The White Star Plough Tour 2009

I was in west Kent last weekend for the Plough Tour, hosted by White Star Sword. We started at the George & Dragon in Speldhurst (fireplace above, with a sprig of holly on the fire) on Saturday morning. White Star dancing rapper sword, led by Brian -

North British danced longsword at the George & Dragon -

Clog dancing at the George & Dragon (sorry Anna, no better photos) -

Other entertainments on the tour included the Udimore Handbell Ringers (no photo) and West Pec, the Hooden Horse (read about the tradition here) - first photo is at the Chafford Arms, the second pub on the tour -
Second photo taken at The Rock (? did I get the right name?) -

A 3-man mummers' play -

Nick tumbling at the same pub -


Malcolm as White Star's Tommy -


The fourth pub on the main tour was the Fountain, then the two sword teams left for a second tour of other pubs, including the Kent Horse (?), the Castle Inn at Chiddingstone, the Little Brown Jug at Chiddingstone Causeway and the Leicester Arms at Penshurst. If I have got the names of any pubs wrong, please let me know. Here are North British dancing rapper at the Castle Inn -

On Sunday morning, we went to the Beeches (? can't find a website ref, so have I got the name wrong?), Tunbridge Wells - North British dancing Elgin (end of dance) -


Then via the Oak in Rusthall to the Red Lion, Rusthall. North British demonstrate how to dance longsword under a very low beam...


Both North British and White Star danced rapper in Malcolm's dining room later on - where half the Christmas decorations were removed by the end of the dancing... Rapper can be performed in a very small space.

Many thanks to all our hosts - we had a great weekend.

Rapper Sword weekend

North British were in Chirk for a dance practice weekend. They had three bookings (all the Chirk pubs), then went on to Wrexham on Saturday night (booked at the Old Swan and South Central plus one extra arranged on the doorstep) - on the whole, Wrexham pubs were less enthusiastic about letting them dance and are trying to turn themselves into gastro pubs or nightclubs to survive.

The re-enactment swords in the photo above were just for fun... real longswords look like this, while rappers are the flexible double-handled swords used in the dance photos below. No sharp edges .

Watch a youtube clip of North British here.

7.30 at The Bridge, Chirk -

The Hand Hotel, Chirk -
Spin -
Tumble at The Hand -
Rapper sword lock - 5 dancers, 5 swords.

The Stanton House Inn, Chirk (hard to take a good photo, too close, but you can see how much the swords flex).
The Old Swan Brewery, Wrexham - Andrew playing melodeon.

The Cambrian, Wrexham -

South Central, Wrexham - North British clubbing...

Tumble at South Central - if you can dance in Wrexham, you can probably dance anywhere.

The longsword lock (6 swords) features on this quilt commission I made in 2006/07, with photo images of rapper, long sword, Cotswold and North West morris dancing printed on fabric and arranged in kaleidoscope effects.
No chance to dance longsword in Llangollen as planned on Sunday - rained off! Click links to watch dances instead - Papa Stour and Elgin.