Bank Holiday Monday, 4th May Phoenix danced with Baldock Midnight Morris, at their final dance out at Pirton village Maypole. Sadly, after 30 years they are “hanging up their bells.”

Baldock Midnight Morris, in dance.

Dennis & Pam. The two Phoenix musicians that day.

Phoenix in full flow.

A fine hankies flourish by Baldock.

Maypole dancing on the village green.

And another set round the Maypole.

Ian & Jo from Phoenix.

Sticks up to finish.

Baldock & Phoenix shape up for the final dance – “Vandals of Hammerwich'”

“Vandals” in progress!

Baldock Midnight Morris. Side photo.

Baldock & Phoenix, joint sides photo.

The day’s events.

Saturday 2nd May, and Phoenix were once again at in the historic town of Rochester, Kent, celebrating traditional folk music, dance, and a unique chimney sweep tradition. It is renowned as one of the largest May Day celebrations, with the date traditionally being when sweeps had their holiday. First up was the opening ceremony outside the Guildhall, followed by dance spots for all sides, and a Photoshoot, before moving on to various dance spots along the High Street.

Team Phoenix.

We also featured on the back cover of the programme.

A selection now, of various photos from the day.

The Phoenix himself.

The heart of the festival.

Just to introduce myself, I’m Dennis, Phoenix box player, and have just taken on the task of ‘Blog Master’

Many thanks to Kate, for all her excellent work in maintaining this site for the last decade or so. I hope I may continue to carry this on.

I hope to have some new posts of Phoenix’s activities up soon. In the meantime, please bear with me whilst I try and get to grips with things.

its been mighty quiet on here for a while… which doesn’t reflect all the fun Phoenix have been having!

SO, after a decade managing the site, its time for the Phoenix E-officer to hang up her wings and hand over the mantle to someone new.

it might take a little while for our new E-officer to get himself settled in but please do keep coming back to see what we’ve been up to 🙂

Despite our usual ‘no dancing in August’ policy,  Phoenix decided to keep dancing throughout the summer this year.

Alongside our weekly practices- relocated to the aquadrome to enjoy the light evenings- we even managed a couple of danceouts!

Here is a quick round up of our July/August adventures…

3rd July marked St Muchael’s evening in St Albans, a lovely couple of hours with some excellent sides.

On 6th/7th July we headed to Northampton shire for the Rose and Castle/ Queens Oak weekend of dance. The weather wasn’t too good but the company and the dancing were great as always!

Saturday 20th July was Rickmamsworth folk day and our annual day of dance. We had a great time, joined by our good friends Wicket Brood and Whitethorn.  The day began with dancing (of course) and ended with boat trips down the canal.

On 30th July, Phoenix made the annual trip to Henley for a night hosted by OBJ Morris. It was a hot one but despite the heat there was some great dancing all round.

On 10th August, a small but determined side headed to the seaside for Broadstairs festival.

A great time was had by all despite the challenge of adapting some of our trickier dances for 4 dancers!

Phoenix Morris also had a wonderful time on Sunday 1st September at Bunkfest where the unexpected change in weather meant that the umbrellas we brought for the forecast downpour came in handy as parasols!

Despite a packed Summer, the fun isn’t over yet as next weekend we will be heading to Swanage for the annual folk festival.

Photos courtesy of various side members.