quick links to 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964
Source material for this period:
- Entries in Scrapbook 1 (SB1)
- Newspaper cuttings, mostly from the Oxford Mail (OM)
- Miscellaneous photographs not in SB1 – mostly used for identifying dancers. Some of these were kindly provided by Jonathan Leach of Mr Hemmings MD.
- 1960-69 Paper archives, which are mostly correspondence received. These were bound into two files covering 1960-64 and 1965-68, but have been unbound as they weren’t all filed in chronological order. For some years (but not all) the Balance sheets also survive.
Other abbreviations used:
EFDSS: English Folk Dance and Song Society
MM: Morris Men (eg as in Wargrave MM)
OCMM: Oxford City Morris Men
OUMM: Oxford University Morris Men
DoD: Day of Dance
Saturday 14th May 1960: Westminster Day of Dance. 12 men attended, Bill Kent was the driver. Major Fryer made a donation of £3 to help with expenses
Saturday 18th June 1960: Mayor’s Day. There were roadworks in Ock Street which made the dancing difficult. The polling station was Tom Hemmings’ house (144). Tom Hemmings 120 votes, Ray Hemmings 67, reported in OM 20 June 1960 p5. From photos the following are recognisable: Charlie Brett, Johnny Grimsdale (horns), Tom Hemmings (mayor), Ray Hemmings, Les Argyle, Brian Clark, Stuart Jackson (boy), Len Bardwell (concertina), Ray Hemmings, George Pickard and (probably) Paddy O;Neill. The fool was probably Jack Hyde for most of the day, but in some photos it might have been Frank Purslow. Major Fryer made a donation of £5, but did not perform.
Saturday 10th September 1960: Reigate Ring Meeting. Major Fryer again made a donation of £5. 13 men booked, but 3 cancelled later. Bill Kent drove again. Abingdon were on Morning Tour 3 with Benfleet and St Albans, visiting Abinger Hammer, Sutton Abinger, Ockley and Beare Green. Massed dancing in Reigate Priory Park 3.30-5. Evening tour D with Coventry, Ravensbourne, Offley and St Albans, visiting Dorking, Burford Bridge Hotel and Sutton Abinger. Frank Purslow had invited Roy Dommett to dance with Abingdon at this meeting and he joined the team from this point, preferring them to his local team in Hampshire.
Sunday 11th September 1960: Abingdon were one of the nine teams invited to a reception at Lyne, Surrey (a stately home, once the home of folk collector Lucy Broadwood).
Saturday 17th September 1960: Marlow Pageant. Fee £2/10s, collection £1. Bill Kent drove. Drinks 7s, teas 6s.
From references in letters from Frank Purslow and Roy Dommett it is obvious that they had started to visit both Major Fryer and Tom Hemmings to collect information from them during the autumn of 1960.
Wednesday 14th December: Tom Hemmings died. Letters of condolence were received from the town mayor and the Morris Ring amongst others.
Saturday 14th January: At a Morris Ring Reps Meeting, Len Bardwell represented Abingdon and gave an account of Tom Hemmings’ huge contribution to keeping the Abingdon morris tradition alive. Rev Kenneth Loveless proposed that 5 guineas be sent in his honour to his widow, which was approved.
Thursday 19th January: At a meeting at the Cross Keys it was decided to leave the Horns etc with Mrs Hemmings for now and to plan for the 1961 season as normal.
Thursday 26th January: Major Francis Fryer died after a long illness aged 73. He was cremated the next day – the only time possible without a long delay.
At the Ring Reps meeting of 14th January 1961, the Squire of the Ring had asked if Abingdon would like their dances to be passed on to other clubs – Len Bardwell replied that they had never officially been recorded, only passed on ‘by demonstration’. In a letter to Jack Hyde dated 9th Feb 1961, Nibs Matthews (squire of the Ring) asked if he or some other member would be willing to give an instructional on Abingdon morris, and if so could it be done as part of Morris day and Ale at C Sharp House on 22nd April. [Note that the request was not asking for a whole side to go, just one man to instruct.] A Ring circular dated 20th Feb 1961 says it hopes to have instruction in the Abingdon tradition.in the meeting at Cecil Sharp House on 22nd April. On 3rd March 1961, at a meeting at the Cross Keys, it was decided that Abingdon would not take part in the instructional, not least because at the time they didn’t have regular practices and had just lost two key members.
During the earkly part of 1961, there was a new effort to teach morris to the boys at the Barnardo’s Home (Caldecott House). Unlike the previous time in the 1950s, the Barnardo’s Boys were taught Abingdon dances, no doubt with a view to providing the team with some younger recruits. Len Bardwell was the driving force behind this, aided by Jack Hyde. Roy Dommett and Frank Purslow also offered their services.
Jim Hemmings, brother of Tom and one of those that helped re-form the team in the 1930s, died in early 1961. He was not a dancer, but had stood in as hornbearer in the 1950s. He had not been out with the team since about 1954.
Roy Dommett and Frank Purslow continued to try to collect details of Abingdon Morris history during early 1961. Among others they interviewed were Hilda Wiblin (wife of Frederick ‘Darby’ Wiblin who danced in the 30s, sister of Tom and Jim) and Deena Jackson (daughter of Tom, who seemed shocked that Abingdon morris was going to continue after Tom’s death, but if it did, the mayor should be one of Tom’s descendants). They tried to interview Percy Hemmings (bagman before the war) but he managed most times to be out when they called, and said nothing when they did actually meet him. Roy Dommett also helped Francis Fryer’s brother, Charles, with the distribution of Fryer’s morris material, most of which went to the Berkshire EFDSS or the Vaughan Williams library at Cecil Sharp House. Roy Dommett was given some of Fryer’s correspondence files relating to Abingdon Morris before the war and also the 1952 Ring Meeting, which he apparently passed on to Jack Hyde, but they are not in the present ATMD archives.
In March 1961 English Dance & Song 24(4) published an obituary to Francis Fryer, signed JEF. There were a couple of errors in it: Fryer became Abingdon’s sole musician in 1949, not 1947 (he was only demobbed in 1948); and Wargrave MM were indeed inaugural members of the Ring but they were not founder members.
A letter dated 21st April 1961 from the British Travel and Holidays Association stated that the costume loaned for an exhibition in New York was now on its way back to England, and thanked Jack Hyde for the loan, saying it had generated much interest. A photo in SB1 shows a New York window display labelled “Is This Really Britain?” part of the “Come to Britain” campaign, which includes an Abingdon hat, bells and baldrick along with various photos of other UK customs and landmarks.
Saturday 13th May 1961: Westminster Day of Dancing. Balance sheet states 9 men at 7/6d each + travel £3. The travel expenses were paid later in the year (22-9-61) by Westminster.
Saturday 24th June 1961: Mayors Day. There was dancing at Caldecott House (Barnardo’s) fete and County Hall earlier in the day before the mayor-making and dancing in Ock Street. At Caldecott House their boys’ team also danced (wearing hats but no baldricks). At County Hall, Jack Hyde danced a jig, possibly with Roy Dommett (there is just one photo of this, and while Jack is definitely dancing, Roy may or may not be). Voting took place at 12-4pm at the Cross Keys. Result: Raymond Hemmings 91 votes, John Grimsdale 62. Fred Stimpson was the returning officer and there was a stage with a microphone outside the pub. Ewart Russell of the Ring took some photos of the preparation of the horns, etc, and sent them to Jack Hyde later in the year. Due to an earlier engagement at Culham College that afternoon the Mayor of Abingdon could not make it to the Cross Keys before 5.45, so the announcement of the result was delayed, and the dancing in Ock Street started at 6pm. In a later letter, Roy Dommett said that it was the first time he had seen a Morris Mini-Minor (i.e. an early Mini) being used as a chauffeur-driven Mayoral Car. Photos show that Len Bardwell was musician, Ray Hemmings mayor, Johnny Grimsdale the hornbearer: Brian Clark and Roy Dommett are recognisable as dancers, also possibly Paddy O’Neill and George Pickard. Collection was £3/3/9. Printing by Southwall Press, Ock St, for posters and ballot papers cost £2/1/0, and photos (Milligan) 15/0. From earlier correspondence via EFDSS, it seems that the Rank Organisation had wanted to film the event for their ‘Look at Life’ series, but it is not confirmed that they did.
There was a Ring Meeting in Birmingham 14th-16th July 1961 which Abingdon did not attend, but Les Argyle and Len Bardwell went with Oxford City (OCMM).
Saturday 15th July 1961: Dancing at a ‘100 Years Ago’ exhibition at the Norman Hall, Sutton Courteney. The balance sheet records a fee £2/10/0received. Transport cost 10/0, tea 3/6. Roy Dommett and Frank Purslow were otherwise engaged that day dancing at Lechlade with Bampton and Farnborough Morris Men.
A tour of North Berks with Bampton on 19th August had been planned, but was called off at fairly short notice.
Saturday 26th August 1961: Joint tour with Oxford City Morris Men (OCMM), including Great Milton, Great Haseley and Bicester. Collection £3/10/0, travel £2/10/0, drinks £1/2/0.
Saturday 2nd September 1961: Marlow Carnival. Two shows, at 12.30 and 3pm. The programme announced Abingdon Morris Men as a Special Attraction during the street collection. John Hemmings provided transport and billed the team for £2. Frank Purslow played the music. Later on, a cheque for £4/5s was received, covering the fee of £2/5/0 and travel cost of £2. Teas cost 13/1 and drinks 5/10. A collection at Culham (presumably on the way back) yielded £2/7/4.
22nd-24th September 1961: Manchester Ring Meeting. Jack Hyde went with the OCMM party that also included Les Argyle. It seems that during this weekend they taught a few Abingdon dances to OCMM, who possibly performed one of them at this Ring Meeting. Later that year, on an OCMM tour, Les Argyle led an Oxford team dancing Abingdon Jockey at Chipping Norton.
There had been some plans for a joint tour (Abingdon, Bampton and Chipping Campden) on 30th September, but it did not take place, largely because Campden said it was too late in the year.
The December 1961 issue of the Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (Vol. 9, No. 2, p.114) had an article titled “Tom Hemmings and Francis Fryer: Their Work for the Abingdon Morris” by Roy Dommett and Frank Purslow. It gives a summary of the history that they had found out by that time. Most of it is still accepted as true, but some dates are wrong: Tom Hemmings died on 14th December 1960, not 30th November, and Henry Hemmings died in 1945, not 1942. Tom Hemmings was not elected Mayor until 1950, and after Henry’s death Tom’s brother Jim sometimes acted as (unelected) Mayor.
William Kimber (Headington Quarry MM) died on 26th December 1961 aged 89 and was buried on 30th December at Holy Trinity Church in Quarry. Abingdon’s accounts record that £2/2/0 was spent on a wreath for him.
Practices were re-started on the last Monday of each month at the Cross Keys. These were not attended by the older Abingdon dancers, but Les Argyle had invited a few interested Oxford dancers, which included Pat Patterson (Oxford University (OUMM)), Frank Jeal (ex squire of OUMM) and John White (OCMM), as well as Len Bardwell who played the music. Frank Purslow objected saying that if Abingdon were going to have a lot of Oxford men in the team, then they could count him out. He admitted he was an ‘outsider’ himself but said he has his principles (which seem to include a dislike of the Ring and revival teams). Len Bardwell complained about having to practise on a very dusty carpet in the parlour bar of the Cross Keys. [Note: despite dancing for Oxford teams, these new ‘outsiders’ were fairly local: Pat Patterson was brought up and went to school in Wantage, Frank Jeal and his brother Peter were brought up at Folly Farm, Harwell, and went to Abingdon (Roysse’s) School on scholarships, and John White came from East Hagbourne, later moving to Blewbury. Len Bardwell himself lived in Harwell.]
Jack Hyde had written to Fred Coxhead (ex Wargrave MM, who had by this time ceased to exist) asking if he or any of the other ex Wargrave men could resume dancing with Abingdon. The reply was delayed due to Fred having moved to Woodley and the letter had taken some time to reach him. He said he had not seen Reg Annetts or Bill Kent since Francis Fryer had died, and that he and his bother Brian were now dancing with Kennet MM.
Saturday 12th May 1962: Westminster Day of Dancing 9 lunches and feasts were booked. Abingdon were added to the afternoon programme (presumably not arriving until lunchtime), touring with Kennet, Martlets, Morley College and Colchester.
Saturday 19th May 1962: Joint tour with Bampton and Campden. Abingdon arrived via Bampton and met Campden at Stow, then danced at Burford 4.30, Witney 5.30-6, Leafield 7, Bampton 8-9. Jack Hyde had organised permission to collect with Oxford Constabulary.
Saturday 23rd June 1962: Mayor’s Day. Polliing was at the Cross Keys, 12-4pm. Returning officer Fred Stimpson, and as in the previouis year the polling station was equipped with a microphone on a stand. Result: Ray Hemmings 80 votes, Charlie Brett 22, Brian Clark 17. Reported in the Oxford Mail (OM) of 25th June 1962 p5. Photos show Len Bardwell as musician, Ray Hemmings as mayor, Johnny Grimsdale as hornbearer, and Les Argyle, Charlie Brett, Frank Purslow, Brian Clark, Roy Dommett and Jack Hyde are recognisable as dancers. Abingdon were joined by Bampton from teatime onwards and in the evening danced in various parts of the town and at Culham – this last stand arranged so that the Bampton musician Reg Hall could catch a train back to London that evening. There is a photo of Abingdon and Bampton dancers outside the cinema, with the cinema manager helping to hold the horns. Expenses included teas at the Cross Keys (£2), photographs (Milligan) 15s and a spray of flowers (JR Drew, fruiterer & florist) £1. The date coincided with the OUMM Day of Dancing, which did not visit Abingdon.
Saturday 30th June: there had been a request to dance at a garden party at AERE Harwell, but there is no confirmation that this was done.
Saturday 4th August 1962: Denman College Flower Show, Marcham. The team met at the Cross Keys first.
Another joint tour for Abingdon, Bampton and Chipping Campden was proposed for Saturday 18th August. Bampton dropped out of this but Campden carried on organising an itinerary before suddenly cancelling the tour. It seems that one reason for the cancellation my have been that Abingdon would have used ‘Oxford Men’ to make up their numbers and this was not approved of by the other two traditional sides and in particular by Frank Purslow (address now c/o Jubilee Inn, Bampton) who also criticised the attitude of Brian Clark. As a result, Frank Purslow resigned from Abingdon and he and Roy Dommett fell out with each other.
Saturday 6th October 1962: Abingdon Freedom from Hunger Campaign, at the request of both the town mayor and Oxfam, Abingdon danced on the Market Place. There they met Pearly King and Queen Bert and Becky Matthews of ‘Appy ‘Amstead, and SB1 has two photos of their meeting.
SB1 also has an undated photo from 1962 of a complete side of Abingdon ladies in Abingdon morris kit, complete with a hornbearer and fool. Under this photo Les Argyle records that Abingdon Townswomens Guild wanted to present Abingdon morris dancing at a Townswomens Guild festival in Oxford and were taught two dances by Jack Hyde who acted as their musician. He emphises that this was a one-off, private event. An undated letter from E West of Radley Road to Jack Hyde thanks him and the team for allowing the Townswomens Guild to use their bells, etc and the use of the Horns and Mayor’s Chain (? Chair). Says she will bring the hats etc round to him.
From Boxing Day 1962 to March 1963 the UK experienced one of its harshest winters (“The Big Freeze”) and it is unlikely there were any Abingdon practices. There is very little in the surviving paper archives for 1963, but from the few there were it is apparent that the bagman, Jack Hyde, was ill up to about June. The Mayor of Ock Street, Ray Hemmings, was also extremely ill at this time, and he retired permanently from the team around early 1963. In a letter from Len Bardwell to Jack Hyde dated 9th June, he says that he has not done much with OCMM so far that year, points out that he is now 77, and says he will probably miss Mayor’s Day as he will be on holiday. A letter from the President, Fred Stimpson, to Jack Hyde dated 17th June says that he is sorry that the annual Mayor Making will not take place this year. It is often said that there was no election in 1963 because the Mayor, Ray Hemmings, was too ill. That certainly was true, but other important factors were Jack Hyde being ill and not able to organise anything and the likelihood that there would be no musician as Len Bardwell would be away.
Saturday 17th August 1963: Tour of Wantage, Shrivenham, Faringdon, East Hendred, Drayton and Culham. This was the only time the Abingdon morris danced in 1963. There is one colour photo (in SB1) of the team dancing in Wantage Market Place. Those in shot are Les Argyle at no2, Roy Dommett at no3, probably Pat Patterson at no 4, Peter Jeal at no 5 and probably John White at no 6. The musician was most probably Len Bardwell. Charlie Brett may well have been leading this dance. Jack Hyde might have been the fool and Johnny Grimsdale would almost certainly have been hornbearer. For some reason the photographer has left all the older men out of the shot. This photo was published as a postcard and in 1970 was the August photo in a WI calendar.
Saturday 13th June 1964: Stratford-on-Avon Ring Meeting. There is a programme and feast menu in SB1, but no details of Abingdon dancing. However in a later letter to Jack Hyde (22nd June), Ruth Noyes, librarian at C Sharp House, said she was pleased to see Abingdon dancing at Stratford. It’s posible, even likely, that some men danced with both OCMM and Abingdon that day (reading between the lines of a letter written by Len Bardwell at the time), and it is also likely that Frank Purslow played for Abingdon that day as Len Bardwell did not attend.
Mayor’s Day 1964 was not on the expected date of 20th June, and in part this may have been due to OUMM organising their Day of Dancing on that date, which would have made several OUMM and OCMM dancers unavailable to Abingdon that day. In a letter to Jack Hyde dated 7th August Fred Stimpson (President) said it was regrettable that Mayor Making can’t be settled. He suggested that if was not possible on Saturday 15th August then there should be a meeting for the damcers to elect a Mayor, or to draw lots for it.
Saturday 15th August 1964: Mayor’s Day. Polling was at the Cross Keys and Charlie Brett was elected Mayor of Ock Street. We don’t have any record of number of votes or who else stood for election, but Fred Stimpson was the Returning Officer. Recognisable from photographs of the day are Charlie Brett (Mayor), Len Bardwell (musician), Jack Hyde (fool), Pat Patterson (hornbearer) and dancers Brian Clark, John White, Les Argyle, Roy Dommett and Peter Jeal. At the request of Cecil Sharp House Library, Miss Edith Servanté of Sheringham, Norfolk filmed the Mayor Making and dancing. In a later letter to Jack Hyde, Roy Dommett commented on the poor turnout of voters for this election.
We don’t have any record of any other tours or appearances of Abingdon in 1964, though Frank Purslow did refer in one letter to a possible tour with Bampton and Chipping Campden on Saturday 19th September. It probably didn’t happen, at least as far as Abingdon were concerned.
Jack Hyde and Charlie Brett were invited to the Feast of OUMM at the Royal Oxford Hotel, Saturday 10th October.
At a Morris Ring Reps weekend meeting at Chipperfield, 16th to18th October 1964, Roy Dommett handed out notes on the Abingdon morris. Whether this was authorised or approved of by the few Abingdon dancers that were left at the time is not known. There were three sheets of dance notations, one of mostly historical material, and one of tunes. Nine dances were described, though only 6 were regularly danced by the team at that time (Curly Headed Ploughboy, Girl I Left Behind Me, Nutting Girl, Prince’s or Princess Royal, Sally Luker, Jockey to the Fair), the other three being Constant Billy, Maid of the Mill and Squire’s (or Mayor’s) Dance, which had been practised. Also described were the walking processional (to Girl I Left Behind Me) and the Broomstick Jig.
Two years later, Dommett published a second (single) sheet with no Constant Billy or Squire’s Dance but with Duke of Marlborough added. Issued some time after that, there was a third single sheet which included Shepherd’s Hey jig (‘as taught by Jack Hyde’), plus a dance called the Ock Street Horns which Dommett had made up (but was never danced by the team). Finally a 6 page set of ‘Further Notes on Abingdon’ was given to Lionel Bacon as material for his ‘Black Book’. These included some historical notes on the history of how some of the dances were collected (or a reputed story of their history, including the ‘Royal Morris’, which no-one really knows whether it was real or not).