Special Events 2008

Last year Christchurch Folk celebrated Imbolc, Beltane, Oak Apple Day, Lammas, St Andrew’s Day, Charter Day, and two birthdays. We hope to continue with similar celebrations throughout 2008. Everyone, musicians and non-musicians alike, are welcome to suggest ideas for the coming year.

Beyond the monthly sessions, Christchurch Folk will hopefully continue to ‘get folk involved in folk’ – we believe that folk is more than just the music! We therefore intend providing background music for charity garden parties and a folky presence at other similar events. We also hope to again host St Faith’s Fair in October, Wassailing in December – and other events if we have the strength!
:

Imbolc (Candlemas)

An ancient agricultural festival celebrating the onset of Spring. Feel free to bring candles and Spring flowers to decorate the room - and perhaps a song, tune, or poem that reflects the optimism of the season. :

St George's Day

Christchurch Folk musicians were invited to help celebrate St George's Day by parading around Ringwood in a 'timeline' of fashion - from medieval to 1930's. At the head was St George...with a most impressive lance! The parade visited local care homes, pubs, the parish church, and passed through the bustling market. It was a splendid opportunity to greet people with the cry: "Hurrah for St George! Hurrah for summer!" The day was concluded by a separate event, an excellent St George's Day feast hosted by Christchurch Folk stalwarts Kate & Corwen - Rigantona - at the new Village Community Centre in Milford on Sea. Also contributing to the evening were the Dorset Knobs mummers, the Boghoppers & Bushbeaters morris, and the storytelling Travelling Talesman. The VCC is the venue for a folk club on the 2nd Thursday of every month. :

Beltane (May Day)

Despite the insistence of morris dancers and dew-gathers to arise in the early hours of May Day to welcome the summer sunrise, in the ancient Celtic tradition the start of summer begins at sunset on the last day of April. This far more civilised arrangement enables us to celebrate at the April session at Ye Olde George, which this year falls exactly on the feast of Beltane. It has become customary to decorate the barn bar with candles and summer flowers, to bring in the May, and to wear hats bedecked with flowers. This session also presents an opportunity to perform traditional May Day tunes, and any songs that mention May – of which there are quite a few! It was traditional in Scotland and Ireland to celebrate the Celtic quarter-days with oatmeal cakes. These were considered to bring good fortune to everyone – except the person who received an especially blackened piece, who was treated as if dead for the rest of the feast! This party-pooped individual probably represented the symbolic death of bleak winter. Here is a simple Scottish recipe for Beltane Bannocks if you would like to make some to bring to the session: 4oz (125gm) – Oatmeal (medium or fine) 2 x pinches – Bicarbonate of soda 1 x pinch – Salt (optional) 2 x teaspoons – Melted butter 4 – 5 tablespoons – Warm water Mix the dry ingredients then add the melted butter and enough warm water to make into a stiff dough. Form into a ball and, on oatmeal covered surface, pat out into a circle of biscuit thickness. Work fairly quickly because the dough becomes less workable as it cools. Cut into four (to represent the circle of the year divided into four quarters, or simply to make conveniently sized biscuits - you decide!) Bake in an oven at 375F/190C for about 30 minutes. Best served with a little butter or cheese. For a sweeter bannock try adding 2 x teaspoons of melted honey at the mixing stage and bake for under half the time. Alternatively, you are welcome to bring a packet of oatmeal biscuits or flapjacks! :

Royal Oak Day

The day following this year’s May session at Ye Olde George, the 29th May, was Royal Oak Day. Also known as Oak Apple Day, this celebrates the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, when sprigs of oak leaves and the image of the King peering down from an oak tree became national emblems. These referred to Charles II hiding in the Boscobel Oak to evade capture after his crushing defeat by Oliver Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. It was also an allusion to the welcome return of the Green Man after the bleakness of winter, so Royal Oak Day effectively reintroduced the Maytide celebrations that had been prohibited under Cromwell’s puritanical regime. Most people (perhaps encouraged by the threat of a beating with a bunch of nettles) wore a sprig of oak to celebrate. An English Civil War song, 'When the King Enjoys His Own Again', was sung, and Playford dance tunes of the period were played. The Bourne Bumpers Ladies Morris arranged their visit to Ye Olde George to coincide with this session. This welcome collaboration presented the opportunity for part of the session to be held al fresco in the courtyard. :

Tutton's Well - Well Being Day

Christchurch Folk hosted the fourth annual Well Being Day at Tutton’s Well, Stanpit, on Saturday 5th July. The event was simpler than previous years, but once again celebrated both the medicinal and spiritual attributes of the once-venerated well-spring, which has been a source of pure water for thousands of years. Central to the day was the decoration of a floral crown placed over the Well and a bubble blessing, which inspired all present to freely share pure love, release suffering, and rejoice in the rare preciousness of our human lives and its potential to transform the world into a more beautiful place. These sentiments were carried away upon clouds of shimmering bubbles. The well-wishers then held a picnic and played music on the site which overlooks the reed beds of Stanpit Marsh. :

Lughnasadh (Lammas)

On the last Wednesday of July we celebrated the agricultural festival of Lughnasadh, or Lammas, which marks the start of harvesting. It is the season when the earth is seen to be at its most bounteous, most benevolent, and it’s most maternal. Although strictly deserving its own feast, we also acknowledged the successful completion of the harvest, or Harvest Home, as part of the same celebration. The Bourne Bumpers Ladies Morris once again danced at this session to make it a special occasion. As ‘Lammas’ is derived from the Anglo-Saxon for ‘loaf-mass’ we made sure there was a supply of bread rolls available on the evening! :

Place Mill

Christchurch Folk musicians provided some of the entertainment at a four day event held to promote historic Place Mill on Christchurch Quay. The event was organised by the new artist in residence at the Mill, Robert Fielder, and his traditional Japanese embroidery featured alongside the work of other local artists. On Saturday 27th September the music was provided by local singer-songwriter John Anderson, accompanied by Peter Coley and Anna Moreton, who performed a song written especially for the occasion. On Sunday 28th September the music was provided by five Christchurch Folk musicians - Phil, Kaz, Bev, Mike & Gilly - all suitably attired as smugglers. Place Mill on Christchurch Quay

St Faith's Fair

This year is the 750th anniversary for the first St Faith’s Fair held under a charter granted by Henry III to the Lord of the Manor of Christchurch, 21 year-old Baldwin de Redvers, in 1257. To mark the occasion members of Christchurch Folk organised a costumed history walk and procession through the town at midday on St Faith’s Day – Monday 6th October. Christchurch Folk musicians also provided the accompaniment for the dancing that followed a proclamation in Saxon Square. Pilgrim badges and leaflets about the Fair and the royal charter, all produced by Christchurch Folk, are also available. To learn more about St Faith’s Fair follow the following link: Christchurch Folk - St Faith's Fair

Punkie Night

The last Wednesday of October was our Hallowtide session at Ye Olde George Inn. We called it Punkie Night after the Somerset custom of house-visiting with carved Jack-o-lanterns, or ‘punkies’, made from swedes, turnips, or mangel-wurzels, as was the English tradition before the import of American pumpkins. The evening also featured a performance of the Punkie Night song and a serving of barmbrack, a type of fruit loaf traditionally associated with Halloween in Ireland, as a nod to the English custom of Soulcaking. The Bourne Bumpers Ladies Morris once again made a welcome contribution and danced the Shepherd's Hey in the courtyard before presenting a cheque to their chosen charity, the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance.

Yuletide Session

This year the 31st December falls on New Year's Eve! This is also the last Wednesday of December, which means that we have moved the usual session at Ye Olde George Inn forward to Monday 29th December. Why not bring seasonal nibbles and snacks to share to make the session a party?