Chilly Saturday at Neath Victorian Fare

Saturday 2nd of December saw us heading to Neath for our third outing in 8 days. We met at 10:45am at Neath Castle for their Victorian Fare where we danced to entertain the queue entering the castle. It was so cold that Keith suggested we danced with our sleeves rolled down, contrary to age-old Sweyn’s Ey custom. We went further and danced in rag-jackets and gloves.

The mayor and town-crier arrived at the head of a procession and then escorted us to various spots in Neath (the junction of Green Street and New Street, outside the Market, by St. David’s Church and Angel square). We performed a couple of dances at each spot with the idea of encouraging the good folk of Neath to get up to the castle for free mince pies and more entertainment!

Several of our regular dancers were unavailable but we have a strong enough side these days that we are still able to put on an entertaining display. Sian and Kev provided the music; the dancers were Alex D, Alison H, Erin, Geoff, Keith, Ken and Nige. We didn’t have enough dancers for any 8-person dancers; Keith and Nige dusted off their calling skills. No sooner had we danced than it seemed time to move on, I lost track of which dances we performed but we stuck to Stewart’s set list and, most of the time, entered the dance-space as a set.

Once we had completed our obligations for the day a few of us visited the Castell-Nedd Arms as it was the nearest pub to our last dance spot and we were thirsty.

Yet again Erin turned up with a generous supply of hot-water bottles, these proved especially popular with the musicians.
Write Up by Nige, Photos by Erin
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