Category Archives: dancing

International Dance Day – 2011

On the Market Place today was the third running of the International Dance Day, It involved …

Belly Dancing by Ashnah

Thai Dancing

Indian Dancing

Rock and Roll from the Oxford Swing Dance Society

Scottish Dancing (Lochaber Lassies), Balkan Dancing, and Irish dancing.

Next Saturday there will be dancing with Mr Hemmings Traditional Abingdon Morris Dancers and visiting groups. They begin at about 10:30am at the White Horse pub, make their way to town via other pubs and dance on the Market Place from around noon.

1st Annual Abingdon Beer Festival at the Kings Head and Bell

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Abingdon Beer Festival
This is what the courtyard of the Kings Head and Bell looked like a year ago (picture by Carl) …

The landlord of the Kings Head and Bell is seen here one year later with the Chairman of the Vale at the opening of the first Annual Beer Festival.

Lots of different local beers were on offer. Steve Green on his blog (Abingdon Beer) will have far more detail. He was working his way through the twenty or so beers on offer last time I saw – showing great dedication to his blog.
Abingdon Beer Festival
This afternoon the morris men were performing at the festival. Weather has been good, apart from a sudden downpour at 2:30pm – the time they were meant to start. So they started late and carried on most of the afternoon.

It gave their bagman the chance to get aquainted with quite a few young ladies. He picks them out of the crowd to be danced round.

(They will be dancing next on Saturday 11th September on Abingdon Market Place for Heritage Day. The Kings Head and Bell will also open up the King Charles room on Heritage Day.)

Mayor of Ock Street 2010

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Voting
Today the people of Ock Street and the surrounding courts had their chance to elect the Mayor of Ock Street.
Lots of people taking pictures
Normally there are two or three people taking snaps but this year it was as if the Paparazzi had descended on Abingdon.
Man with black face from up north
And the men with the black faces from up north who have completely different traditions were there too – not Morris at all but they enjoyed a dance and a beer.
Feeding The Ox
He could be just having a laugh but you never know. It may be symbolic.
Roger Cox - reelected
Roger Cox was re-elected as the Mayor of Ock Street. Roger at aged 60 defeated Harry Knight aged 59 by just a handful of votes.
Roger carried round
Roger was carried round town as the victor for the forth year running.
Late dancing
The dancing started at about 9:30 AM. It returned finally at 8:30 PM for the last dance before going on to the Abbey Buildings for a meal and some entertainment. I believe they then sing folk songs and show off their other talents.
Sammi Kebab
Another great Abingdon tradition watches on from his Kebab van.

Cecil Sharp Centenary Day of Dance

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Mr Hemmings Abingdon Traditional Morris dancers, danced at many pubs round Abingdon, and even some ex-pubs like this one – which was once The Happy Dick Inn in Ock Street.

This annual day of dance was to celebrate Cecil Sharp who worked at the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th ecntury, collecting dances, and keeping the old morris dancing tradition alive. He visited Abingdon one hundred years ago.
One of the Armaleggan Morris Morris dancers
The Mr Hemmings group were accompanied by 7 other groups. This colourful Oxfordshire group, called Armaleggan Morris, dance in the borders style with blacked faces and tattered clothes and energetic stick hitting. They are at the Kings Head and bell.

Belly dancing, by Hazzaz, in the Carpark of the Cross Keys pub.

Mayflower Morris clog dancing at the front of the Cross Keys.

Then at 2 pm all the groups got together to dance on the Market Place.

Les Badcock, the bagman of the Mr Hemmings group, led the dance.