f48
My mum says, “Here, Elizabeth, put this on.” She hands me a bright yellow sticker that reads “BOLLOCKS TO BREX- IT”. It is identical to the one she’s wear- ing. I hesitate, thinking ‘We’ll get lynched here’. Then I notice one swaying by on a Morris dancer’s hat. And another on the lapel of the man next to me. And then another, only this one reads “LOVE THE UK? STOP BREXIT”. And I wish I’d had my mother’s courage, as only then do I stick it on my T-shirt.
“Mum,” I ask, “was there a choice of wording on the stickers?”
“Yes. Why?” Show Of Hands
course there’s a multitude of instrumental workshops to suit all levels, from accordeons to triangles and tambourines. It’s so inspiring.
There’s The National Youth Folk Ensemble too (happily featuring lots of female musicians), coached by Rob Har- bron and Sam Sweeney of Leveret. They put on a fantastic performance – and they must be inspired too, being surrounded by so many instrumentalists who, when younger, were just like them.
Ian McKenzie Edwards, Chairman of
the Town Council, explains how important it is to foster and showcase young talent. They have a civic night during folk week, he says, and he picks the musicians to per- form at the event: “I’ve not chosen big headline names, but some brilliant young Scottish musicians.” It’s heartening to learn that these musicians are here partly because of funding from Creative Scot- land, and of the value placed on enabling their citizens to be creatively engaged with their culture.
the message “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try (and try) again.” Run by Janet Dowling, she tells me, “Of course this is folk! It’s where the song texts and the poetry come from.” And those goalposts in my mind are widened yet again.
B
My mum, meanwhile, is off at a ses- sion with Les Barker to discover the tale of Cosmo, The Fairly Accurate Knife Thrower. Meeting later we suddenly find ourselves again in the midst of timelessness in the flow of a fantastic, seemingly endless pro- cession. Making our way through a masque of Morris sides that are in rags, in black and red or orange, disguised. With sticks or swords in their hands and knives in their garters, they’re accompanied by fiddles and accordeons and bells and drums and strange creatures: it’s as myste- rious and dangerously exciting as any mediaeval carnival.
At Sidmouth Horse Trials – Alex Merry, Peter Lord, Morph, Steve Rowley and Ian Anderson.
ut I can’t hang about at the reception as I’m off to ‘learn a story to tell’, a great workshop that wakes us all up to the magic in the mundane and in
Later I panic when I can’t find her. I go to the Esplanade by the Bedford and Laura Smyth’s lovely voice carries through the open window. But I can’t find Mar- tin’s session. In both the pub’s bars there are sessions, neither of them his. I feel a rising sense of panic that takes me back instantly to when I was four and lost in a shop in Plymouth.
Looking for my mum, I find Phil Beer.
He’s sitting at a table perusing a tall ships brochure. Of course! “Phil!” I say. “How are you?” “I know who you want,” he says as he looks up, “but I’m not him.”
And then my mum turns up, just like she did in Plymouth. “That was brilliant,” she says. “Martin was great. He said, ‘Come on Maureen, come and sit next to me, I’ll show you the songs’.”
The next day, she disappears to get a string fixed whilst I chat in Blackmore Gar- dens to the inspiring Japanese couple and their daughter who are regulars at the annual morris jig competition, where mum and daughter take part. Mum plays melodeon, and though her daughter is deaf and dumb, she can feel the dance. They have set up a Morris side in Yokohama.
I
nside the marquee it’s standing room only. The contingent from Japan are not the only foreign entrants; there are participants from North America, Europe and
beyond. It’s a focused, exciting energy; the event is streamed live across the world. It’s a mixture of ancient and visceral immedia- cy and modern virtual technology. With its winners’ trophy filled to the brim with Red Bull and the “warm thanks to everyone involved” there’s the feeling of a charming fete on a global village green.
I take a different route through the church grounds, off to see if I’ll be allowed in late to a ballad workshop at the Wood- lands hotel, again pondering the sense of timelessness and inclusiveness that this fes- tival inspires. And there on a verge by the path that leads to Kennaway House, I spot my mum playing in a ukulele band.
Staying to watch, wonderful moments of this extraordinary weekend crowd in. The Sidmouth Horse Trials, begun just three years ago, have become a popular institution – a fierce competition between inspiringly creative and bonkers hobby horses and folk beasts. They covet a trophy made and presented by Peter Lord of Aardman Animations, and will stop at nothing to win. As they circle, MC Steve
Photo: Carmen Hunt
Photo: Kyle Baker Photography
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
