Earlier in September, Phoenix made their annual trip down to Swanage Folk Festival.

Despite the sad news of the death of Queen Elizabeth a few days before, the festival still went ahead but featuring a very moving 2 minute silence at the start of the procession on Saturday.

We had a number of spots all over town across both days dancing alongside some fabulous other sides.

The procession on Saturday was a real highlight, taking a different route than in previous years but with a great crowd along the way. Even our youngest recruit – aged 3 1/2 – joined in carried on mum’s shoulders!

Of course another highlight is always the final dance which takes place in the sea. As always it was a lot of fun and a great way to end the weekend.

The Phoenix webmaster has been a bit lax during Spring so here is a round up of some of our highlights…

22nd/23rd May marked another Rickmansworth Canal Festival. Always one of the big events in our year, Phoenix danced on both days.

It was a slightly quieter year than it has been but still bustling and a lot of fun. Not our most glamorous location in front of the bins but it makes a great ‘stage’ for us!

The beginning of June contained one of our regular events –  Wimborne Folk Festival! The sun shone and Phoenix Morris did some great dancing and playing.

It was good to see members from and near. An extra bonus as we weren’t dancing on the Sunday some of us managed to attend workshops .

At the beginning of July,  We were guests of Rose & Castle and Queens Oak Morris in Northamptonshire . What a splendid well organised weekend as always . So much work must go into these weekends catering for 14 Morris Sides!

Coach tour of the village pubs around Northamptonshire Saturday then back to Sports Club for a feast followed by a great Ceilidh .Then on Sunday after a wholesome breakfast followed by the dismantling of tents we went off to Stoke Bruerne to dance alongside the canal with all the other Morris Sides before we bid farewell for another year .

Only a couple of days later we joined a range of other sides at St Michael’s evening.

Always a treat, we had a great evening of dancing and some of us even found time for some Waffles in the famous St Albans Waffle House.

It has been a busy Spring for Phoenix and amazing to get back out and dancing!

Saturday 17th July wasnt just one of the hottest days of the year so far, it also saw the return of the Rickmansworth Folk Festival.

Somewhat scaled down from previous years, Phoenix took to the streets of Rickmansworth with our friends the Merrydowners for a fun (if a little warm!) Day of dancing.

Phoenix were out in force with enough dancers to get 3 sets up on some of our dances! Merrydowners fielded a smaller side but with plenty of enthusiasm!

After a tiring day, both sides retired to the Conservative Club to enjoy tea and cake and a well deserved rest!

Phoenix may not have danced the sun up on Sunday morning but we did have a wonderful Mayday Bank Holiday weekend!

On Saturday we took a trip to Rochester for the Sweeps Festival. It was a beautifully sunny day, the music was playing, the company wasgood and our dancing wasn’t too bad either!

The dance spots were over an hour each so we were all happily exhausted by the end of the day.

On Sunday we were guests of our good friends Baldock Midnight Morris for the may celebrations in Pirton, Hertfordshire. It was a lovely afternoon with plenty of time to enjoy the sunshine in the pub garden in-between our two dance spots.

We even managed to finish off with a joint ‘Vandals’ as the grand finale. Thanks Baldock 🙂

It was so good to return to dancing at the Oxford Folk festival over the St George’s day weekend after so long.

A lovely day with a nice variety of dance spots with some great Sides. Everyone seemed in such high spirits and happy to be performing again so the atmosphere was buzzing!

Then on returning it was a quick dash down to The Cases Altered in Pinner to dance with Merrydowners for St Georges Day Evening 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

A great day and a great start to the season.