Richard and I both enjoy folk music. We grew up singing folk songs at school and then we met when we were members of a choir that often included folk songs in it’s programmes. We also love watching folk dance, especially Morris dancing. I published a post last year about Halesworth’s Day of Dance which you can see here. This year we turned up to watch but were unable to get a programme so I can’t tell you the names of most of the groups we saw. Richard made a few short videos of most of the groups and I have included some of these in this post. The weather was better than last year – it was bright and mild and everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves.
There was a trio of Mummers – Mad Moll and her husband Old Tom who had a visitation from the Devil.
The last group I have included is another one of the few I know the name of.
I hope you have enjoyed our Day of Dance.
Thanks for visiting!
Lavinia Ross said:
This looks like a wonderful day of music and dance, Clare! I am having problems with the video at the moment, but it is on my end. More later…
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Lavinia. It was a good day. I hope you get to see the videos.
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Lavinia Ross said:
Looks like I need to update flash player tonight.
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clarepooley33 said:
Oh dear! I hope all went well.
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Lisa G. said:
Oh my goodness, Clare – another wonderful organization over there: the University of the Third Age! I just looked it up. Wish we had that here. It sounds a great idea.
I’ll watch the videos later – thanks. Love that hobby horse!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Lisa. I was impressed by the hobby horse too – beautiful wicker-work. The U3A has really taken off here now. So many opportunities to have fun, learn something new and meet people.
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Julie said:
This looks like great fun to watch and must of been a very uplifting day Clare. My mum is a member of the U3A, its a great organisation, so many varied topics and activities. I enjoyed your videos, is it easy to set up on vimeo?
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Julie, the day was great fun. I find it very easy to use Vimeo – much easier than You-tube. You set up an account and they give you 500MB space to use per week. If you need more you have to up-grade but I have never needed more. You select your video and then wait half an hour or so while they load it. They e-mail when it’s done and you’re then free to post it or whatever you want to do with it. I sometimes use Windows Movie Maker to tidy a video up before using Vimeo but not always.
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susanpoozan said:
Thanks for the videos, I love Morris dancing and haven’t seen any for years.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Susan, I am so pleased you liked the videos.
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quietsolopursuits said:
i remember your post on the Halesworth’s Day of Dance from last year, and I sure that every one enjoyed the nicer weather this year. Thank you for adding the videos, it really brought the festival to life for me. What a great tradition, I’m glad that there are people keeping it alive.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jerry, I’m glad you liked the post. I had a feeling about 20 years ago that these traditions were dying out but there seems to have been a resurgence of interest I am pleased to say.
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Ste J said:
I’m glad the weather held out for you, it’s great that there are events like this going on, keeping up traditions and attracting visitors, it’s a lot more interesting than losing money on the Grand National.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thanks Ste – it was a really good day and we lost no money at all. I’d forgotten about the Grand National – hope you didn’t lose your shirt 😉
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Ste J said:
I completely forgot to bet this year, still that’s 20p towards the next book, so its a good investment.
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KerryCan said:
I’d love to attend an event like this! I’ve heard about Morris dancing, of course, but never seen it. I love it when any old tradition like this is honored and passed along.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Kerry. I had feared that Morris dancing was dying out about 20 years ago but it seems to have become popular again I am glad to say. I would hate to lose this tradition especially as England doesn’t have many unlike Scotland and Wales.
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dobetteralways said:
There should be more events like this!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you – yes there should!
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Jane said:
I must admit I knew little about Morris dancing until your post. The outfits look very colourful and the dancing seems to be of a very cheerful upbeat kind. I quite like folk dancing as well but I don’t see it much in Australia. The yearly Greek festival is always fun to attend and watch the dancing though. Thank you for sharing an aspect of culture new to me. the photos and videos are lovely, Clare. Have a wonderful week. 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jane. Morris dancing is upbeat and cheerful and we love to go and watch it. I love Greek dancing too – do you have a large Greek community where you live? I hope your week goes very well.
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Jane said:
There is a large Greek community in Brisbane. We have quite a multicultural city really. 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
🙂
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avian101 said:
Sounds like a lot of fun for everyone! Thanks Clare for your post! 🙂 ❤
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you so much for your kind comment HJ! 🙂
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Jill Weatherholt said:
What a festive event! I’m happy the weather was nice for you, Clare, Thanks for sharing the wonderful photos and videos. I loved the crocodile head. 🙂 ❤
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jill. Yes, that crocodile head is really something!
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
This looks like a great way to bring the townsfolk together for the day. We have similar musical events but they are usually made up of bands playing and I can’t think of any that involve dancing. It must be a very old tradition.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Allen. This is a really great event and I hope we continue to have it in the town. I think the first record of Morris dancing was in the 15th/16th century though where and when it began is not known.
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
Wow, that is a really old tradition!
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Cynthia Reyes said:
I love these photos, Clare. And also the mention of Mad Moll, Old Tom and the devil. The thought of the belly-dancers having to dance in the cold — yikes. What a great way of coming together as a community.
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clarepooley33 said:
I felt sorry for those semi-naked ladies I must say!
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Karen's Nature Art said:
Looks like a great day with lots of fun costumes and cheery music! 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
It was a fantastic day. Thanks so much Karen!
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greytabby1 said:
How lovely! I really used to enjoy watching the Morris dancers as a child and it was so fun to see these lovely photos and listen to the music. It’s wonderful that Halesworth puts on a whole day of dance like this and celebrates traditional music. I don’t really know much about the origins of Morris dancing but I am sure they are very interesting ones. Glad you had nice weather too!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you very much Kate. We are very fortunate that Halesworth has started to hold this festival. I’m not sure that anyone really knows the origins of Morris dancing. I was researching it last year and came across this link which just about says it all!
http://www.rattlejagmorris.org.uk/history-of-morris-dancing
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greytabby1 said:
Oh perfect – I’ll go take a look 🙂
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navasolanature said:
Sure sign of Spring in Uk. Listening to it in Lisbon. Miss my folk even though love fado too!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you! I like fado too.
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Aquileana said:
I love this folk music festival … the pics and the videos are so neat… I bet you had an amazing day… Did you get any Prize?… just wondering… 😉
thanks for sharing, dear Clare. Happy weekend to you… Love and best wishes. Aquileana 🌻🌟
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you dear Amalia! We had a lovely day watching the dancers and listening to the music. There were no prizes as it was all just for fun. Have a happy weekend too Love and hugs Clare xx
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Charlotte Hoather said:
Great fun day. I liked the sticks in the dance and the rainbow coloured hankies in the last video. There are so many good folk songs they could do these dances to. I’ve seen troupe dancers before but any Morris dancers.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Charlotte. Yes it was great fun. We are seeing more Morris dancers about than we used to.
Best wishes, Clare
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thehappymeerkat said:
Great images, including that strange crocodile head! I love folk music and would love to see more morris dancing where I live. I remember in primary school thoroughly enjoying something that was called ‘country dancing’ it wasn’t quite Morris dancing but it had the same music and it was some sort of folk dancing. I think it was the most fun I ever had in primary school 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you! I used to love country dancing at school too and I hated my primary school most of the time!
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thehappymeerkat said:
The highlight of my country dancing at school was a show of it during the summer fair one Saturday :). Not enough boys wanted to join the club so I had to play the male dance partner 😮 lol
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clarepooley33 said:
Yes, typical! There are never enough men in dance groups or choirs!
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thehappymeerkat said:
So true, lol! 🙂
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cindy knoke said:
What wonderful fun!
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Clare Pooley said:
It was! The Day of Dance was cancelled this year and will probably be cancelled next year as well, which is such a shame!
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