The twelfth of December was a cold day. The sun came out early, but the wind arriving in Lymington had travelled from Scandinavia and it felt like it. We parked the car as early as possible since it was market day and you have to spend time finding a slot on any Saturday in this town. As we arrived, we saw Bev feeding the ticket machine and, shortly after that, Bob, Pam, Jax and Pete coasted by, doing the circuit of the crowded car park. Still, plenty of time before we begin to dance.
We gathered outside the United Reform Church. Bev had arrived before us and was chatting to Rachel in the gateway. There were fewer Meddlars than I expected to see there at that time, but the reason soon became obvious - just inside the main door of the church a cheerful little cafe has been installed and it is warm inside. In fact, the whole church has undergone much work of late. It has had a lovely new Hall attached to the back and is clearly home to a thriving congregation. All around the inside of the church were beautifully decorated Christmas trees competing for the accolade of best tree. At the end of the festival, each tree was to be auctioned to raise funds for a good cause.
At five minutes to two o'clock we assembled outside and the musicians began to tune up and loosen up. The cold air makes any stringed instrument play sharp so you will spend a while trying to persuade a fiddle or a banjo to stay in tune. Morris dancing really is a summer activity! Then Squire Pete addressed the slowly gathering crowd and we were off.
With a programme of seven dances to work through in around half an hour the dancers soon began to warm up. The mix of Cotswold and Border dances gives you a good choice to suit the dancers attending and so everyone gets a chance to move around to beat the cold. Except the musicians, of course.
The forecourt of the church offers an excellent dance surface for morris dancing - so good that we have asked to use it during our twentieth anniversary Day of Dance next year. It is right in the centre of town and, even when the market is in full swing, offers easy access to view the dancing. As we worked through our dance programme, the music began to draw attention to the dancers and increasingly more people began to arrive and assemble inside the gateway.
As is always the case, a good audience makes the performance much more enjoyable. By the time we reached our finale, the Upton-upon Severn stick dance, we had a fair crowd of spectators, This was all to the good, since we had arranged to make a presentation of a cheque to our sponsored charity.
Every two years we pick a charity, often for reasons especially dear to individual members of the side, and accumulate donations in favour of this chosen organisation. During 2009, our charity has been the British Lung Foundation, who had arranged for a representative, Dr David Bellamy, to come along to receive the cheque.
After the presentation, we all hurried into the church cafe to thaw out, aided by hot drinks provided by our event arranger, Helena. The usual suspects then retrieved cars from the still crowded car park and set off to continue rehydrating in the Hobler Inn at Battramsley. I had never been in this pub and so found it a pleasant surprise. The combination of an open fire, good beer and a dish of chips is hard to beat on a cold December afternoon. Well, at any time really.
