Judith Proctor's Journal

All my work getting Anonymous Morris plastered all over the internet has started to pay off. 

We've got two musicians for Anonymous Morris.  Kate and Corwen are interested in old instruments, folk traditions, mumming plays, morris and narrow boats!  Something tells me we're destined to be friends...

I'm really looking forward to meeting them.

They found us via the Dark Dorset website.

See Kate and Corwen's page on mast beasts.  If you're at all interested in any traditions involving horses or any other kind of morris/soulcake/skulls on poles, then you'll find this an interesting read.  I have this sudden urge for a hobby horse...  (not strictly speaking a mast beast, but a close relative that is sometimes found with the morris)



I've also got a battered second-hand snare drum via another morris dancer.  It's battered, but was also cheap.  I've bought some drumsticks for it (and signed one of the staff in the music shop as a possible dancer...) and got an old luggage strap to sling over the shoulder and carry it as a side drum.

I've arranged for some more morris sticks.  (We've got nine at present courtesy of Old Harry morris, which folded last year), but I've now tracked down the guy who cuts sticks for all the local Cotswold and Border sides.  Ideally, the sticks should have a year to dry out and season properly, but green sticks are better than no sticks, and they'll improve with time.  (You get a much better sound when seasoned sticks clash, and they're less likely to splinter)

I've paid the membership for a year for Open Morris (one of three morris organisations in the country, they work together on many issues).  This particularly important for insurance purposes as there's a standard morris insurance policy that covers you at dance outs and practise sessions.

I'm currently working on poster designs.  I'll need to get those all around Poole and local youth clubs, etc in a couple of weeks' time.

It's about as much work as running a convention!