OBJ Morris - 2022 Scrapbook

OBJ's Annual Wassail
16th January 2022

The year of "The New Normal"

We held our annual wassail in Wokingham's Market Square again, joined
by Garston Gallopers and Mayflower Morris

And the weather treated us kindly for a mid-January day, which was much-appreciated.

OBJ comprised: Ali, Ann, Chris, Christopher, Clare, Claudia, Colin, Eddie, Giles, Helen, Jane, Joe, Karen, Lawre, Mark, Mike, Philip, Sarah, Tony, Trish, with some help from Andy-the-Cajon

Click the pictures to enlarge them


16th January 2022
OBJ's Wassail in Wokingham Market Square

Dance: Worcestershire Monkey

Dancers: Ann, Christopher, Eddie, Helen, Karen, Mike, Sarah, Tony

Musicians: Joe, Colin, Philip (melodeons), Clare(concertina), Mark, Andy (percussion), Lawre (Banjo), with help from Andy-the-Cajon and musicians from Garston Gallopers and Mayflower

Camera: Chris

16th January 2022
OBJ's Wassail in Wokingham Market Square

Dance: Wildridings (set of 6)

Dancers: Ann, Claudia, Eddie, Helen, Karen, Mike, Philip

Musicians: Joe, Colin (melodeons), Clare(concertina), Mark, Andy (percussion), Lawre (Banjo), with help from Andy-the-Cajon

Camera: Chris

We made the headlines in the Wokingham paper

Dislodging the ram-raid at Boots and the antisocial "car meet " which had both happened in Wokingham the same weekend.

Our guests Garston Gallopers and Mayflower Morris added a bit of variety

We did a bit of dancing for an hour or so

The OBJ band comprised of Giles, Philip, Andy-the-Cajon, Colin, Mark, Clare and Joe with contributions from several others.

A few friends from Taeppas Tump Morris are looking on

I'm not sure which dance this is, but it shows that we had a good audience in the background.

Even the people who were using the coffee-pods enjoyed the occasion

A set getting ready to dance Brimfield

In the middle, Phil and Christopher are facing us, with Tony and Eddie facing away.

On the outside are Sarah, Ann, Helen and Karen, with Claudia ready to tag-team with Ann.

The dance gets under way - this is the stars and rounds figure

And now, the ladies are in the middle, with the men on the outside

Karen has been practicing her scary face all winter

Even Karen's scary face didn't deter this little chap from joining in with the dancing

After a bit of dancing, we moved on to the Wassail "ceremony".

The wassail cake was distributed in individually wrappled slices (Covid precaution) and the one labelled with "BEAN" was used to select the King and Queen.

The traditional songs were sung more-or-less tunefully, and Ali-the-Elf assisted the King and Queen to bury the wren in the roots of the tree, anoint it with cider and feed it pieces of toast.

The tree was returned to it's owner and keeper, ready to thrive for another year and another Wassail.

Below: Giles explains his new idiot-proof bag for carrying little Stanley

Here he is, with mum Helen.