In 1951 (Festival Of
Britain year), Ravensbourne organised what is believed to be the
first outdoor gathering of Morris clubs in London. Six clubs,
using St.- Martins-In-The-Fields as a base, danced at St. Paul’s,
Tower Hill, St. James’ Piccadilly and St. Martins (all official)
and less formally in Trafalgar Square, not to mention the London
Underground.
The club has taken part
in the EFDSS Albert Hall festivals on more than one occasion.
In 1953 Ravensbourne was given a solo spot
and acquitted itself very creditably.
In 1952, eight men traveled to Antwerp
by car for a weekend folk festival, and in 1980 and 1981 the side
visited Dieppe to take part in that town’s carnival.
Christmastime 1963, the actor Richard
Chamberlain, then at the height of his fame as "Doctor Kildare",
paid an incognito visit to Bromley, staying with some friends
of Peter Paddon. A display was organised for his especial benefit
on Boxing Day in the pouring rain outside The Greyhound, to an
audience of about three dozen people. The event must have been
deemed a success, because the display was repeated the following
year, raising the princely sum of £9 14s 11d (not far short
of a working man's weekly wage in 1963!) which was donated to
the Shaftesbury Society. The event has been repeated every year
since, so 2002 will be the 40th occasion of dancing at The Greyhound
on Boxing Day, and these days, the audience is somewhat larger!
Perhaps the most notable event in the
club’s history is the performance given (in conjunction
with The Kentish Travellers) at Buckingham Palace in 1967, when
a cabaret was provided for the Staff Christmas Party. Queen Elizabeth,
Prince Philip and Princess Margaret all watched the show, and
the club’s officers were presented afterwards.
In 1980, Jim Bartlett, former Royal
Marine Commando and later to be elected Squire of Ravensbourne
decided to attempt a record for the longest Morris dance, raising
money for charity as he did so. He took as his yardstick the "Nine
Daies' Wonder" of Shakespeare's clown, William Kemp, who
danced 150 miles from London to Norwich in nine non-consecutive
days. Jim decided that to be absolutely certain of beating Kemp's
achievement without argument, he would go for a distance of 200
miles.
Following a suitable period of intense
training, which included running a respectable time in the London
Marathon, the event was scheduled to coincide with Faithful City's
Day Of Dance. A route was mapped out from Orpington to Worcester
to take in as many of the traditional Cotswold Morris villages
as was practicable, and Ravensbourne provided the support team.
After a variety of experiences
and emotions which ranged from very high to very low, from
being "danced along" by other sides and made welcome
at various places overnight, down to nearly being run over
by a sand lorry near Headington Quarry (what irony that
would have been), at 3.04 pm April 24 1981, just four minutes
behind schedule after 7 days and 202½ miles of dancing,
Jim arrived outside Worcester Town Hall to be greeted by
the Mayor of Worcester and other local dignitaries, plus
about two hundred Morris men, whereupon he promptly danced
a solo jig! (To their everlasting shame, the Guinness Book Of Records
declined to accept the achievement for inclusion, which
just goes to show, there ain't no justice in this world.)
In October 1988, Bromley
was twinned with Neuwied in Germany. It was suggested that it
might be a good idea to take a representation of English culture
with them - so Ravensbourne was invited along. When we got there,
we discovered that it wasn't so much a twinning as a giant party
to celebrate the opening of their new "Heimathaus" -
and we were expected to give a performance on stage in front of
1,500 invited guests. The party started at 8.00p.m. with everyone
from all the surrounding villages and all their other twin towns
doing their party pieces. It was scheduled to finish at 11p.m.,
but of course, everyone (except us, of course!?!) overran, and
the party was still going at half past one! Since then, we have
made very good friends with the people of Neuwied, and have revisited
their lovely town on several occasions, usually for their annual
"Deichstadtfest".
