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The Bourne Borderers
One of the most active of the
voluntary groups in the Bourne area is the Bourne Borderers, a traditional
Morris dancing team which appears at a multitude of events in and around
the town. Few big occasions are now complete without an appearance by them
including the traditional White Bread Meadow race each May and even out in
the countryside to welcome in the summer solstice.
Although Morris dancing is in danger of dying out in many parts of the
country and becoming a lost tradition, this group has proved that the
activity is alive and kicking in South Lincolnshire.
The Bourne Borderers group, which follows a traditional style of the folk
dance from the Welsh borders dating back as far as 1609, has 21 members
aged between 20 and 70 and is thriving. They wear distinctive rag jackets
and colour their faces black for performances, and meet weekly to rehearse
the stick and handkerchief dances which they take all over the country to
festivals, events and meetings.
Concerns about the future of Morris dancing were recently raised by the
Morris Ring, a national organisation which represents 200 men only troops,
because it is feared that the tradition could soon be extinct on the
grounds that young people are too embarrassed to join and take part.
But this reluctance does not seem to be affecting the Bourne Borderers.
Founder member and squire Kurt Sauter, aged 52, said his troop had three
new people join last September. He added: "We are a mixed group. It is the
male only groups who have problems recruiting young people and it has
always been the same. But most of our recruits are 40 plus. The younger
people who join are normally children of dancers."
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Bourne Borderers, which is part of the Morris Federation, was set up in
1992 by Mr Sauter, who had previously danced with a Peterborough group.
Janet Rowland, who is bagman or secretary, said the colourful dress stems
from those worn by Welsh farm labourers who transformed themselves into
dancers during the winter months when they could not get work. They
blacked their faces so as not to be identified and turned their jackets
inside out, decorating them with pheasant feathers, before going off to
neighbouring areas to dance, sing and busk for money.
Janet, 60, who joined the group in 1993, said: "It is very inclusive. That
is why I still go and the cross-section of people there are from all
backgrounds There is stick banging and loud, vigorous shouting. We wear
yellow and green rag jackets. The group chose those colours to tie in with
the county colours for Lincolnshire.
She added: "You never see a miserable Morris dancer. They are almost
always smiling and having fun. I have done lots of things with the group.
We have been to Doudeville [Bourne's twin town in France] three times and
had a great time there, and there have been many folk festivals and other
events."
The group also has its own band of drummers and people playing flutes and
tin whistles but is constantly on the lookout to recruit dancers and is
always keen for new musicians to join as they play as big a role as the
dancers. |
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The Bourne Borderers rehearse every
Wednesday at 8 pm in the village hall at Edenham. near Bourne.
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The Bourne Borderers pictured after a display at Scarborough in 2010
(above) and during the opening of the Outdoor Swimming Pool at Bourne
later that year.
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The Bourne Borderers have also become a regular attraction at the
White Bread Meadow ceremony which is held at Eastgate, Bourne, every
spring when a small meadow is let to the highest bidder while two
lads run a race, an annual tradition dating back to the 18th
century. |
NOTE: Article acknowledgments to Exclusive magazine, March 2009.
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