2016 Jag Day
Overcast & dull with rain showers
Minibus from Ready Rent a Car
Collection for British Heart Foundation - £384
Start - West Common Crescent, Scunthorpe
11.00 Market Place, Gainsborough
(Breakfast at Sweyn Forkbeard - Wetherspoons)
12.15 Horse and Jockey, Gainsborough
13.00 Eight Jolly Brewers - Gainsborough
14.30 Pink Pig Organic farm - Bottesford
15.30 Sun and Anchor - Scotter
17.15 Malt Shovel - Ashby
(Tea at The Malt Shovel)
19.45 Three Horse Shoes – Scotton
21.00 Café Indiependent at the interval of Martin Simpson concert.
21.40 The Ironstone Wharf - Gunness.
Characters
Rag Fool John Baker s
The Lady Gordon Griffin
Recruiting Sergeant Geoff Convery s
The Horse Colin Spence
Joe Straw Steve Hindley musician
Flash Hatman Keith Brown musician
Dame Jane Martin Campbell
Beelzebub Dave Barlow s
The Doctor Geoff Miller s
Besom Betty Pete Boulby s
Goth Hatman Dot Griffin s
The Green Man Dick Skinner musician
Musician Jerry Oakes (Gainsborough only)
Hatman (videographer) Chris Marshall
Winter, up to Jagday, had been very mild and very wet and rain again was forecast for the day. We got off to a good start with a reasonable crowd in Gainsborough Market Place, and no rain! In previous years the sword dancers usually had a chance to practice before the first performance but this year it was straight into the Jag.
Breakfast at the Sweyn Forkbeard pub, as arranged by Molly (Dave Goulding) went much more smoothly this year and timing for subsequent performances stayed as planned.
There was a good crowd at the Horse and Jockey where the traditional toast to 'Absent Friends' was made by Geoff Miller and the song 'Jag Day' (now traditional) was led by Geoff Convery.
Pork pie at the Eight Jolly Brewers was welcome and there was a good chance for rousing songs, which of course was taken lustily.
At the Pink Pig the Jag was met by friends from Grimsby and Scunthorpe and some bemused customers.
Moving on to the Sun and Anchor at Scotter, Rob Guest, an ex-resident of Scotter, and his wife Gillian regularly travel from Gloucestershire to Scotter at this time of year and support the Jag – Rob has contributed to the Plough Jag archive in the past.
This year they were going to present a relic of one tradition on the occasion of the performance of another. The relic that they brought was the Scotter town crier's bell which had been in the possession of Rob's mum, a very well-known, long serving, and respected ex district nurse and midwife. The bell had been taken to New Zealand by Rob's brother, David, and Rob and Gillian were returning the bell to the Scotter Parish Council. The expected Council representative did not turn up at the Jag performance thus robbing Rob of a handover ceremony. I understand that the bell did, eventually, reach the council.
Back to the Ploughjag- we had another very good singing session, and mince-pies at the Sun and Anchor before moving on to Ashby to the Malt Shovel.
This year we advertised two performances at the Malt Shovel, but in the event only managed the one on the way in. After eating, we were a bit late with the sweet course and an extra performance was looming later, so we couldn't hang around.
Off we went to the Three Horse Shoes at Scotton, where we did a Jag performance in the bar and a couple of songs in the conservatory.
A few weeks earlier Colin Spence had flagged up that Martin Simpson was due to perform at the Café Indiependent (that used to be the Co-op on Scunthorpe High Street). Thanks to John Baker, who contacted Martin Simpson directly, we managed –at the last minute - to get chance to perform the Plough Jag in the interval. This was the surprise extra performance. A surprise for the Jag and a real surprise to the audience. However the performance was well received, judging by the applause. At the end Chris Marshall made an appeal for new recruits to the Coleby Plough Jag and it is to be hoped that someone might be interested. Martin Simpson was 'the Lady' in the very first performance of the Coleby Ploughjag in 1973.
We finished at the Ironstone Wharf with somewhat of a whimper due to the lack of adjacent seating and the narrow, sinuous nature of the rooms. Singing was a bit spasmodic but none the less enthusiastic.
