19 July 2009 - Horton Kirby

Click here to scroll down to the report.
[Error! Image CIMG0765.JPG is not available.]
1 of 20

Click on the main picture to go through the photos one at a time or use the Prev and Next buttons to move backwards and forwards. Alternatively, click on one of the thumbnails on the right to go directly to that photo.

Creative Commons License    All photographs are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.


Greenwich Morris Men were the hosts for our stand at the Fighting Cocks pub in Horton Kirby. Other invited sides were Fleet Morris (a ladies side) all the way from Hampshire and North Wood Morris Men.

The pub was bathed in sunshine when we arrived - and an excellent pub it was too. There was a large garden and a children's play area. The patio where we were originally due to dance had not been finished and it was probably too small for our purpose anyway. As Kettle Bridge cannot dance on grass because of our clogs, it had been arranged that we perform at the front of the pub in the small parking area. The landlord had thoughtfully cordoned off a suitable tarmac area for us. By the time the dancing started, there were a few drops of rain falling but this soon passed.

There was an excellent turn out of dancers, considering how many "walking wounded" we had. Sandy and Ian were away for the weekend so special mention must be made of the remaining members of the band who made an extra special effort to ensure a good sound for the dancers to dance to.

Because some of the Kettle Bridge dances used the whole of the parking area, we had the unusual situation of the band being stationed on the far side of the road, opposite the pub. You may not be surprised to learn that some motorists were not prepared to wait for the end of a dance and simply drove between the dancers and the band. But we carried on regardless!

I have mentioned before about a rogue dancer that seems to follow us around and, blow me down, he was there again, dancing with Greenwich. I think we shall have to report him to the Squire of the Ring.

In time honoured fashion, we rotated the dancing between Greenwich, Fleet and Kettle Bridge and it was soon time for lunch. This gave a good opportunity to catch up on such vital issues as the golf and cricket scores and, almost as important, to indulge in some refreshment. Several people remarked that, on the way to the loos, there were numerous presentation records awarded to the landlord Chris Maskery who seems to have been a leading light in the record industry. Fascinating stuff.

North Wood had been dancing elsewhere in the morning but turned up in time for the afternoon session. Unfortunately, over lunch, a couple of cars had parked in our dancing area while it was empty. This was soon sorted out though. The dancing continued in fine style and we finished with the traditional Yellow Rose, to much applause. There was just time for an "all in" Cotswold dance that several KBCers enthusiastically joined in with.

There was a small footnote to the proceedings. At the end of the dancing, the young couple who had been in one of the cars that had parked in the dancing area found that their car would not start. Some of the male morris men came to the rescue and gave the car a push start while the young lady passenger looked on. The car's engine soon burst into life so the morris men queued up for a "thank you" kiss from the passenger. Rather sheepishly she gave them each a peck on the cheek but the queue seemed endless. Eventually she realised that some were coming round for "seconds" and she made her escape. Typical morris men!

Creative Commons License
Kettle Bridge Clogs web site by Stephen Cordery is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This page has been visited 1,353 times since 16 April 2014