Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?

Subject: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 03:23 AM

Just cruising Morris sites for obvious reasons and I came across this:

http://www.themorrisring.org/more/Trunch/TRUNCH.HTML

http://www.themorrisring.org/more/Trunch/TRUNCH.HTML

Is it a lost tradition or a found tradition?

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Splott Man
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 03:36 AM

Hilarious!

Has anyone tried them?

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 05:48 AM

Be almost worth forming morris Side just to do those dances !

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: GUEST,Wyrd Sister
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 05:53 AM

Hmm. Could the clue possibly lie in 'William Kipper'?

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: gnomad
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 06:19 AM

Someone at Shakespeare with too much spare time...thank goodness he did something useful with it B-)

The "Trunch" would be another clue.

As to Les's question, well it is obviously a found tradition (clue in "I came across") and can only be lost once it has been founded in the first place.

Opinions differ as to what the first place was, I reckon it may have been St.Just-near-Trunch, which was so named in the hope that it would encourage someone to build the second place (Trunch) Clear?

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Mrs_Annie
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 06:21 AM

Well I thought it was a well-known fact that Sid Kipper comes from Trunch. ;)

What a masterpiece, he certainly does things thoroughly.

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Emma B
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 06:38 AM

Well Sid hails from St Just-near-Trunch so it was with some delight that, during a walking holiday in Norfolk several years ago, I found myself in Trunch village!

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 06:49 AM

More here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunch

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 06:54 AM

http://www.themorrisring.org/more/Trunch/TRUNCH.HTML

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 07:12 AM

Here's a version [aversion?] of 'Trunchles', similar to 'Trunkles' but more of a Trunch variation http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/tuneget?F=MIDI&U=http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/Red_Herring/dances/trunkles.abc&X=1&T=TRUNKLES

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: nickp
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 07:22 AM

Superb! Love the dance and tune 'names'.

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: GUEST,Edthefolkie
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 07:45 AM

Thanks a million for starting this thread Les, I've just spilt my coffee all over my shirt!

Have just forwarded the link to a good friend who is the secretary of a Scottish country dancing group. That should give him something to think about - instead of forever pratting about with "Don't Step On My Jimmy Shands".

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Les from Hull
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 08:03 AM

Doesn't the social dance figure 'Strip the Widow' also hail from those parts?

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: gnomad
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 08:11 AM

Quite right, Les. Think we can find a volunteer for the next New Year pranceathon?

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Snuffy
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 09:21 AM

Someone at Shakespeare with too much spare time....

Indeed. In the autumn of 1993 a knee operation gone wrong meant that I was unable to dance, and had to get about using crutches or even a wheelchair.

As you can see, I put the time to good use, making a new section of the "Black Book" on my old Amstrad word processor. This version had text and tunes on separate pages (the Amstrad produced very nice music ruled sheets), and a printed copy still resides in my "Black Book".

Come 1999 when I got a "real" computer and ABC software I wondered what an online Black book might look like, so made the HTML version of Trunch as a trial. This is more or less what you see now.

I had also made ABC transcriptions of all the tunes in the Black Book back in 1999/2000, and when I passed them to the Morris Ring, Trunch was bundled in with them, and John Maher decided to stick it on the web. The rest is history.

Enjoy.

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Snuffy
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 09:25 AM

More about it here

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: GUEST,Lindsay in Wales
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 09:45 AM

When I was dancing/playing for Bucknell Ladies, I remember "Boss-Eyed Strangler" and "Shepherd's Pie"....

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Fidjit
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 09:48 AM

Snuffy
Wassail mate.

Nice to see you've got over the Christmas and New Year. Or have you?

Chas

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Snuffy
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 10:30 AM

And a waassail to you Chas. Been off the air for a while.

Thanks for the virtual pressie - really enjoyed it. See you at Cheltenham?

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 10:33 AM

It is genuinely very funny, original and clever. The only thing that bothers me is that it is such a masterpiece that it leads to suspect that the Morris Black Book site may also be a spoof.

Thanks anyway, we need a laugh whilst the majestic Les Barker is resting.

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 04:01 PM

Well done Snuffy - great stuff!

I spent one Valentine's Day in North Norfolk on a work trip exploring Quiet Lanes just near Trunch.

Kitty

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Fidjit
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 07:09 PM

Sid Kipper refers to A Pub, "The Old Lamb Sign". That isn't there now. Nor is it antwhere else . Just dissapeared.
The pub was served by Blindness Brewery's
This pub was in the village of Just,near Trunch. Which is just near Trunch.

And the song goes

At the Old Lambs Sign my Boys
At the Old Lambs sign
We'll take a cup of "Blindness" yet
At the Old Lambs Sign.

Guess what the tune is.

Chas

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Snuffy
Date: 11 Jan 08 - 10:01 PM

Kitty

Is Quiet Lanes very far from Hidden Paths?

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 12 Jan 08 - 08:07 AM

Snuffy - Norfolk (and Kent) pioneered Quiet Lanes. (There are a couple of photos of Trunch in the County Council's leaflet, and the canopy of the tree in the sign on the last page is the shape of the county of Norfolk.)

Steve Thomason's "Tracks in the Snow" was inspired by hidden paths in the Peak District. The last verse suggests that concrete and metal have replaced the hidden paths, but that could be because Steve now lives in a city not the farm where he grew up. Quiet Lanes have now spread beyond Norfolk and Kent, but I don't know if they've caught on in Derbyshire. Hopefully the hidden paths are still there!

Kitty

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Fidjit
Date: 13 Jan 08 - 08:16 AM

As it should be.

Really good snuffy. Didn't know you talented.
And I've seen you dance.

By the way, "Balance the Books" is know over here in Sweden as, "Pileknekeren" Rough translaton to that. Arrow breaker ??

The song that goes with it says.

We've been here and we've been there
Here we drank seven of (Whatever)
There we did the same.

We can drink so many etc etc.

Just right for Morris men

Cheers Chas

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Fidjit
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 12:13 PM

Just updated my MYSpace site with some of my Watercolours and Ceramics for your perusal.

Positive criticsm welcomed.

Chas

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 06:59 PM

IIRC, part of the Norfolk Quiet Lanes strategy involved removing conventional road signs to discourage motor cars from using those routes, so that might have helped Trunch traditions to stay lost. Also, I seem to remember Sid Kipper saying he reckons that practising the dances hasn't improved the performance....

Kitty

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 08:39 AM

True enough Kitty like many "men" things

Les

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: pavane
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 08:52 AM

We had a few alternative names in Dubai, many years ago, and in line with the traditional Fertility Rites.

I am sure our 'Constant Willy' must have also been invented elsewhere, and also Haste to the Bedding. (One of the others cannot be quoted, but was based on Black Joke).

And there was Bawder Morris, too.

Subject: RE: Trunch Morris - a lost Tradition?
From: Snuffy
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 08:09 PM

Black Joke has lived just beyond the bawders of respectability for nearly 300 years!!