Carol cast cartoon

A celebratory cartoon of the cast of A Christmas Carol by Glenn Martin who did a brilliant job playing Scrooge. We had a blow up turkey suit so the person playing the turkey was much bigger than tiny Tim. I only played one part today. We were due to perform outside, but freezing rain, and members of the cast with or getting this horrible cold meant that we performed inside the guildhall in Newcastle-under-Lyme instead. We were accompanied by a brilliant school choir and my hubby really got into his role of ‘the ghost of Christmas present’. I was due to play Mrs Cratchett but the lurgy had knocked me sideways. The audience appreciated the show. But what was upsetting was that one of the casts phones was taken. Very upsetting, spoiled the fun.

Spooky mask

Pre covid, my friend at the Wassail for a local apple tree.

Wassail? An ancient celebration to encourage apple trees to be fruitful again this year. In Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent it is celebrated by our local Morris Dancing team.

Morris Dancing? In ancient times Local groups of men (now anyone can join) used to get together and dress up, wearing boots or heavy clogs on their feet. Dancing to ancient tunes. Sometimes there is a person dressed as a hobby horse (with a large skirt and a carved horse head worn as a mask?) I don’t know enough about Morris history. I’m sure there is a lot of information out there.

So why this photo? It’s blurry, but it was taken at a Wassail. The Morris men were dancing, and the apple tree was beaten with sticks to get it to grow. And amidst it was my friend in his plague doctors mask, Cape and tricorn hat. And today I found it again and thought… Why not?