Whitethorn Morris Return To The Case Is Altered In 2007

A Memory of Eastcote.

On March 3rd 2007 Whitethorn Morris danced at The Case is Altered at Eastcote again. Although my wife Elizabeth and I had retired from the morris "side" to live in Devon in 2006, the dancers invited us both to come out of retirement and join them for a day of dancing in both Harrow and then this nice pub.

The sun shone, the sky was blue, the pub served good beer and hot food and we gathered a small (very small) group of onlookers to watch and listen to our dancing and music. One of our dancers - Mary - performed in her Whitethorn red, white and blue kit for the very first time.

For me, having been the bandleader for more than 25 years, it was a strange experience to play my piano accordian for the dancers once again. Not having attended any of the weekly practice evenings for almost a year I thought I would have trouble with the tunes but it is amazing how a beer or two helps to restore both musical memory (and confidence!) although I suspect I may have hit a few "blue" notes as my hearing is no longer all that good.

The front garden of the pub still looks very much like this Francis Frith Collection view of 1965. The only real difference over the forty two years is the car park. Instead of the Austin 1100 there were Jaguars, Volkswagens, Saabs and Japanese cars!

We enjoyed our day of dancing and music and the memories of earlier visits stretching back to the late 1970's when Whitethorn Morris first began performing their north west morris dances.