The Club was formed by members of the Birmingham City Police, and for a short time was very active and flourishing and gave some spirited shows at various dance meetings. Unfortunately, owing to the dispersal of its members, the Club's activities have not been revived since the war.
The Bovingdon team was founded in the autumn of 1929 or 1930 and continued its activities until about 1938. It consisted almost entirely of village men, and was a genuine expression of the folk spirit by village people. There were always eight or nine men available, and to begin with the Club danced in Bovingdon and the surrounding villages, later going further afield as they became better known. An interesting feature of the shows was the singing of sea-shanties, with capstan and hauling rope, under the encouragement of a retired sea-captain, and later the performance of a mummers' play `King George and the Turkish Knight'. The team was in great demand at local folk-dance parties owing to this interesting repertoire. During the war Bovingdon was swamped by a large American airport, and it is unlikely that the Club will be revived in the changed circumstances which have resulted. (D.W.Small)
Morris dancing in Cambridge began in the winter of 1911-12 at the Perse School, where Caldwell
Cook was teaching some of the younger boys Headington dances and jigs and some sword-dances. By
1914 the Perse side, when Cecil Sharp saw it, was one of the three best in the country. The first
men's side at Cambridge was formed in 1913, and in 1914 William Wells of Bampton came to Cambridge
and fiddled and danced. The resumption of dancing after the war was due to the initiative of John
Burnaby (May 1920), and the weekly practices then begun have been maintained in term time without
a break ever since. Help was received in the early days from Alec Hunter of Letchworth.
The Club was founded in 1924 by Kenworthy Schofield, to keep those who had gone down in touch with
those still in residence. The inaugural meeting was held on October 24th. Since then an annual
Morris and Feast has been held each year, usually in April. The number of members (dancers and
musicians) is now eighty, and the number of honorary members sixteen.
The most important undertaking of the Club has been the Travelling Morrice tours, of which the
first, due to the initiative of Arthur Heffer and Rolf Gardiner, took place in the Cotswolds in
June 1924. It was only a few months later that the formal foundation of the Club occurred,
an event which was not unconnected with the recent experiences of the tour. The tour itself had
received the blessing of Cecil Sharp, and the time of his death practically coincided with the
last show of the tour, given at Adderbury. `Perhaps', Arthur Heffer wrote, `there is a mystery
to be found here in that the magic circle is complete and the dances collected and pieced together
by him from information supplied by old men have been taken back rejuvenated to, the villagers
from whom they were originally acquired.' In all, thirty tours have been organized, of which
fourteen have been in the Cotswolds, five in the Forest of Dean, two in Germany and one in
Norway (the three last mentioned were in company with country-dancers). Joint performances in
their own towns have been given with the traditional sides of Eynsham, Winster, and Chipping Campden.
Every year (except 1940 to 1944 inclusive) there has been one tour, and some years there have been two.
The English tours normally last for a week. Old traditional dancers have been met, and new and
interesting information obtained from them.
The Club's part in the foundation of the Morris Ring has already been described.