Present and past members of the Guildford Folk Dancers met at Normandy Village hall on 20th October to celebrate their 50th Anniversary. The celebration started with a formal dinner followed by a Ceilidh.
The history from information gathered says the formation of the Guildford Dancers actually started informally in the late 1940's, however it was not until 1957 that the group were officially registered with EFDSS (English Folk Dance and Song Society).
It is this date that was used to celebrate the 50th anniversary.
The Guildford Dancers in 1962 were registered as the West Surrey Thursday Dancers, changing a few years later to the name used today the:-
GUILDFORD FOLK DANCERS
From the early 40's to today the Guildford Folk Dancers have met weekly in many locations; these were in many cases small, damp and at times very cold, however members soon warmed up once the dancing started. Using halls like Bellfield School, Bramley Village Hall, St Catherine's Hall, St Nicholas Hall with the large pillars to dance around, Rydes Hill W.I. Hall, and then to the present location at Jacobs Well Village Hall.
While the Guildford Folk Dancers moved from location to location the members were lucky to have live music and well-known callers for many of the regular monthly Saturday dances.
Back in the mid nineties a great deal of the music was provided by the Benacre Band led by Miss Elsie Whiteman. Also The Boffins led by Alan Browning, who later played at Jacobs Well. Alan and his wife Anne, were welcomed to the celebrations. Cecil Sharp's daughter Joan occasionally provided the music.
At these early Saturday dances, were well known callers like Pat Shaw, John Hamilton and Francis Hawkins.
For many years the Guildford Folk Dancers continued to have live music at their weekly meetings, as well as a combination of club callers and visitor callers.
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Slide 1 (click image to enlarge) Slides 2 to 6 - click here
As the years passed and the membership became stronger, the Guildford Folk Dancers in costume took part in many folk festivals, such as that in Guildford Town, The Albert Hall, Dorking Hall and many other locations. This continued for many years giving displays of folk dancing and Rapper Sword dancing at local functions.
To date the Guildford Folk Dancers still meet regularly and have a reasonable membership - may it long continue.
Throughout the years, there was one founder member present that has dedicated her time to folk and greatly helped give Guildford Folk Dancers the success it has had. That is Coral Charles, she has organized and run many years of holiday weekends and weeks for Guildford Folk Dancers, at Halsway Manor Folk Centre in Somerset.
A presentation was made to her in appreciation of all her work and effort.
The evening finished with a mixture of folk dancing.
John Richards
Source: Surrey Folk News - Issue Number 60 January 2008
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