Diary 15th And 16th Of May 2017

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Diary Monday 15th May 2017 A day when I set out to shop and take photos only to find I had left the flat without my camera or my wallet. Doh! I used the library for a while and caught up on the shopping after popping home for my wallet but the weather had deteriorated too much to allow me to get any photos. Great to hear of the death of Manchester’s notorious child murderer Ian Brady, who along with his evil wife, Myra Hindley tortured and killed five children in the 1960’s, one of whose body was never found. Diary Tuesday 16th May 2017 I went to a lovely talk this morning at the local community centre relating to the history of Morris Dancing. The speaker is himself a member of the Leyland Morris Men who performed at the centre recently. This time he was talking about the hobby. Though the earliest recorded references date from the 14th century, Morris dancing may well predate Christianity. Though pagan in its association with Maypole fertility dances, it has usually gained acceptance from the church. Some dance troops have their own distinctive dances and styles of performance. The Bacup Coconutters use cork to black their faces but this is from a tradition of disguises rather than any racist belief. In the Medieval period, the Coconnuters danced round the village to collect alms towards their Christmas celebrations. Though most villagers appreciated this it was technically begging which was illegal, thus the disguises. Some Lancastrian troops dance in clogs though others prefer to use lighter shoes on the reasoning that they used clogs all week in the mills and factories and wanted to treat their feet to a change. Those preferring to stay clogged do use clogs modified specially for the dancing. In Abbot Bromley, dancers wear deer antlers but if performing outside the village they cannot take the antlers beyond their borders as that would be bad luck. The antlers reside at the village church when not used in performances. Dancer on the Welsh/English Borders tend to dance fast as they use heavily layered strips of clothing which gets very hot in dancing outdoors in the Spring and Summer heat. A lovely presentation, followed, and partly coinciding with an art therapy workshop I took part in, though my drawing and painting skills are atrocious. I copied a spaceship drawing from a provided how-to book following the simple instructions and though it looked passable it was as if created by a five year old. I have recreated my masterpiece using my computer’s paint tools here. Thanks to Steph and everyone at the Intact centre, especially for treating myself and the other art workshop attendees to lunch at the Intact Centre’s terrific café. Arthur Chappell