Traditional Dales village music and dancing – Amerdale Hall, Arncliffe –

Sunday afternoon 22nd October 2023

Organised by Grassington Peace Group, supported by UWRSG

Nearly 60 people came from far and wide to make it a happy and vibrant hall that afternoon. The Buttered Peas band played and  the caller Terry Evans took the circles, squares or lines of dancers through the moves of traditional dances from the Dales and elsewhere. Then everyone had a go, people of all ages, some with experience of this kind of dancing but most with none. The hall seemed to buzz with the energy, noise, smiles and sometimes hilarious laughter of people on the move, mostly under control but sometimes verging on the chaotic. It looked and felt like FUN! It was good to see a good number of children joining in – entry was free for them – and above all it was great to welcome some refugees. The band’s flute and guitar were able to play two Ukrainian tunes for a Ukrainian family now living in Skipton and the Anchor Project in Bradford brought a minibus with 15 people, mostly refugees. Caller Terry quickly adapted her programme so that several small African children could join in. Joyously, they did!

Many thanks to Sarah Paul and the Amerdale Hall team for the excellent tea and cake refreshments and for all their help to “Buttered Peas” in putting on such a happy afternoon in the hall. “Buttered Peas”, by the way, is named after the well-known Dales dance which was done that afternoon to tunes from Dentdale and Langstrothdale