very few encounters.
We hope that changes in the future! BB were great fun and with plenty of inventive dance ideas in their repertoire. It would have been nice to have had a bigger audience to appreciate the dancing from both sides.
YATELEY MORRIS MEN 