Morris Dancing at Fortescue House School
Fortescue House School was one of the original Shaftesbury Homes for boys. The main buildings were demolished and the land redeveloped with housing in 1971 [1]. John Glaister of Curfew Morris and then Thames Valley Morris Men worked there and TVMM's logbook records in 1959:
Early 1959 the first morris demonstration of the year was at Fortescue House, a boys' school in Twickenham where John Glaister teaches the boys morris and sword.
and in the following year:18th March. Morris'd at Fortescue House Boys School where John Glaister has a class.[2]
There are a number of recollections on the Fortescue House School section of Friends Reunited, the memories aren't dated, but they support the practice of morris dancing at FHS:
(1956-58)Does anybody remember Mr Rowbotham? he formed a morris dancing team for some bizzare (sic) reason, I was fortunate? enough to be in it, we went to other schools to do demonstrations etc. Bonfire nights were always a delight, blazing torchlight parades, and the fireworks. [3]
I remember Mr Rowbotham, he formed me and seven other boys into a morris dancing troupe who went round other schools giving demonstrations. If I recall, he was a good cricketer as well, I would love to talk to him after all these years.[3]
I remember Morris Dancing...oh! what fun we had![4]
Track and Field Events doing the long jump and running the relay, for FSH. Morris dancing, boxing never did stop.[5]
[2] Logbook of Thames Valley Morris Men
[3] Tony Grant, Friends Reunited - Fortescue House School (for Boys)
[4] Barry Hugo, Friends Reunited - Fortescue House School for Boys
[5] George Pickering Tomlinson, Friends Reunited - Fortescue House School for Boys
