Isca Morrismen Boxing Day Performances
The Isca Morrismen have always been very active over the Christmas and New Year period and traditionally dance at one pub at lunchtime every Boxing Day. The last few years have been no exception - This year, and the previous two, the side visited the Ostrich Inn at Newland on a fine dry day. Some years we are not so lucky however and in 2000 the dancing coincided with one of the coldest day's of the year at the Crown Inn, Pantygelli. In fact it was so cold that our photographer stayed in the warm!
To give you a flavour of our day we will start with this year at the Ostrich Inn
On a nice crisp, dry lunchtime, the assembled throngs gather and with a record 15 men out dancing and around 30 odd family members inside in the warm, the side enjoyed a lengthy session. Before an enthusiastic crowd from the village, the Isca Morrismen performed for around 30 minutes before retiring back inside the Ostrich for a well earned lunch.
After lunch the rain set in, so a second short dance spot was carried out indoors before turning in to a song and music session. In all a good time was had by all, but with limited indoor space, no further photographs were possible.
However, to give you a feel for the indoor session, we will turn to a previous year when we visited an excellent pub, the Red Hart Inn, set in the countryside at Llanfapley. Sadly the pub has now gone the way of many country pubs and is a private residence, but looking back on the day, with a little help from the friendly landlord, Ian, to whom we are indebted for both the pictures and the excellent ale, food and hospitality, we present another light hearted overview of a typical Boxing Day:-
With the weather a little damp the men warm up with some dancing inside the pub:
And now a request from our audience for a traditional fertility dance, let's have a young maiden from the pub and we'll throw her aloft at the end of the dance:
well almost there, the ceiling was a little low for a full blown performance! But with the weather improving, it's time to adjourn outside for some more:
And away we go again, someone keep an eye out for the traffic
But someone said the landlord Ian was game, let's dress him up and dance Adderbury Bluebells
A valiant effort, but what's that, the beers on Ian?? Well what are we waiting for, all back inside with a song. . . .
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