As Steve commented on yesterday’s post “On May the 6th, or the nearest Saturday, The Mr Hemmings Traditional Abingdon Morris Dancers dance along Ock Street to celebrate Tom Hemmings Birthday.” Les Badcock, the brother of the current Mayor of Abingdon, and the  bagman of the Mr Hemming’s troop, is seen in the first picture.

Tom Hemmings was important in restoring the tradition of Morris Dancing in Abingdon in the early 20th century as was Cecil Sharp and Mary Neal at a more national level.

Today was the nearest Saturday to Tom Hemmings’ birthday, and there were six dance troops in town.

They  collected at the White Horse Pub for their first set of dances, and having danced at a number of different pubs during the morning arrived at the Market Place (or Market Square as some call it) at 2pm.

One lady did ask me whether it was Abingdon’s May Day celebration. But Abingdon Dancers tend to go to Oxford for what is a very big event on May 1st. This year they got soaked for the honour.

At least we had some sunshine in Abingdon.

These are the Oxford City Morris Dancers paying a return visit from the city to one of the surrounding Market Towns. One came incognito. Goes by the name of Stan I believe.

Next big Morris event in Abingdon is the election of the Mayor of Ock Street on June 16th. The election of the next Mayor of Abingdon is this Wednesday 9th May.

Today, I visited Cecil Sharp House in Camden, off Regents Park Road.

Cecil Sharp was a collector of folk music and dances which he documented. He was instrumental in the revival of this traditional form of dancing and became the first ever Professor of Folk Music and Dance

Inside Cecil Sharp House I saw a little model of the Headington Quarry Morris Dancers who Cecil saw one Boxing Day morning when visiting an Aunt in Oxford.

A collaborator of Sharps’s called Mary Neal found her inspiration from nearby Berkshire. (Photo by Meritxell Bonas). The picture shows the recent Mary Neal celebration at Cecil Sharp House where the Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers performed .

Cecil’s interest was perhaps  more academic, while Mary used the dances to teach to young working class girls in her Esperance Club.

Mary heard of some dancers from a town in Berkshire who always danced with horns mounted on a pole. That interested her greatly. So she wrote and got the reply ‘Honourable and respected Miss, I am that party which has the old dances, and I shall be proud to show them to you. Yours to command.’

She first came to Abingdon around 1910 and saw them dance at the White Horse Pub. They also went to London to dance for her. Her correspondent went by the well known Abingdon name of Hemmings.