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Isca Morris Tradition Articles
Coming of Age
The following article was published in Taplas, the local Folk Magazine:-
"Twenty-One Years On - Adrian Foss reminisces on Iife with the Isca Morris"
Being born and bred in Oxfordshire, in terms of the Morris, is a privilege but, at the time, I didn't realise it. My family lived nine miles from Bampton, with Ducklington nearby. So was Leafield, or Fieldtown, as it jokingly became known to locals. Just twelve miles away were Shipton-under-Wychwood and Headington. Eynsham four miles and not so far off Brackley, Bucknell, Bledington and Adderbury - so many famous names.
But, I guess, my first viewing of the Morris was at Comb, or Silly Comb, as we knew it - so called, because, it was said, the people would put a pig on the wall to watch the band go by. The Morrismen left no impression at that time, until I saw Dennis Manners lead the dance Beaux of London City or Shooting (Adderbury) at Towersey Folk Club. I knew then I liked Morris well enough to want to do it, if anyone would let me, but little did I think that it would be in Wales, when I joined Cardiff Morrismen in 1971.
The Severn Bridge opened in 1966 and the English ex-pats of Cardiff were keen enough to trog across to Bath and, under the tutoring of Tubby Reynolds and Roy Dommett, Cardiff Morrismen and I profited. The bridge was a landmark in history, as was the 1976 oil crisis, when sharing cars was the rule, not the exception. Thus, no fewer than five people from Gwent used to pile into one car to go to practice or to motor all the way to Bridgend for an evening tour, without the benefit of the M4. So it was a natural choice, when the price of petrol soared, to start a side for the Gwent area, with all its rural charm. That we did in the September of that year, at an inaugural meeting in the upstairs room of the Royal Hotel in Usk.
I say we, so I must mention John Cannell, the first Foreman, and Les Chittleburgh, Bagman. both fellow members of Cardiff. We three witches on the heath had been sowing the seeds for some time: running local ceilidhs in what was a barren area, but the news of Isca's formation spread and interest grew, so that when we met for the first rime, there was a core of seven people. I became the first Squire and Barry Butler, of Parsley Hay, the musician. Marcus Butler, of Marcus Music, and Ian Lewis stayed on, but Mike Lane moved away shortly after and Barry's friend gave up after the very first dance in the yard, behind the Royal.
The kit was chosen, but green overall trousers were hardly a matching separate for the Monmouth caps we later chose, to replace the familiar straw trilbys. The pattern of the Monmouth Caps was taken from a relic in Monmouth Museum; the first form of knitting, we were told, and worn under soldiers' helmets at the Battle of Agincourt, when the Gwent bowmen played their part to win the day for England's King Henry V.
The caps have been a source of ongoing debate, not to mention derision. But we are the only side to wear them and they are traditional. So, they've stayed, and we make up for the remarks with a good performance, mostly! Gone too are the green overall trousers, exchanged for green cord breeches so that, with the red sash and white stockings and shirt, we have the national colours of Wales.
Our great friend throughout all this time has been Brynglas House Community Education Centre in Newport. They have provided us with practice space, equipment and patience, so let me record our thanks to Brian Huggett, our original warden and benefactor, and his able and personable successor, Roger Finn. We mustn't forget Jeanette Wcbb, the caretaker, and her husband Stan and their family, who are so much of what Brynglas House is now.
Isca's repertoire now runs to some forty dances, starting off with Bampton and Bledington (which used to be in Wales, we told the punters, who didn't believe it, any more than you). Now, with the benefit of workshops from Thaxted men for Headington dances and Bert Cleaver for Sherborne, we have built up a large selection of Cotswold, Border and Lichfield. Les Chittleburgh, not a man to shirk his tasks in his time as Foreman, created an interesting eight-man, crossshaped dance, The Carleon Wheel. Other Border dances were re-drafted. Why not! The Morris is an evolving, living tradition, as it always has and will be.The high spots in our twenty-one year history have been as many as they are varied. Most notable were our early liaisons and exchanges with Les Poletais dance team from Dieppe, which grew out of the Eastbourne Folk Festival. Then, there was the long, long overnight minibus trip to Heidenheim, in Germany, to dance with their group, who looked after us so handsomely. The crowds on the carnival route were three deep and, no matter what we did or played, we were applauded.
Then we decided to join the Morris Ring, so we were called upon by Rev. Ken Loveless, Rural Dean of Hackney. He has gone now, but a man who was at the core of the Morris movement and held in trust the concertina of the long time back Bill Kimber of Headington Quarrymen. Ken played that instrument like none known to me, though I have seen others try.
He was not pleased, though, when he found we had the much-missed Jenny Kilbride (original Juice of Barley lead musician) playing with us. We needed her for our coming French trip, we said, which didn't make it any better. The issue of mixed Morris is with us again and will always be so, when you have the Morris widow syndrome, so now, springing from our collarbone, come Full Moon, newly created by three or four officers and their partners. The mixed Morris is a powerful force but, for preference, I choose single sex teams. The matter is yet to be decided, but the majority will do that in their own time.
A great addition to our ream came when Harry de Caux, at 81, moved from Thaxted to Caerleon to be with his family. Harry, with his melodeon, had been playing for Thaxted Morrismen for many years and that helped us forge our links with that team, who gave us the privilege of attending their Ring meeting and dancing the Headington dance Laudnum Bunches at their church service. Regrettably, Harry is no longer able to play for us and we miss that steady and perfectly regular rhythm the years of experience produced. Others from the famous names were Steve Code, from Abingdon, another Oxfordshire side, and Bob Tatman from Hartley, in Kent.
Another leap forward in tradition was the annual celebration of May Day. The top of Twmbarlam Mountain, in Risca, was chosen and the news went out to the media. Brian Cox said we needed a virgin to ritually hoist aloft and wanted to put an advert in the Risca Bugle, asking all the local virgins to gather in the telephone box on Ty Sign estate. It was as cold as you might expect at 5 a.m. in early spring up 1,000 feet plus and there was just us and a few startled sheep and birds. It's only now that I've thought of a sheep as a virgin understudy!
The tradition died that morning and we moved our sunrise ritual to Caerleon Amphitheatre, where once we had to make do with Juliena Fiddler, from BBC Radio Gwent, and hoisted her aloft. On another May Day, after the early morning ritual, we danced at the Priory Hotel for a group of departing industrialists from the Peoples' Republic of China. I'm convinced it was that event that made China kick us out of Hong Kong!
Then there was the Mumming play that Les had unearthed, with the information that it was last performed in the Bridge Inn at Chepstow in 1913. So we took it back to an unsuspecting landlord, who really got uptight when Dave Meudell dropped his trousers in the public bar to get into his Beelzebub (the Devil) kit. That was the first, and only, time we have been ejected, as ejected we were. We have raised a lot of money - a good four figure sum - for charity, with that Mumming play.
The tenth anniversary, back in 1986, seemed like a good enough excuse for a weekend of dance and so it has gone on each year since. The second week after August Bank Holiday is the calendar mark, when the lawns of Brynglas House fill up with tents and the company of guests fill themselves with a good variety of Welsh and English £l a pint ales, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Llanelli's Felinfoel Brewery.
The Isca Weekend is a great event and is well-regarded in the Morris world (their words, not ours). Friday night is as you like it, then Saturday tours in the Gwent countryside, a swim to cool off and high jinks before the ceilidh and supper. Last year the theme was the Scout Jamboree, but not before Winkleigh Morris put on a cocktail party with ice cubes of pure gin! This year the theme was Greeks and Romans.
Like so many organisations, the call for new recruits is ever-present, so any aspiring Morrismen, please get in touch with us from September onwards. Practice night is Wednesday from around 8 p.m.
