Mrs Thrales Diary
For their final show dance at Whitby Folk Week, Thrales Rapper joined forces with Chrissie Thomas's Childrens Workshop, who carried the fearsome 64-legged Orkney Stoor Worm through the set beneath the tumbler. The workshop showcase session featured most of the teams who stuck with us all week and put on a very creditable show with some inventive kit. Search YouTube for ‘Thrales Rapper’ to find films of Thrales and the workshops.
Back home in London on Nov 10/11, Thrales 13th Birthday Weekend guests were the turquoise-striped Lamb & Flag from Preston. L&F survived the traditional Thrales endurance test of an all-day tour of the fleshpots of Soho and Southwark. The Saturday tour started with a Dutch breakfast and Belgian beer at De Hems in Chinatown, followed by 12 pubs before the teabreak and five more after. Thrales danced their Admiral Duncan dance in the bar of the same name in memory of David Morley, a barman who was a fan of the team and brutally murdered in 2004.
Melanie Barber accompanied the tour to raise the standard of stepping with her immaculate clogging. Photos, and film of Lamb & Flag's Carnaby Street massacre, can be found at http://tinyurl.com/32mxka. On Sunday afternoon, Thrales were joined at the Prince William Henry by six rapper teams - Lamb & Flag (still alive), Dark Horse, East Saxon, Greengate, Hoddesdon, and Verulam; clog-steppers - Camden Clog, Melanie Barber, Pam Kallender, Anna and Sarah Crofts; plus the inevitable (Insert Name Here) Mummers. A good time was had by all, with help from the PWH's good food & beer.
Frank has finally completed ‘Thrales - the movie’, a DVD recording the dramatic tension of a teams runup to DERT, with spectacular views of Andy Williams' stunning appendages and acrobatics and back-room scenes of Thrales at their best (and worst). A rapper classic, available for only £5 from Clive at info@thrales.com. Come on! Frank needs the money to feed his phone habit.
*History lesson : Hester Thrale was a famous Southwark resident and friend of Dr Johnson, who gave her name to the pub in which Thrales first practised.