ROBIN SPRINGETT
Dartmouth Academy last September. Dartmouth and the surrounding towns and villages played host to nearly 200 morris men and musicians from all over england, which culminated in massed dancing in Royal Avenue Gardens. he explained: “as squire I was head of men’s morris dancing in England and throughout the world, except the US which has it’s own organisation. Over the two years, I was away dancing most weekends and while I held the title I was lucky enough to go to australia for five weeks of dancing and to Copenhagen dancing at an event hosted by a local morris side “morris dancing is quite big in the ex-pat world, as well as some countries in europe. There is a morris festival in helmund in the netherlands this year.” The Dartington morris men practise through the winter at Dartington Primary School and dance at lots of events in the season, from may 1 to end of september, followed by events at Christmas and new Year.
Robin added: “We dance all over the South Hams,
Torbay and Dartmoor and nationally too. “It’s mainly traditional Cotswold morris, with hankies, bells and sticks; we are the only side to dance Filkins morris dances, from the Cotswold village of that name, but we also do Long sword from the north east and scallop from the Isle of man, using scallop shells (kindly supplied by local fishmonger mark Lobb!). It keeps me fit and we are always looking for new members! “The dances originate from different parts of the uK
and were collected together around the beginning of the 20th century. The first reference made to morris dancing is in the 1400s so it definitely goes back to the middle ages, probably well before that.” his wife Julia doesn’t morris dance but they share a passion for bird ringing – helping monitor birds’ movements for the British Trust for Ornithology. They are both part of the slapton Ringing Group at Slapton Ley and they regularly monitor birds in Gibraltar, where they run a bird observatory for a couple of weeks every year, while staying in their house in Spain. They used to own a 21-foot Drascombe sailing boat moored on the River Dart and sailed boats as a hobby, including some of the RAF yachts.
Robin is a qualified offshore skipper and was once Vice Commodore of naples sailing Club. He said: “I have done that and now would rather go bird watching or do the gardening!” he grew up in hertfordshire
and essex. his grandfather was Chief superintendant of east India Docks in London’s East End. The family was bombed out of the East End during the last war and Robin’s mum lost sight in one eye during the Blitz. Robin’s father was in the army then worked in insurance. When his father retired his parents moved to Torquay in the 1980s, where they later died. Robin’s mother-in-law, Frieda morgan, lives in Dartmouth and, with her daughter Julia, is a keen member of the local parish at st Clement’s Church.
This interview and all previously published interviews in this magazine can be found on By The Dart’s website
www.bythedart.co.uk
Li t t le Pr ior y Cour t , Fore St reet , Totnes , Devon, TQ9 5NJ 01803 865084 •
design@harrisonsutton.com •
www.harrisonsutton.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164