Lyr Req: Helston Flora Day

Subject: Helston Flora Day Lyrics wanted
From:
Date: 04 Jul 99 - 08:27 PM

hi there, After visiting the Helston Flora day this year, I've decided that I'd like the lyrics to it.

Please help me out thank

Subject: RE: Helston Flora Day Lyrics wanted
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 05 Jul 99 - 09:56 AM

There's more than one: HAL AN TOW is in the the DT.
Twenty years ago in Padstow I bought a cassette that had another song from Helston with the words

"Flo said to me one day, "Can you dance the Flora?"
"Yes I can with a nice young man,
round the streets of Truro"...
but that's all I remember!
Good luck- Allison

Subject: RE: Helston Flora Day Lyrics wanted
From:
Date: 05 Jul 99 - 10:12 AM

Helston Furry day (as we locals call it) has two parts. The dance to the Furry dance tune (There are no words used at Helston. Those that Animaterra gives were written later and are used at Truro). The second part is the Mummers play which we call The Hal-an-Tow.This does have words but the verse about Aunt Mary Moses is no longer used. There are another set of words recorded by Terry Wogan and a Brass Band which has nothing to do with Helston.

Subject: RE: Helston Flora Day Lyrics wanted
From: Penny S
Date: 05 Jul 99 - 02:34 PM

There are a number of other threads about this: I've refreshed them, but don't have time for links.

Penny

Subject: RE: Helston Flora Day Lyrics wanted
From:
Date: 05 Jul 99 - 11:20 PM

Hi, thanks for your message, I would like lyrics to the song that goes something like this....

Far away as in a trance, I heard the sound of the floral dance.......

...Fiddle base, big trombone, ...... THANKS.

Marion

Subject: RE: Helston Flora Day Lyrics wanted
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 06 Jul 99 - 04:51 PM

Marion- I have it (somewhere) on an old Stanley Halloway vinyl called House Party. IU'll look for it

Subject: RE: Helston Flora Day Lyrics wanted
From: Marion McNicoll
Date: 06 Jul 99 - 07:25 PM

Thanks Dick, I look forward to getting it..... Marion

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Helston Flora Day
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Mar 19 - 01:18 PM

It's not quite fair to say that the brass band version and the song recorded by Terry Wogan have 'nothing to do with Helston'. In 1911 (I think) Katie Moss visited Helston on Furry Day and got caught up in the dancing in the evening. She adapted the tune and wrote a 3-verse song, with choruses, to it. This was further adapted many years later by the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, and is now a staple of all the bands in this part of Yorkshire. Then (Sir Terry) Wogan made his record, but only sang two of the verses, so left the 'story' unfinished. The words quoted by Marion above are from Katie Moss's poem and they can be found here:
https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Peter-Dawson/The-Floral-Dance

I first heard it in childhood sung by Peter Dawson on a 78 rpm record of my father's, and I've been singing myself ever since. The Spinners (from Liverpool) sang 'Dance the Flora' which includes the words which Alison remembers, and I once found a Christmas song, 'The Furry Day Carol', to something like the same tune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Helston Flora Day
From: GUEST,Stephen Thompson
Date: 20 Mar 19 - 01:23 PM

Sorry, I didn't fill in the 'from' box on the previous comment; I had no intention of hiding behind anonymity!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Helston Flora Day
From: GUEST,Guest Tim
Date: 20 Mar 19 - 02:33 PM

Often sung in the magnificent Blue Anchor in Helston, especially on the last Saturday in the month when lots of local singers get in for Spingo and a sing

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Helston Flora Day
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 22 Mar 19 - 04:53 AM

Flora Day is considered “better than Christmas” by Helston folk, and the day before is like Christmas Eve. In the morning, greenery is left in the street for residents to decorate their houses and shop fronts.

There are four major dances on Flora Day, which this year (2019) will be held on Wednesday, May 8. The Midday Dance is the most prestigious.

In the morning, the first dancers emerge from the Guildhall on the stroke of 7 o'clock. The Hal an Tow leaves St Johns at 8.30am and finishes at the Guildhall around 9.30.

Leading the dances is considered to be the greatest honour for the townsfolk and is reserved for those who were born in the town. Leading this year’s Midday Dance will be Giles Clotworthy and Sandra Laity, followed by Mark Eaton and Rachel Eaton.

Taken from local websites.