Twentieth Anniversary Crawl - POSTPONED!

Ah, the confluence of events which leads to the postponement of a crawl.

We could talk of the writing of a history paper, the inflammation of an Achilles tendon or the need to perform elsewhere, but whichever of these you pick the outcome is the same and our vigesimal anniversary will remain uncelebrated for a while to come.

Watch this space for more announcements.

Twentieth Anniversary Crawl announced

Has it really been twenty years?

Yes. Yes, it has, and many of the original dancers are still part of the team. However, there are also young and fit dancers who have stepped up to the crease and become part of the phenomenon that is Northgate.

To celebrate two decades of dancing and camaraderie, we are undertaking our now traditional Anniversary Crawl for the twentieth time, so make a date to come along and join us for beer, blades and blood on Saturday the 26th December, starting in Larkhall Square in Bath.

More details will follow as we work them out, but to be honest, we'll probably just go around all the pubs in Larkhall, then work our way back along the London Road and end up in The Star. It's worked for twenty years, so why change it now?

Northgate first at DERT!

Well... sort of. In fact, not really. Not at all. But we were the first side to register! Does that count? (No - Editor)

Public practices considered beneficial

Despite the relatively boring title of this post, the news is good: we have now had a number of practices in the back bar of the Royal Oak and the pros far outweigh the cons, as follows:

Pros:

1. There is beer on tap.
2. The floor is excellent.
3. Punters wander round to watch us.
4. The staff like us because we make use of (1).
5. People delivering paintings to us can find us easily.

Cons:

1. The dog likes to join in.
2. Some of the punters distract some of the dancers by being attractive at them.
3. We can't run on late because of the session in the main bar.

The Session - still not annoyed

On balance, we shall continue to practice here for the foreseeable future. The punters who do come to see us typically do so at the start of practice, so we treat that as a warm-up then get on with stuff that is less interesting to watch later on.

Pub practice: take two

Following a remarkably successful, if short, practice at The Royal Oak last week, we've decided to do it again. None of us was led astray by the temptation of delicious beer, the sniffing dog didn't distract us and we even garnered a crowd to watch! Uncanny.

Change of practice venue

This week we're trying a new venue out for practice: The Royal Oak on the Lower Bristol Road in Bath. We hope to unlearn the lessons from the last time we practised in a pub and prove we can be responsible.

A delightful view of the side
of the Royal Oak

Some people are doomed to fail.

Note also the revised starting time: 7.30 bright and early.

Second time lucky

Following the fiasco of a sword-less and room-less practice, we finally managed to get eight of us together for a refresher on what it is we do. Jerome, sadly, took lessons from Edwyn and managed to slice himself across the top of his nose, which he of course blames on everyone else.

Other than that, all went well, even to the point of integrating two new figures - Black Hole and Slip Diff - into are Current Favourite Dance. We even got around to planning a crawl, which means Northgate are very much back in business!

First practice - DENIED!

Yes indeed, if you're planning to enter a building and practice dancing with swords, it works much better if you bring along the key. And the swords.

Mea culpa.

Back from hols...

Well, we've had a full month of sun, sand and sea and now return refreshed from our holidays and ready once more to train ourselves to the peak of physical perfection. Which is to say, practices start again tonight.

Strange, bearded man waffles on about Folk Festival and web media

A strange, bearded man has been found waffling on about Bath Folk Festival and its use of social media. If you're brave, you can see it here.

Video: Handsome man interviewed! (plus some dancing at the Bath Folk Festival)

It appears that the organisers of the Bath Folk Festival fundraiser managed to bag an interview with a jolly handsome fellow which, along with some sword dancers, is captured below.




This also includes a very graphic warning concerning what might happen if you make the mistake of graduating the day before an important booking, to wit (1) you might forget your kit, and (2) you might forget to jump over a sword. This latter leads to what the Radio Times likes to refer to as "hilarious consequences."

Please note that no sword dancers were hurt during the making of the video. Note also my thanks to Brian for a well-timed pint.

The Brian Finnegan Band at the Bath Folk Festival

Some number from the Brian Finnegan Band at the fundraiser for the Bath Folk Festival:

A surprise lesbian wedding

So we turned up for the annual Folk at the Oak Festival only to find that there had been a small change in plans, inasmuch as the afternoon session had been put back to 8:30 in the evening.

We decided to make the best of it, jaded though we were from last night's Bristol crawl, and danced regardless to a massive audience of somewhere in the region of eight people. Encouraged by their raucous response, we trundled off to the Park Tavern for a dance and some very welcome free beer, then on to the Hop Pole where we had the most amazing luck: it was host to a lesbian wedding! I mean, we'd danced at la lesbian wedding in the past, but this one was on a most lavish scale. Fortified by much in the way of Pimm's and free food, we danced our little socks off, much to the delight of one of the brides, who used to be a border morris dancer. Result!

Blood, sweat and beers in Bristol

Our little crawl of Bristol last night was a major success, even though the torrential rain limited it to a mere seven pubs. Highlights include the Golden Lion in which we had a standing ovation before we started,  the Prince of Wales (mainly for the huge German Shepherd called Thor who licked his lips thoughtfully as we danced), and of course the Pipe and Slippers in which Edwin managed to remove most of the skin from his forehead. However, he manfully managed to stick with the dance right to the end, only then pausing to wipe the blood from his face and allow a particularly lovely barmaid to tend to him. What a guy.

Video: some highlights of the Bath Folk Festival Fundraiser

Some edited highlights of the Bath Folk Festival Fundraiser

Bristol crawl this Friday

Yes, the multi-mile mega-march across much of Bristol is on this Friday, starting at 8pm in The Canteen in Stokes Croft and ending in the Inn on the Green. Expect much in the way of sword-related frivolity and sharp dancing.

This short amble will, of course, prepare us for our special guest appearance at the Royal Oak's Folk Festival the following day, where you can expect much in the way of sore heads and aspirin.

Folk festival fundraiser: Lady Bracknell says

"To lose one dancer, dear Northgate, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose a musician too looks like carelessness."

 

We knew in advance that we'd need to borrow a musician for this, but little did we know that one of our dancers was graduating the day before and would be so tired that he'd forget his kit! We recovered manfully, as you'd expect, using the old "random audience member" ploy. As a bonus, our musician was skilled in the arts of playing for rapper, being the brother of an ex-Kingsmen squire. Result!

As to the rest of the concert, it bodes very well for the Festival proper. We can't wait!

Bath Folk Festival

We consider ourselves to be above product placement and endorsements, but even we are swayed by the superb Bath Folk Festival. What's more, they're having a fund-raising evening on Wednesday the 6th July. You can see the announcement here, and you can see us dancing there.

Bath Folk Festival

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside!

Following our doctor's advice, we decided we needed some sea air. What a coincidence then that we were invited down to Weymouth Harbour Festival, in the delightful town on the south coast.

The bridge: notice small dancers on the right-hand-side

We boarded a ridiculously early train from Bristol, Bath and Bradford-on-Avon (ah, alliteration abounds!), then dozed for an hour or two before picking up a mostly-retired Kingsman to bolster our numbers for the day ahead.

The festival dance spots were well organised and very well attended. The mixture of dance styles allowed us to show rapper off at its best, and we had the advantage over the morris side inasmuch as we could dance inside the pubs. Clearly, we made the best of that, and included the splendid pub The Boot which was by far the best pub of the day.

The train trip home must rank as one of the worst we've taken. Our concerns were raised when we arrived at the station to find the police checking bags for "alcoholic beverages" (does anyone other than the police actually speak like that?) and realised when the football fans got on, albeit briefly.

Still, this did not tarnish the day for us. How could it? How often do you get to paddle in the middle of a sword crawl?

Newcastle Kingsmen invade Bath

One of the top rapper sides in the land the Newcastle Kingsmen took time off from the Chippenham Folk Festival to visit us in Bath last Sunday. And what a lovely time we had!

More specifically, Northgate had a lovely time. The Kingsmen did to start with, dancing in a number of fine pubs, but it became clear that they had peaked before they arrived and were feeling rather tired from the punishing schedule imposed by the Overlords of Chippenham.

Nevertheless they continued on manfully (and womanfully in the case of Becky) until the last train back, pausing only for a final dance in the splendid Star Inn. And then they went, leaving behind a trail of memories and pools of vomit broken hearts.

Northgate, on the other hand, returned to the Star to finish the evening arm-wrestling girls and looking for the Fountain of Youth. I wish this were a lie.

Bath Music Festival verdict: nice!

As we'd hoped, our first official appearance at the opening ceremony of this august and respected festival was a rather enjoyable affair. Alongside the inevitable pub dances, there were a number of very well received outside slots.

Two really stick in the mind. The one outside The Podium is memorable for reducing the team into fits of laughter with a Hanley/Tatem Special Humorous Quip (ok, a willy joke). The other was to a crowd a couple of hundred strong outside Bath Abbey which brought a concert inside it to a total stop when the choristers realised their audience was facing us on the outside rather than them on the inside.

Bath Abbey at night. Pretty, isn't it?

Bath International Music Festival opening ceremony

Yes, after fifteen years of just pitching up and dancing at various events, we are finally an official part of the opening ceremony for the Bath International Music Festival. And what a night it promises to be! Fireworks, music of all kinds, sword dancers... who could ask for more?

Slags and slips

An amusing practice this week: in an attempt to reinvigorate Northgate's spirit of creation, the figure Black Hole has been resurrected and has been slightly altered feeds into the now-functioning Slip Diff, which in turn leads into Slag and Psycho Spin. What fun.

The Royal Wedding - update

Sadly, Northgate have had to pull out of a second wedding appearance, this time in some abbey in London tomorrow. It would have been nice to dance there, but apparently the acoustics aren't that good for the Northumbrian pipes and in any case our sashes are at the dry cleaners. It's a shame: we had really high hopes for the collection after the dance.

We're sure Will and Kate will forgive our letting them down at this short notice.

THE Wedding

In preparation for this week's Royal wedding, the lads decided to warm up at a more local (and only slightly less posh) wedding in the Assembly Rooms in Bath. But being who we are, we decided to make things a little more interesting and surrounded our appearance by a bijou crawlette comprising three pubs and a gutter.

The wedding appearance itself was very well received, especially the old "we're one dancer short... can we borrow the groom?" routine. When our number three Edwin finally took his place he displayed true showmanship in the run up to his tumble, ending in riotous applause for his slow-motion rotation.

Top marks, though, to the staff of the Assembly Rooms who opened the ancient Sword Practice Room for us to have a quick pint and a run-through before the main event. It's gratifying to see old traditions being upheld.

The Sword Practice Room, Bath

Special guest appearance of the old Northgations at a 120th Birthday party

Several Old Northgations were dragged kicking and screaming out of retirement on Saturday night to give an ad-hoc one-off special performance to kick off the ceilidh at our musician's joint 120th birthday party! And no, that's not three forty year olds, but two sixty year olds. Still, he managed to play well enough given his age.

The dance itself was remarkably well done, especially when you consider that a number of people in the set hadn't danced at all for at least five years. Ah, it's like falling off a bike, except there were no cuts and bruises. Martin's elbow even managed to survive.

A most bodacious little crawl!

Well, last night's mini-crawl around Weston and Twerton was an unqualified success. Our start in the Dolphin Inn, where we hadn't danced for many years, marked a triumphant return for Ken as our Tommy and, apart from a little old lady manhandling Edwin's bottom in the dance, everything went to plan.

A quick walk to the Old Crown found us an incredibly enthusiastic audience, including one who cleared the tables away for us then gave us both money and beer! We need more like him.

The Golden Fleece in Twerton was next, and was notable for another little old lady, this time one who remembered us dancing there three years ago. It appears that not much else happen in there...

The White Horse was to have been our final pub, but following a beautifully-executed Number Three dance there, we decided to stretch things out further and put in a guest appearance at the session in the Royal Oak. Lovely as usual, and including even more free beer, the Oak did not let us down! Well, except for the Lemon Beer we tried, about which the less said the better.

Bath Weston crawl tonight

The lads are out tonight in Weston and Twerton, starting at 8pm in The Dolphin.

Videos: Other stuff

Mabel Day XI 2010

Institutional Web Management Workshop 2006

Fun with a bike

At something called BathCamp (probably to do with webby people)

Videos: DERT 2011 Oxford

Dance 1: The Royal Blenheim

Dance 2: The Duke's Cut

Dance 3: Freud's

Dance 4: Far From the Madding Crowd

WHERE IS DANCE 5?

The Showcase dance

Two young and too old.

Last night's practice saw two new dancers join our younger side (hello, Stevie and Frank), plus the return of an old favourite after years in rapper-free exile... welcome back Ken!

Young Northgate move to Wednesdays

Young Northgate (and here we admit we need a better name for them: Babygate?) have now bowed to the inevitable and moved their practices to Wednesday night at 7 o'clock, running up to and into the main team practice.

This should ensure better training for them, since the more elderly members are more likely to be available for top notch coaching...

Northgate Weston crawl announced

We've decided it's been too long since we visited Weston, so Wednesday the 23rd of March will see a small crawl around some of the pubs, starting at the Dolphin and perhaps even venturing over the river to Twerton.

Northgate return from Oxford unscathed!

The lads have returned from one of the posher part of the Midlands with all their extremities intact and a creditable set of performances under their belts!

The dance at the King's Arms was particularly strong, and many have commented on the quality of the team this year, which is nice. The Showcase dance was also a success, although Betty's strip show is said to have put many people of their beer. This was, however, better than the birth of Baby Tommy.

As far as the dance itself goes, the sequence leading up to the final lock has been singled out by many people as being very impressive indeed, and our return to using the chorus figure of Princess has also been well received.

Well done all!

All set for DERT!

The lads are now pumped, primed and bristling with gusto as they prepare to make travel ALL THE WAY TO OXFORD! DERT 2011 arrives at last!

Videos: Bath Mega-crawl

Herein is but a small selection from the tour...

The third dance: Flan O'Briens

The sixth dance: The Griffin

The penultimate dance: The Charmbury Arms!

Bath Mega-Crawl update

For those who are counting, the following pubs were graced with our presence on last Friday's crawl:

1. Salamander
2. Raven
3. Flan O'Brien's
4. Hobgoblin
5. Trinity
6. Griffin
7. Kings Arms
8. Hop Pole
9. Charmbury Arms
10. Royal Oak

Northgate in Morris Dancing shocker!

It's official: Northgate are now a Morris side! The Salamander in Bath tweeted to its many fans and therefore this is beyond questioning. The public have spoken!

Received the following tweet from @salamanderbath:

have the pleasure of northgate rapper morris team in 2night.show some support. dancing at 8.15. get a pint settle down and enjoy

Mega-Crawl: denied!

A last minute hitch prevented the planned twelve pub marathon tour of Bath, much to the annoyance of the team. Yes, two pubs couldn't find the managers that agreed to letting us dance, so we were reduced to a measly ten pubs.

Nevertheless, we swallowed out disappointment and gave a good account of ourselves, spurred on as we were by a new Tommy.

And a big thanks must go out to Annie and Cat, our Collecting Girls, for a sterling effort.

Bath Mega-Crawl tonight!

Another year, another new(ish) year mega-crawl. It's a twelve pub marathon: will they stay the course? Will Dave have more than a pint? Will Will find an overhead projector when he needs one?

All this and more will be answered... tonight!