HISTORICAL SOCIETY: On December 7, members of the Campden and District Historical Society gathered for their Christmas meeting, an evening entitled 'Bells, Baldrics and Ballads'. The masters of ceremonies were Campden folk musicians Andy Doran, pipe and Tim Sexton, vocals and guitar, assisted by Derek Taylor, fiddle and Stanley Jones, tabor. Andy was pleased to be playing a two hundred year-old tabor pipe, once belonging to James Warner of Campden, but now kept by the Gloucester Folk Museum. This traditional Morris instrument, pre-dating the fiddle, was played with one hand, having only three pipe holes, while the other hand kept the rhythm with the tabor drum. Members listened to the Morris Murder tale, how James Dyer was found brutally murdered in 1722 and Campden Morris dancer Will Keeley was convicted. The history of Morris dancing was explained and how Cecil Sharp on his visits to Campden around 1909 had collected Campden tunes from Dennis Hathaway. The group played Queens Jig and Dick's Maggot and several of Campden's six dances. The Hathaway family along with the Taylor and Veales, relatives through marriage, and also the Ellis's and Harts were credited with being fundamental in retaining the Campden Morris tradition through the 19th century. It appears that Campden dropped hats and baldrics, the cross straps in the 1940s, replacing them with rosettes pinned to their shirts. The Morris men, squire David Hart, David Webb, Andy Doran, father and son Tim and Paddy Sexton and young recruit Alex Cranke, were accompanied by Alf Hathaway on the accordion. They demonstrated the dance 'The Old Lady Tossed Up In A Blanket' with an 'old lady' (and good sport) Cadhas member Carol Jackson.

After a lively interval with seasonal refreshments, the display resumed with 'The Stick Dance', in which they used chairman Andrew Holden and Carol Jackson to demonstrate. Derek Taylor then sang his own composition 'The Winding Road to Ilmington', Tim Sexton 'The Servern Side' and the evening finished admirably with several songs taken from C R Ashbee's Essex House Song Book, printed in Campden in 1905. Members were encouraged to learn the tunes and heartily sang along in 'Harvest Home'. 'The Campden Maypole Song', 'Joan's Ale at the Guild of Handicraft' and 'The Snow lay on the Ground'. It was altogether a delightful evening of real local history and members were appreciative of the research and preparation, which the musicians had put into the evening's entertainment.