If you haven’t seen or heard us out and about, you may be surprised (or terrified) to know that Boscastle has its very own morris dancing side. We’ve been around for over a year now, frequenting our trio of pubs, skittering around the harbour and joining in with a good bit of shanty singing!
It isn’t all fun and games being a morris dancer; there is a huge responsibility that rests on the tattered-shoulders of sides across the country, and that is to ensure that the sun is danced up on 1st May each year. Last year we did a spectacular job and can confirm that we encouraged a rather unwilling sun to rise over the stitches and make the cloud a slightly lighter shade of grey.
This year we had a lie-in. Scandalous, we know. The weather had been vile, and the Stitches were not in the best of shape for gallivanting around on so we decided to dance the sun down instead. This also allowed us to introduce a very important member of our side.
You see, it isn’t common knowledge, but all Cornish villages are protected by a type of magical, mythical creature. This creature looks out for the village and its denizens and does its best to ensure things prosper. Boscastle’s creature is a selkie, and it isn’t uncommon to see her bobbing about the harbour when the weather is nice. On 1st May Boscastle Border Morris had a ceremony to call her from the harbour to come and dance with us during the summer. After much shouting by the side and our audience, Morsterren the Selkie appeared and was crowned by our Squire.
At this point, we still had an audience (something we couldn’t have said if it was 5.30am!) and so we did what we do best: drinking dancing and laughing. We should probably apologise to anyone who was expecting the crème de la crème of morris; we’re the clotted cream version and we wouldn’t have it any other way!
We’ve actually been let loose for this year’s dancing season, so you’ll be able to find us at pubs and events in the local area and even as far as Devon. If you missed us, don’t worry! We’ll be back in Boscastle in June, July and August, so you can miss/escape from us for too long.
If you want to find out where we’ll be in the coming weeks you can see out calendar online: www.boscastlebordermorris.uk. We welcome new members in September when our practice season begins, and we welcome audiences all the time because otherwise we get lonely.
