Some Notable Dates in our history 1951, 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. Dancing out in central London still takes place and we are often invited to join the Westminster Morris Men who were founded in 1953. 1952, Our first overseas trip, with eight men travelling to Antwerp by car for a weekend folk festival 1963, The first time the side danced out on Boxing Day (see the page on Other Traditions for details) 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. 1981, 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) One of the spectators was a 10 year-old boy named Ben Dauncey who danced 7 miles with Jim and whose Dad was the cook for the event. More of Ben later ... 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". 2006 The young Ben Dauncey has now grown up a bit and is determined to emulate Jim Bartlett's feat. In order to try and beat his distance however and establish a new record, Ben started his journey from Tunbridge Wells but still aimed to reach Worcester - a distance of 210 miles. The story is told on Ben's own website The Next Foot Up. Whilst injury prevented Ben from reaching Worcester city centre, he successfully had the attempt recognised by the Guinness Book of Records and is now the proud holder of the world record and his mum has the certificate to prove it !. Back to Our History