Entertaining The Tring Christmas Shoppers With Morris Dancing

A Memory of Tring.

Tring hosts a lovely Christmas shopping evening each year when the High Street is decorated, the shop windows have illuminated Christmas displays and stay open late and the place is transformed into a fairyland of old-fashioned entertainment and street traders.  There are hot chestnut vendors, roundabouts, fairground organs, traction engines, musicians and dancers. The lovely Whitethorn Morris dancers provided part of this entertainment along with their Whitethorn Band. The group is from Harrow but perform clog dances from the north-west of England to lively jigs and polkas played by the musicians. The favourite spot to play and dance is the wide pavement in front of the church opposite the Rose and Crown. Handy for a traditional pint of beer while performing and also a lovely cup of coffee and mince pie provided by the welcoming vicar and helpers in the church afterwards. What lovely people! And its so nice to warm one's frozen fingers on a cold winter's night after I played my accordian for an hour or so in the chilly winter open air!  Its a well supported event with what must be thousands of folks thronging the streets enjoying the entertainments and spending their money in the local shops! Very happy memories indeed and I do so hope that not only does the Christmas shopping evening tradition continue to thrive but that the lovely welcome from the church is maintained too!