2017 Jag Day
Saturday 7 January
Mild day.
Collected for British Heart Foundation £265
Minibus from Ready Rent a Van of Normanby Rd Scunthorpe organised by Dave Barlow
Started at West Common Crescent, Scunthorpe.
11.00 Gainsborough Market Place (Plough Jag)
11.35 Horse and Jockey (Plough Jag)
12.20 Sweyn Forkbeard (Coffee & Lunch)
13.00 Eight Jolly Brewers (Plough Jag, songs)
14.00 Pink Pig Farm, Bottesford (Plough Jag)
15.30 The Sun and Anchor Scotter (Plough Jag, songs and tunes)
17.00 Malt Shovel ,Ashby (Plough Jag, and a good meal)
19.30 The Three Horseshoes, Scotton (Plough Jag and songs)
20.45 The Ironstone Wharf (Plough Jag)
21.30 The Sheffield Arms Burton upon Stather (Plough Jag, songs and tunes)
Characters
Rag Fool Eamon Greene s
Recruiting Sergeant Geoff Convery s
The Lady Gordon Griffin
The Horse Colin Spence
Joe Straw Steve Hindley m
Flash Hatman Keith Brown m
Beelzebub Dave Barlow s
The Doctor Geoff Miller s
Dame Jane Martin Campbell
Besom Betty Pete Boulby s
Hatmen The Green Man Dick Skinner m
Hatman John Baker
Hatman Dot Griffin s
Hatman Chris Marshall Videographer
A document that could turn out to be of historic, if tragic, significance was introduced at the beginning of the day by Dot and Gordon Griffin. This was a guidelines document from The Morris Federation to teams using face paint as disguise. Potentially, if taken notice of, the recommendations will dilute the English traditional events from being colourful spectacles. Unanimously Coleby Plough Jaggers ignored the guidelines. Political correctness gone mad! – mummers disguised themselves with soot because it was free and was readily available, hence the black faces.
There was a good and appreciative crowd in Gainsborough Market place, confirming that it is still a good place to start, as well as the traditional place to start within the history of Coleby Plough Jag.
There was a perfunctory performance of the Jag in the Horse and Jockey, followed by the first opportunity for a performance of Geoff Convery and Jim Hancock's excellent 'Jag Day' song and the traditional toast to 'Absent Friends' .
It was noted that both 'Lords' and 'Exxtra' were back to being open at 11am.but they were not on the programme for this year and the Jag missed them out. Will they still be open next year ?
A disorganised lunch was had at the Sweyn Forkbeard, where discussions were had with several locals who variously mistook the Coleby Jaggers for performers from the Haxey Hood or were pleased to see a local tradition being maintained.
The Eight Jolly Brewers was a good venue, as usual, despite the staff being unsure at what time we would arrive. This meant that the Jaggers missed out on the pork pie that has been provided by this establishment in the past few years. Some excellent singing and good tunes were performed
At the Pink Pig Farm (no longer calling itself Organic but still selling some organic products) the audience mainly consisted of Jag supporters. A little bit more good food and drink was consumed after the Jag performance before going off to Scotter, to the Sun and Anchor.
All the time to this point the Hoss was building the length of his performance either through feigned constipation or ad- libs concerning coconuts. Both managed to draw comments and titters from the audience.
A very small, but select, audience was at the Sun and Anchor and the hosts provided cheese and biscuits which was very well presented and gratefully received. The Jaggers then had time to relax a bit and again some songs and tunes were excellently performed.
There had been a change of management at the Malt Shovel which meant that there was some uncertainty about the Jag being performed so there was only one performance this year – on entry - followed by food from the good value evening menu. This was well organised by Mary-Anne Hindley in advance.
At the Three Horse Shoes at Scotton, there was another small but select and appreciative, audience who were very receptive to yet more vocal and instrumental music after the Jag.
At the request of the landlady, a performance of the Jag was done at the “Ironstone Wharf” in Gunness, to a minimal audience, after which Burton upon Stather became the location for the final venue of the day.
The Ferry House was again closed for January, but The Sheffield Arms had recently been taken over by new management who were cautiously enthusiastic about hosting the Coleby Plough Jag.
There were not many in the audience who were not regular Jag supporters or ex Jaggers but a good couple of hours of chatting and music followed the performance of the Jag and everyone went home happy. Ex Jaggers Dave Hoy and Jim Hancock came along and contributed to the evening.
