Archive entry for 1977
What actually happened, before time takes its toll and surrounds everything with a rosie glow
Contrary to popular belief the origins of the Spring Grove Morris Men are not lost in the mists of antiquity or buried in the depths of time! It all started when Mike Charlton, a resident of the Spring Grove area of Kingston-upon-Thames approached Richard Guscott (Gus), a musician with the Wheatsheaf Morris Men, with the idea of getting six local men to dance at a resident’s association entertainment, cryptically names “An Evening of Love”. Six volunteers were duly recruited in July – Peter Mason, Paul Evens, Richard Craggs, Stewart Marshall, Glyn Davies and Mike Charlton; they practiced two dances for six weeks under the guidance of Gus – Bidford ‘Abraham Brown’ and Bidford ‘Young Collins’. A Summer of Love by the Spring Grove Residents Association - St John's Church hall, Monday 17th September Then on Saturday September 17th in St John’s Church hall at approximately 8.30pm the Spring Grove Morris Men first danced wearing white with borrowed bell pads and sticks from the Forest Hill Boys team! They performed in front of about 100 people and were well received, so much so that four of them wanted to carry on. Mike Charlton and Glyn Davies dropped out and Stephen Nash and Tony Crowther were recruited at the end of September to take their places. In the period up to the end of the year, two Bampton dances were learnt – Rose Tree and Highland Mary. No official appointments were made but Richard Craggs did act as Treasurer/Bagman. | 