Chippenham Folk Festival was held over the Jubilee Weekend - unfortunately, the weather was not on it's best behavior, and we ended up dodging showers (and a few heavy downpours) all weekend (although nothing to rival the last time we were at the festival, when a cloudburst on the Saturday very nearly drowned the festival!).

Jackstraws were initially just invited to dance around the town, but at fairly late notice, we were asked to also teach a series of workshops on "Cotswold Morris". These were very well received by everyone who took part, and evry one congratulated Shirley, who taught Jackstarws version of "Fieldtown".

Unfortunately, the camera with most of the pictures from the Festival malfunctioned, so this page is going to have to be in boring text, but everyone throughly enjoyed the Festival. Jackstraws' display of dancing on the Saturady evening in the Playford dance invoked some very favorable comments.

The following report of the festival was noticed on the Morris Dance Discussion List:-

Date:        Wed, 5 Jun 2002 11:31:32 +0100 Sender:      Morris Dancing Discussion List From:        Jane Bird Subject:     Chippenham Festival Well, I spent a very a happy weekend at Chippenham for the festival. I enjoyed myself so much I had sore feet by the end of Monday. The dance with the Bismarks was excellent, of course. As was hearing Mark Bazeley, Jason Rice and Rob Murch, otherwise known as Moor Music (as in Dartmoor, Devon). That's the first time I've heard them, and they play dance music with just the right amount of lift in it - smashing stuff! Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy were due to headline the Saturday night concert, but had to cancel due to Martin Carthy's throat infection. I only found this out, when John Kirkpartick walked on stage. It was a shame not to hear the pair of them, but JK was terrific. He played a cracking set of Jewish tunes - the first a medieval tune (I think) - lots of crunchy chromatic bits! I also attended a series of Cotswold workshops run by Jackstaws Morris - Fieldtown from scratch. Well, taught, at a suitable pace for beginners, but also very useful for those who've danced a bit before, as the attention to detail was very good. Also interesting was seeing how they've varied some of the danced to make them their own. For instance, a three person dance across (rather than just two corners) in Old Woman Tossed Up - I understand they pinched this from something Pigsty do. The weather was pretty good as well! Jane Owlswick Morris

Editors Note : Actually, it was Pigsty that picked up the dances from Jackstraws ! All the dances that were taught during the weekend were either "Traditional", or had been created by Jackstraws.