The Bank Holiday weekend brings our biggest festival appearance of the year. Unfortunately, three dancers had to back out at the last minute, requiring an urgent revision of our programme, but those who could were there in good time for a run through, as our first spot was in the arena.
Unlike last year, the weather was hot and sunny. We were lucky to find a shady spot in which to make the last minute preparations for our appearance.
The act before us was an Appalachian side who were step perfect...
Our first dance was Uptails
Then May Apple
And finally the Rose
And off to rapturous applause...
Our next spot followed soon afterwards, at the bottom of the High Street, alongside other sides including Southern Lights Dance Team
and Tiddly Fiddly
No sooner had we finished this spot than we had to dump our belongings in Lawrence's car and dash to the start of the procession. Perhaps because we were near the front, this seemed to go much quicker than last year (at times it felt like the band were running to keep up!). We did our quick turn in the arena, then dashed back to the car to retrieve our things, then back for a spot in the middle of the High Street, shared with some other sides. (Not pictured are Wickham Morris and Jackstraws).
No rest for the wicked - we were due at our final spot, the Rose & Crown.
where we danced along with Motley Morris
and Rampant Rooster
and, as usual, concluded the day with the Rose.
And so, hot and tired but pleased with a good day's performance, we headed home. Due to the shortage of numbers, we've had to cancel our Sunday appearance at Chippenham, but we'll be back in Alton on Monday for the Jubilee celebrations.