“O Fortuna, velut luna, statu variabilis” from Carmina
Burana
Vic’s choice – see below
Chairman’s Message
Six months ago I was a humble second
tenor (“a contradiction in terms” I hear you cry!)
whose opinions were of value only to myself, but now I am
canvassed by the editor for my views as Chairman of the Trustees!
It is perhaps early days to pass judgement on our new structure
– the first full test will come with The Creation -
but I have to say that my first impressions are very favourable.
The teams appear to be well-established and co-ordination
seems to be good. There is a greater sense of involvement
at all levels, which is very much what Derek and last year’s
committee set out to achieve.
An important part of the role of the trustees
is to stay in touch with the views of the membership on the
broader issues of the way the society is run, and we are keen
to make this work. The part reps are an important channel
for your views, and in addition, Alan, Diana, Ted, Christine
and myself would like to feel that you will bring your concerns
directly to us.
As the authors of Carmina Burana might
have put it, what goes around comes around. Looking back on
my period as treasurer and then chairman in the 70s and 80s,
my over-riding concern was about ticket sales, or rather the
paucity of them. Nothing changes! The ability of HCS to maintain
its high standard of performance, supported by first class
orchestras and soloists depends directly upon you, our only
effective sales force. We need to have the confidence to believe
that our next concert will be the best one yet – and
then go out and sell tickets!
Here are some figures to provide food for thought. In my first
treasurer’s report, I recorded ticket sales for our
two concerts in the 1975/76 season: 802 sales for Messiah
in November and 683 for Verdi’s Requiem in May! Why
don’t we get full houses now?
May I wish you all a happy, prosperous and peaceful New Year.
Vic Knowles
Message from Derek
As I write, snow is forecast which
will probably lead to chaos! On March 15th, we shall be listening
to a Representation of Chaos, the opening movement of Haydn’s
Creation and one that never ceases to amaze in its originality
of structure as well as tonality. It will be a great pleasure
to welcome the London Pro Arte Orchestra. I still recall the
exquisite playing of their Baroque specialists last Spring
and I’m quite sure we shall be delighted again. Indeed
that should surely be another element that will appeal to
our potential audience. Yet again we bring an excellent professional
orchestra to the town. We shall also hear three young and
experienced soloists : Elizabeth Weisberg, Philip Tebb and
‘our own’ Jeremy Budd. His family are local to
the area and he lived here until quite recently. His career
as a soloist and member of many famous consorts continues
to flourish mainly in this country and around Europe. You
may remember that, when we did a Bring and Sing Creation a
few years ago, he arrived at the rehearsal in rugby kit to
sing the solos - straight from playing for Hertford!
The Creation is a rich and colourful work
as Haydn traces the transformation from chaos through the
first six days of creation. Along the way, he paints many
of the creatures described, from the birds to the whales to
the flowers to the host of insects and the sinuously creeping
worm! Having created man and woman, much of the last section
is a delightful scene between Adam (bass) and Eve (soprano)
particularly poignant since our soprano and bass soloists
were married last year! One of the famous choruses is Achieved
is the glorious work, which was on HCS’s first recording
(1991)!
One reason for choosing this work is because
Easter, and therefore our concert, is early. As we have less
rehearsal time, it should be helpful that this is a generally
more familiar and popular work. May 31 next year marks the
200th anniversary of Haydn’s death and a whole series
of
performances of The Creation is being planned. So how good
that we can remind our audiences of how lovely it is before
that comes!
I hope you enjoy it and do tell everybody
that it will be another great HCS performance; you know it
will be!
Happy New Year!
Peace Concert
An amazing event took place
on 21 September. A concert took place in the chapel at Haileybury
to celebrate the United Nations International Day of Peace.
It began with a powerful film about children living in the
aftermath of war and how the charity, Hope and Homes for Children,
works to find loving families in which traumatised and orphaned
children can start to rebuild their lives. Members of HCS,
conducted by Derek, sang the Sanctus and Benedictus from Jenkins’
The Armed Man with a haunting cello solo by Rebecca Godlee
and powerful percussion playing by Haileybury students. Pupils
from Aston St Mary’s Primary School sang the official
Peace Day song, No Wars Can Stop Us Singing. Simon Balle School
students played their own composition on African drums while
Haileybury students performed a Zulu freedom song and a setting
of Psalm 117, written for the Jewish choir and sung in Hebrew.
The Rev Chris Briggs (chaplain of Haileybury) read a poem
that had been written by a past pupil, who had died in World
War 1, aged only 20 years. In 2006, one of Haileybury’s
ex students was killed in Iraq, bringing home to the audience
that distant wars can touch families in Hertfordshire.
Nigel Parkin, head of drama, read a piece recording how Russian
citizens were so affected at the sight of retreating German
soldiers that they offered them their own meagre rations,
reinforcing the belief that the perceived enemy is usually
no different from you or I.
The concert was an effective collaboration between Haileybury,
HCS and Brenda Lowe. The audience was highly appreciative.
A cheque for £2000, as a result of donations and ticket
sales, will be given to Hope and Homes for Children.
2007 AGM, 11 Sept
07. At the
adjournment of the 2007 AGM, 11 Sept 07, the following trustees
were elected:
Vic Knowles ............................ Chairman
Ted Sharp............................... Hon Treasurer
Christine Muskett..................... Hon Secretary
Alan Cropp and Diana Salthouse
Alan Cropp was elected Vice Chairman on 25 Oct 07
Bring & Sing Messiah 6 Oct 2007, Great St Mary’s,
Sawbridgeworth
Approx. 80 singers, including quite a few HCS members took part
in this charity performance. £1858 was raised for Isabel
Hospice. Thanks go to all those involved, especially Derek Harrison
and Trish Goldsmith.
Our New Staging
The recent Christmas
Concert was the first time we built the new staging without
any onsite instructions from the suppliers. As it was
6 months since the first build, the production team had
their fingers crossed and hoped they had remembered the
correct build and the post concert trolley-stacking sequences.
I’m pleased to report that everything went very
well, with the staging build completed in about 40 minutes.
One thing I learnt was that the build is easier than expected
and so the number of helpers can be reduced in future.
The hardest job now is moving the pews. After the concert,
the striking of the staging and the trolley-stacking was
also completed in about 40 mins as I had my glass of wine
and mince pie(s!!) at 10.15. Back in June we had some
problems getting the trolleys stacked correctly so it
was great to get everything in the right order. Many thanks
to all those who turned up and helped with all the production
jobs.
When we decided to buy the new staging the objectives
were:-
• to reduce the cost of van hire, scout hire and
storage
• to reduce the risks of damage to people or church
• to reduce the time needed to build/strike the
staging
• to enable other organisations to use for events/concerts
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I am delighted to say that we have met
all of the first three and have received some interest from
people who would like to hire some of the staging.
Our next objective is to see if we can find somewhere in or
near the church for storage. This will eliminate the need
to hire a van and give easier and faster access whenever the
staging is used.
Ken Edmonds
Grande Messe des Morts - diary jottings of HCS alto2
2006 – The back of the diary goes only
as far as Feb 07, so scrawl across the page - 4 Nov Berlioz
Grande Messe – never heard of it.
27 Oct 06 – Derek had said that the Grande
Messe is being performed at RAH so I went along – hated
it! Noise was so loud that I had to put my fingers in my ears.
Don’t fancy singing it. And how will the men cope with
all their ‘men only’ bits?
26 June 07 – Start rehearsing Berlioz.
Precious little alto bits so we are expected to sing the soprano
top G as well as the tenor bottom E. It is quite difficult reading
the tenor line when we have to sing it an octave lower.
25 July 07 – Have shut myself in the
bedroom at 10.30am – not my usual routine – and
listened to the Grande Messe on Radio 3. Absolutely stunning
and reduced me to tears.
27 July 07 – Buy the CD
13 Oct 07 – Heard my husband telling
people at lunch that he hears ‘strange sounds emanating
from the kitchen when xxxxxx is ironing – interspersed
with quick dashes to the piano’. Well, I’m now singing
along aren’t I, either with the full CD or the practice
CD. I’m also yelling out the Lacrimosa as I walk the dog
across the fields and practising squawking out top Gs to the
cows.
28 Oct 07 – Rehearsal at Harlow Sports
Centre with all choirs and most of the brass. Fantastic! Derek
seems pleased – he obviously couldn’t hear what
I could hear behind me.
30 Oct 07 – Last HCS rehearsal. The sops
are accused of being flat and it was suggested that they sounded
tired – amusing as they were singing ‘Quaerens me’
(thou didst sit down weary). Men sound marvellous. Other members
suggest that we do a karaoke at the RAH and just open our mouths
to a recording. We left the rehearsal laughing.
4 Nov 07 – Memorable moments –
camaraderie, buoyant mood, ghastly dressing room already full
– so what, still good fun. Marvellous view of 16 kettle
drums, but realisation that all was not well on the choral side.
We were hijacked! Having worked so hard to learn the Berlioz,
some choirs had obviously not. I have to say I found the performance
disappointing. So many of the finer points, rehearsed so thoroughly,
were lost. I could have cried. Well I did. The ending was magical
and I certainly had tears in my eyes.
So, adieu Berlioz, that was a fine grand mass. Thank you Derek
for being brave enough to take us on. I enjoyed this journey
enormously.
Anon
BERLIOZ – more musing
Why I lost my Christmas music
and found it a week later behind a door I
loved the Berlioz, loved my part (alto 1) and loved everyone
else’s part. Musically uneducated, I found it easy to
sing. So when I was enthusing about it months and months ago
to my daughter, Madeleine, she said “I’d like
to come to that, and so would Lise”. Lise is four, and
they live in the Alps. Discussing it further, Maddy said she
thought Colette and Marc would like to come – and they
did. They live in Toulon. OK. Later, our friends, Jane and
Mike (Somerset), and Veronica and Don (Wokingham), said they
would come. My usual groupies, husband, Alan and arm-twisted
bosom pal, Sue, didn’t have much choice and they had
to come. Ten people. Whoopee! We reserved ten seats in a box
at the RAH. I rested on my laurels for ages, basking in the
sun of virtue.
I can’t say much about the regional
rehearsals. Under threat of expulsion by the headmaster, we
had to attend one or more, and I managed to get to only one
at Chorleywood with a few other HCS members; the redoubtables,
Hilary and Diana being two of them. It was a very good rehearsal
and I remember being very impressed with how the men sang.
But all along we and all the other choirs worked hard. I think
you could say we were dedicated. My friend, Cliff (Tenor 1),
even delayed his move to Wales so that he could sing.
Came the day of the dress rehearsal in Harlow.
We altos were high up at the back of the hall (we know our
place). It was hot and crowded. In my mind I could see all
these black and yellow, green-eyed monster germs rising in
the air, zooming up my nose, down my throat and on to my chest.
And so it was.
On the Friday of the weekend-that-was I
staggered to Stansted Airport with my husband, dosed with
lemon and honey, echinacaea and garlic pills, etc., looking
like death warmed up, red nose, streaming eyes, hacking cough,
muffled to keep my germs to myself. Colette and Marc arrived
looking sophisticated and suave, as indeed they are. I ducked
out of the Saturday morning run to Luton Airport. I knew that
Maddy’s 11.30 arrival meant she might want lunch immediately,
it being 12.30 in France, and already half an hour late! And
so she did. Cooking for four French-domiciled people is quite
daunting so I had prepared in advance and think I excelled
myself culinarily.
Sunday arrived. I swallowed the medicine
chest, and caught the Welwyn Garden City choir coach to the
RAH. I don’t remember much about the rehearsal –
perhaps a good thing. Our quarters in the bowels of the building
left a lot to be desired except maybe as a boiler room. It
transpired that the seat I was eventually allocated for the
performance was close to my party’s box. My granddaughter
could peep at me and I could see her in her pink party frock.
I could also hear her shriek when Blast started, in spite
of her ear plugs and sparkly ear muffs. Because of my malady
I couldn’t sing anything marked p, pp or ppp, or anything
exposed, but I could listen to everyone else and the orchestra.
It was wonderful. My guests thought it was thoroughly enjoyable
and entertaining and they loved every moment of it. If I say
I was honoured to be there it makes me tearful, so perhaps
I should leave that bit out.
At lunch time on Monday, eleven of us sat
down to one of my culinary masterpieces. Because of the French
influence, this lasted for about four hours. This did not
mean that supper was not required. Three guests went home.
Six guests stayed the night.
On Tuesday we went into reverse. My husband
took Colette and Marc to Stansted and I took Maddy and Lise
to Luton. Jane and Mike drove off to Somerset. I collapsed
into a heap in bed for the afternoon with what was left of
the medicine chest, got up in the evening, did not have a
gin and tonic, and went to HCS.
I can honestly say I don’t like the
expression “I was gutted” but that is how I felt
when I saw The Times’ unnecessarily hostile review that
evening. I know how I had striven to learn the music and provide
an audience, but my efforts could not begin to match those
of Derek, not to mention Peter and all the behind-the-scenes
movers and shakers. What terrific people they all are. I came
home, threw my music folder down (I can just hear my mother
saying “temper, temper”), sent a raspberry-flavoured
email to The Times and sulked.
So that is why I lost my Christmas music
and found it a week later behind a door.
Pat Bardett
Ask Auntie Di
Iris Stedford: I loved the Berlioz.
What did you think Auntie Di?
Di: Go Away!
Iris: But didn’t you think it was terrific?
Di: O course I did. Absolutely blooming marvellous. Now go
away; can’t you see I’m busy?
Iris: Sorry Auntie – that’s an awful lot of pins.
Can I help you?
Di: Thanks – but no thanks. I want to stick every single
pin into this doll myself.
Review of Berlioz Grande Messe des Morts, Royal Albert
Hall – Sunday 4 November 2007
Hertfordshire’s musical talent turned out in force to
perform Berlioz’s gigantic Requiem under the direction
of Derek Harrison in RAH. There were representatives from 14
choirs amongst the 650 singers, 16 timpani in the grand forces
of the Westminster Orchestra and brass players galore, including
the Herts County Youth Brass. As if sheer numbers were not enough,
the element of distance was added to this mix, with four separate
brass bands disported around the Albert Hall gallery.
Those taking part should be proud of the
way in which the performance came together.
The concert opened with Blast, a specially
commissioned work by the young Hertfordshire composer, Daniel
Basford. Using the same instrumental forces as Berlioz, the
composer made optimum use of the unique space and acoustics
afforded by the RAH, with a riot of quadraphonic sound that
worked its way across the timpani, through the orchestra and
around the four quarters of the gallery before combining all
the instruments in a triumphant climax.
The Berlioz Requiem did not sit as comfortably
with these Albert Hall acoustics as I had expected. This may
have been because of my position in the back row of the circle,
above the main body of sound. The quiet rising scale on the
strings gave a compelling opening, and after the nervousness
of getting started, the choir produced an unfaltering beauty
of tone. There were memorable moments of lyricism, amongst
them being the soprano-led introduction of the words ‘qui
salvandos salvas gratis’ in the Rex Tremendae.
There was a fine balance between choir and instruments, apart
from a few moments of full-force brass, when the singers could
not be heard.
Berlioz’s work often had the choir intoning as the orchestra
wove melodically around them. This was especially effective
in the Offeritorium. His individualistic scoring peppered
the piece with nuances of sound with which the orchestra dealt
very well. Amongst the most telling moments were the muffled
cymbals in the Sanctus and the slow chords at the beginning
of the Agnus Dei, with strings echoing woodwind. The strong
brass entries did not fail to deliver dramatic moments, but
I was left wondering why Berlioz chose to explore the depths
of trombone and tuba in moments of sadness; the effect was
macabre.
Without doubt, the highlight of the piece
was Justin Lavender’s wonderful tenor solo with ladies’
angelic voices in the Sanctus. This glimpse of Heaven was
maintained throughout the final Agnus Dei to a peaceful and
moving Amen.
Felicity Sandell
Letter from Peter Neville, double bass player in the
Berlioz, to John Jefkins
The choirs and the brass bands made this a real "Hertfordshire"
event. Although only a few of the orchestra were from Hertfordshire,
I was one of them, with my double bass. Berlioz specified 18
double basses, and, as the Westminster Philharmonic has only
two regular double basses, I was invited to augment their number.
This was a double pleasure, as my wife is in one of the Joint
Choirs. The orchestra had a five-hour rehearsal a fortnight
before Harlow, without choirs, timpani, or brass bands. The
music struck us as being thin and uninteresting, a contrast
to Berlioz’s normal colourful orchestral writing.
At Harlow, despite the boomy acoustics, we could begin to see
this was a major work, and a huge event.
On arriving at the RAH, I was relieved to see that the backstage
facilities had been much improved since my only other performance
there, which was a decade or four ago, in the orchestra for
the first "bring&sing" Messiah. The passage leading
to the orchestra platform is called the "Bull Run",
significantly so, as it emerges straight into the double bass
section. We therefore had to organise ourselves to allow the
orchestra (and Derek) to walk safely through our section.
The rehearsal revealed the dry acoustic and the time delays
in this unique auditorium. Grappling with these gave us food
for thought. At the end of the rehearsal, we did the usual thing
of leaving our double basses on the platform, rather than humping
them through the crowded corridors to our changing room.
At the performance, we were first on to the platform, in order
to tune our instruments while it was still quiet. We tasted
the atmosphere of expectation pervading the auditorium.
Now for the real thing, as, quietly and deliberately, Derek
brought down his baton to start the Berlioz. I could feel the
100% concentration all around me. The choral entries all had
extra accuracy and quality. The brass bands were dramatic and
effective. And for me, the high point, which justified all the
preparations, was the Quaerens Me. With the orchestra silent,
the choral singing was celestial.
Peter Neville
Footnote re Berlioz from Felicity
The unaccompanied Quaerens me and Hostias sounded beautiful
even though the men were hanging on to the pitch by their fingertips!
Congratulations to Derek and all of you for a very good account
of the work. The work was melodramatic, leading me to comment
‘full of sound and fury’ at the interval. Our evening
was equally melodramatic as someone threw himself under a train
in which two of our number were travelling and they were not
allowed into the hall until the interval. When I read up about
Berlioz in my Oxford Companion to Music, a shock went through
me as the piece ended with his own epitaph, using the quote:
‘A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying
nothing’
Update of the New Organisation in HCS
Has it changed? Is it the same?
What is certain is that we are all now far more aware of who
does what when and how. A big thank you to the team leaders
who have rationalised and developed many aspects of HCS into
a recognised self-running group of DOERS. There is no doubt
that we are using the talents of many of our members, some
individuals contributing in several ways.
We are lacking just a few volunteers. Can you help?
Ask your neighbour if he/she would like to have a go.
1. For the concert content team there is need of a deputy
to work with Derek - preferably someone with some musical
experience (i.e. any one of you!).
2. The concert content team is also looking for one or two
people to look after the notice boards. Please talk to Hilary
if this appeals to you.
3. The publicity team needs a deputy to shadow and support
Trish Goldsmith. This team also needs members to do research
for programmes and publicity for future concerts. This would
include looking for suitable photos or looking at soloists’
websites. Fancy a new project for 2008? Please speak to Trish.
4. The general team is open to ideas for fundraising from
the sublime to the ridiculous. Post your ideas in the suggestion
box (please include your name).
5. The production team and the front of house team have full
lists in all but INTERVAL DRINKS RESPONSIBILITIES. This is
not now arduous (those magical fairies produce sparkling glasses
for each performance and magic them away afterwards to reappear
next time). There needs to be at least four people (but only
two for each concert, which means you would be on duty only
twice a season). These people would collect and distribute
the wine and oversee the clearing up after the concert. A
request has been made to provide wine at the Christmas concert.
This could be done but only if three more helpers came forward.
Please ask Hilary what is needed; it would be sad to have
a dry concert!
If you haven’t yet ‘belonged’ by sharing
the fun, have a go - either in a team or by helping on concert
day.
Those members’ names on the official contact lists are
often backed by a hidden group of support workers. To the
old and the new, the obvious and the hidden, Derek and I say
thank you.
Hilary Laidler
Excerpts from a review of Berlioz Grande Messe des Morts
by Vic Lindsey.
I usually review Ware Choral Society's
performances but I was asked to write about the Berlioz at
RAH and what a wonderful evening it was. Berlioz wrote
'The text of the Requiem was a quarry I had long coveted.
Now at last it was mine and I fell on it with a kind of fury.
My brain felt as though it would explode with the pressure
of ideas.'
Berlioz had had no formal education in orchestration and was
not proficient on any musical instrument but he knew the sound
and atmosphere he wanted to create and this was wonderfully
illustrated in the performance. I must say a word about the
conductor, Derek Harrison. Right from the start he was totally
in charge of this vast gathering. The brass players up in
the gallery, the orchestra and the singers were completely
under his control. I was completely overwhelmed by the grandeur
of it all. At the close, the Agnus dei, the singers
put down their scores to sing the Amen. It made the
quiet ending of this huge work truly impressive. We had been
treated to a memorable evening. Saint-Saens said of Berlioz
'He sought the impossible and would have it at any cost.'
Geoffrey Norris relates the
joys of communal song after the Government launched
a £10 million campaign in Jan 07 to encourage school children
to sing
Make 'em sing The
Daily Telegraph 17 Jan 2007
Tell a child that he or she has got to sing and there will
probably be nervousness or reluctance. Coax them, cajole them
and the chances of success are much greater. It must be in
the training of the trainers that much of the £10 million
will be spent. After all, it costs nothing to sing; there
is no instrument to be bought. I cannot remember a time when
I did not sing, either in my infants', primary and secondary
schools or later on in choral societies and churches. At no
stage have I had in the forefront of my mind that singing
was aiding my social skills, my self-confidence or personal
responsibility, though these are qualities that today are
credited to music's powers. Nor have I been too conscious
of the healthy impact it has on the body to breathe in deeply,
open the lungs and belt out a tune. Medics and psychologists
assert that these are among the boons of singing, but the
quality I most value is that it is fun and fulfilling. I am
not a natural soloist; I have never had any vocal training;
but I have long valued the opportunities that a succession
of music masters and choral conductors have provided for me
in singing the classics of the choral repertoire and being
part of something that I could not produce on my own.
Consensus on the national songbook will be hard to achieve.
The sort of things I was brought up on were Bach's Jesu,
Joy of Man's Desiring and Mendelssohn's Oh, for the
Wings of a Dove. If these are replaced by Lennon and
McCartney, Simon and Garfunkel or even Muse, the encouragement
for children to give voice will not be wasted.
HCS Summer Garden Party 2008
When you get that new diary, one of the first dates to ink in
is SUNDAY 8 June 2008.
Francis and Hazel Spears have once again kindly offered their
gardens and grounds at Old Hall Green, near St. Edmunds College,
north of Ware, to host a garden party from midday until 3.00
p.m.
Details of food/parking/cost etc. will be in the next newsletter;
do hope you’ll be able to come and support this sociable
occasion.
Updating HCS Contacts
Spelling mistake in the HCS contact list issued in December:
the e-mail for Sheila Dorling who is our Sop2 music distributor
should read lindor7434@aol.com.
Did you receive your copy? It has all the essential people’s
contact information should you need help or need to help in
HCS. Ask your part rep for a copy.
Hilary Laidler and Carol Bryant are now keeping the contact
list updated. Please let them know in writing via the suggestion
box or by email if you have any changes. They took your details
from the subscription returns and will be ensuring that it is
not used by third parties. If you have updates to any printed
versions you receive, please ensure that the old one is shredded
to protect members’ security.
HCS Christmas Quiz
Please return your completed (good luck!) quizzes to the posting
box at one of the HCS rehearsals by
10pm Tuesday 15 Jan or post to Jill Coggins, 12 Cole Green,
Hertford, SG14 2NL by 15 Jan.
Winners will be announced at the rehearsal on 22 Jan Prizes!
Winners will be notified by post.
Ask Auntie Di (continued)
Iris: I’m a complete music failure Auntie Di. I can’t
play an instrument and I’m not very good at reading music.
Di: But you’ve been a member of HCS for over 20 years.
Iris: So? It hasn’t enhanced the reading especially when
the notes are far apart (vertically) and close together (horizontally).
I asked Rapunzel how she did it and she just said that it was
like learning to read and write. Not true!
Di: I wondered what those black dots were for – I
just learn the tune and I’ve been in a choir since I was
eight years old. (Hope Derek isn’t reading this…)
I tried to learn to play the piano once but I seem to have dyslexic
fingers. You’ve either got it or you haven’t. I
do know you make a mean chocolate roulade.
Straw Bear Festival
Today is Straw Bear Tuesday. On this day in the Cambridgeshire
Fens at Whittlesea, a farmer is persuaded to dress up in a costume
of straw, fashioned roughly into the shape of a bear. In the
past, a strong rope was fastened around ‘the bear’s’
body, who was then taken around the village to dance in return
for money. The custom is sometimes attributed to the time when
real bears were made to dance at fairs although there is a tradition
of using straw effigies throughout Britain and further afield
to celebrate the ties with and dependence on the land. Straw
Bear Day is now more of a festival with concerts, dances and
a procession around the town and follows Plough Monday, which
is the first Monday after Epiphany. The plough is a symbol of
power and productivity. Farm labourers would carry a plough
around the village, taking the opportunity to enjoy themselves
before the start of the arduous farming year. Some of the farm
workers, while wearing their normal working clothes and hob-nailed
boots, would blacken their faces and indulge in Molly dancing
(a sort of men-only folk dancing peculiar to the fens) punctuated
by the need for much liquid refreshment. There is a troupe of
Molly Dancers based in Essex who, on Plough Monday, tour various
pubs and breweries (by coach). The dancers are now likely to
be accountants, dentists and estate agents but dressed in tweed
jackets, corduroys, and old hats and boots, accompanied by musicians
on fiddles, pipes, accordions and drums.
BC:AD by Ursula Fanthorpe
BC:AD by Ursula Fanthorpe
This was the moment when Before turned into After
and the futures’s uninvented timekeepers presented arms.
This was the moment when nothing happened.
Only dull peace sprawled boringly over the earth.
This was the moment when even energetic Romans could find
nothing better to do than counting heads in remote provinces.
And this was the moment when a few farm workers and three
members of an obscure Persian sect walked haphazard by starlight
straight into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Ed: June Crew with some remote help from Victor Crew (on the
ski slopes). Grateful thanks to all contributors. MORE please.
Also pictures, cartoons, quotes. To junecrew@brox1.demon.co.uk
or 26 St Davids Drive, Broxbourne, Herts EN10 7LS
Past Newsletters
>> HCS
Newsletter Number 94 (September 2007)
>> HCS Newsletter Number
93 (April 2007)
>> HCS
Newsletter Number 92 (Dezember 2006)
>> HCS Newsletter Number
91 (September 2006)
>> HCS
Newsletter Number 90 (April 2006)
>> HCS Newsletter Number
89 (Januar 2006)
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