On May Day evening The Swan at Braybrooke saw the side back in action accompanied again by Hips 'n' Haws for the second time in 8 days, this time to sing and dance the Summer in. With an audience swelled by Friday nighters at the pub and visitors like Mae and her husband , Alana , Jonathan Unna and his wife and several more, they were well entertained until it got dark and cold at which point all retired insde for a buffet supper and songs.
The dancing had been good and shared between Braybrooke and Hips 'n' Haws. After dancing both of my 'pair' of dances the previous night at Brixworth I decided to go on again for the second time in two nights. It was only when dancing that I realised how steep the carpark is at The Swan - one dance was enough and I 'pulled up lame" - I had to push it and now I know the limits (whether I stick to them who know's)
It was also nice to celebrate David's Eighty first birthday with Chocolate Cake complete with Maypole and a Balloon dance from Hips 'n' Haws
The George at Brixworth was the first of several New Venues in the 2015 season, and a very good evening it was too. With a flat dancing surface to the rear of the pub ,which makes life easier. Wearing our new 'Casual' uniform of black trousers , white shirt and red neckerchief and bells ,we danced for an hour and a half to a lively and interested audience from the Pub. Non moreso than 'Mine Host' Gary who came out with a large bowl of chips and sausages 'to keep us warmed up' they didn't last long . There were a good number of the audience join, in for 'Shepherds Hay' lead by Pauline in her usual enthusiastic style with Gary the Landlord cheering us on. 'Green Garters was sung about 9.30pm followed by Sally and Pauline dancing Lively Jig by the finish of which it was getting quite chilly.
It's nice to know when your efforts are appreciated and no better way to show it than a bowl of sausage and chips -
Many Thanks to Gary and his staff for their Hospitality we'll be back in 2016
The first dance out of
the 2015 season was interesting for several reasons Spurred on by the activities of another
Person wth Parkinson's ,I set myself the challenge
of dancing 2 Morris Dances with the side on St Georges day to raise funds for
The Cure Parkinson's Trust I faced my challenge outside the Swan in
Braybrooke .
I'm not the prettiest of dancers - not helped by the fact that the laces at the bottom of my bells came undone allowing 4 or 5 bells to fall off and the lace dragged on the ground. ready to trip me up and I had forgotten that the Swan Car Park is on a slope
With a reasonable sized audience looking on it was a pleasant spring evening, which we shared with our old friends Hips 'n' Hawsresplendent in their new Blue and Yellow costume (at least I hadn't seen it before.. The evening ended in failing light with Shepherds Hey – with quite a few of the audience joining in.
A total of £1207 including Gift
Aid has made it's way to The Cure Parkinson's Trust - £54 being raised at the
Swan on Thursday. It is interesting that I had donations from several people who
I do not actually know and some who remained anonymous.It has taken me until Sunday to get
feeling 'right' and my legs stop aching but having dance out for the first time
I intend to continue dancing to help the side out as we are short of dancers. I
will be looking to add a couple more dances to the repertoire. I may not be up
to dancing every week, with PD no one know's what each day will bring but I
will dance as often as I can as it has done me some good in relation to my
overall co-ordination.
MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO SUPPORTED ME BY DONATING to THE
CURE PARKINSON’S TRUST.
The last chance for improvement in Bill's Dancing came and went at last Monday's Practice. Due to an error by the Northants Telegraph in stating that the challenge was back to back dancing of Constant Billy and Bluebells of Scotland we decided to give it a go. In fact we danced Constant Billy once and Bluebells of Scotland twice consecutively (3 dances in succession) - It was fine on the night but the price has been paid Tuesday and Wednesday. So 8 days to go to St Georges Day 23rd - and I am really looking forwards to it.
The latest video sows the continued improvement of Bill's attempts at 'Constant Billy' ready for 23rd April 2015 at The Swan in Braybrooke at around 7.45pm. The current standing of his Justgiving page for The Cure Parkinson's Trust is
£ 460 plus Gift Aid- plenty of time left to make a donation and thanks to the side for supporting this challenge and getting me going.
Progress with Skirmish was a little less evident with a mix up at the start between dancers of who was clashing sticks with whom - soon resolved and back to normal
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