While Golden Star taught their workshop dance we were able to shower (in the best festival showers ever experienced!) and eat before heading back to the arena. Watching Spiers and Boden open proceedings on the main stage was a festival highlight for me although there was plenty of great music throughout the weekend.
Waking up on Saturday morning to find that it was raining was a definite disappointment and there was no sign of the weather clearing up. As we prepared for our workshop session a couple of hours later there seemed to be virtually nobody in the arena. Magically though a tentful of punters appeared as from nowhere while we did a quick demonstration dance. This was the first time we had taught Salmon Slapping as a workshop dance and it seemed to work very well. There were almost 40 people for us to teach and they all seemed to enjoy the session and perform a very passable dance by the time we had finished.
Next up was a lunchtime dance out with Golden Star at the Glemham Crown. None of us in Pretty Grim knew the Crown before this visit and to be honest I didn't have high hopes of a great dance out in the car park at the back of the pub. However the rain held off and quite a few people came out to watch us. A very appreciative audience made it all worthwhile and we may well come back to this charming village pub again.
After a music session in the Crown we headed back to the festival site where most of us congregated at the Syzewell Gap ceilidh. Several of our ore recent recruits enjoyed their first ever ceilidh as the heavens opened and a torrential downpour almost drowned out the sound of the band and the caller. That makes two years out of two that Folk East has seen a deluge on the Saturday afternoon, is this the start of a tradition I wonder?
With the rain still bucketing down we decided to move our post ceilidh dance spot from the morris stage to the dance tent. This session was perhaps the most fun of the weekend, with the two sides indulging in some lighthearted banter and teasing. Fortunately the rain dried up while we were dancing so we were able to enjoy the evening's music.
On Sunday the sun was back and very much appreciated as we headed out for another lunchtime dance out with Golden Star. This time at one of our favourite pubs, the Blaxhall Ship. As is usually the case at the Ship there was a good audience as we danced at the front of the pub.
Finally we returned to the festival site for our final dance spot of the weekend, joined this time by Hageneth Morris and Barley Brigg. With four sides taking turns on the small morris stage I wanted to make sure that everyone in Pretty Grim was able to enjoy this last dance spot. So I was thrilled to see a perfect rendition of Ally Pally without any of the most experienced members of the side in the set.
After a wonderful weekend which also included the birthdays of ex-Grimlet Fionn, and also Mrs Squire, Fi, we are all now recovering from our excursions back at home. Over the course of the weekend we received expressions of interest from six possible new recruits, hopefully at least one or two of them will join our side which seems to be going from strength to strength at the moment.