The Broadwood Men
Harry's
'Orrible Histories
Founder
Broadwood member Harry Mousdell first experienced
English Morris Dancing at an International Youth
Rally in Dobriach, Austria. He promised himself the
he would learn to dance the Morris, but it was not
until 11 years later, when he moved to Horsham, that
he joined Chanctonbury Ring Morris.
In 1971 Harry was approached by Jim Hills of
Horsham Youth Club. They wanted to make maximum use
of their facilities in Hurst Road and asked Harry to
do 'something folky' on Thursday Evenings. Notices
were sent out to Horsham and Crawley folk groups and
the local papers. The aim was to get more people
interested in Morris Dancing and possibly some new
recruits for Chanctonbury. In September 1971 the
first meeting took place. Harry cannot remember how
many were there, but the first person he met was
Dennis Salt. Having been dancing the Morris for some
time with a Staffordshire side and also Thames
Valley Morris, Dennis had more experience than
Harry.
Christmas 1971 saw two Boxing Days, by a quirk of
the calendar. On the first one, Chanctonbury Ring
Morris came up to Horsham to dance with and give
encouragement to the dancers Harry and Dennis had
been teaching. The following day, the second Boxing
day, and now on their own, the embryonic Morris
dancers went up to Rusper, where they danced and
performed the Mummers Play, possibly in the same
location where Lucy Broadwood had seen it a century
before. Chanctonbury were delighted that such
dancing and musical ability had been realised, but
thought that the number of new dancers would swamp
their experienced dancers. So, with their blessing,
it was decided to form a new side.
In the early 70s the mecca for all folkies in the
region was the Black Horse, Nuthurst. Hence on a
quiet evening in January 1972, the Hurst Road Youth
Club practices culminated in a new Morris side being
founded. Dennis became the Squire and Harry the
Bagman. But what would the side be called? Harry
thought back to the writings of Tony Wales, about
Lucy Broadwood and Vaughan Williams collecting folk
material in the area, as well as copies of Lucy
Broadwood's letters that he had obtained when
researching the Mummers Play.
It was with this in
mind that the virgin side realised what a debt was
owed to the Broadwood family for folk music heritage
in the Horsham and Crawley locality. Therefore what
else could the side be called but Broadwood? What
really clinched it was Lucy's letter to one of her
contemporaries in
which she describes seeing a man
dancing at Lyne House on May morning in the 1870s.
At the bottom she drew a little sketch of a dancer
and wrote, "I later realised I may have seen my one
and only Sussex Morris caperer." At the time Martyn Wyndham Read, one of the
founder members, was living in a cottage on the
Broadwood estate and was thereby able to arrange a
meeting for Ian Hill, himself and Harry to meet
Captain Broadwood at Lyne House to get his
permission to use the family name and the family
crest for the Baldric badge. Captain Broadwood
readily agreed because he believed his Aunt had not
received due recognition for her contribution to the
English folk music, and Broadwood Morris would
reintroduce the family name into the modern folk
scene.
From Roy Dommet's notes, which Harry had
collected at an advanced Morris weekend at Halsway
Manor, details of traditional Cotswold Morris
Costumes were studied. But it was decided not to
wear the almost stereotypical outfit of black knee
breeches and straw hat. Harry suggested that the kit
be based on what the Longborough Men had worn.
Moleskin was traditional but costly and not readily
available.
However corduroy trousers could be bought
at Baldocks in Park Street, Horsham; they just had
to be converted into breeches. Delicia (Ian's wife)
and Ruth (Dennis's wife) made up the baldrics and
sashes. Harry contacted Moss Bros in London for
reject black top hats from their hire dept. The
response was marvellous. Whilst black toppers were
very scarce, they would be pleased to supply us with
whatever number and size of grey topper we required
(Cost 15 shillings each as far as Harry can
remember). Two of the side picked up 19 toppers on
their way to a Morris workshop at Cecil Sharp House.
Dennis, as headmaster of St Mary's School in
Horsham, arranged for the first public performance
by Broadwood to be in the chancel of Horsham parish
church (probably the first dancing inside the church
in its 900 year history). The side danced "Ring o'
Bells" in May '72 and Captain Broadwood erected a
marquee on the lawn at Lyne house where his Aunt had
seen her "Morris caperer" ... he invited friends and family to see his Morris
side perform. It was at this ceremony that he
presented Dennis with the Broadwood Squire's staff
made by Jim Pitts. In the years since many names
have been added to the Squire's staff and many
friends made. We raise our tankards to them all.
Keith Haynes - Squire, Broadwood
Morris
www.broadwoodmorris.org.uk» |