Article about Morris Dancing of Bampton in the Bush from the Reading Standard 25th July 2014?. edited from Article in Daily Chronicle September 1914, both copies attached
Bertie Clark. Fiddle rear Harry Hampton (fool) Peter Alum, George Hunt, Bobby Wells cake Bertie (1877.-1958) was another Bampton Morris fiddler, but unlike Wells was not born into the tradition. He was brought up in London, where he worked at a railway depot in Camden Town. He had some violin lessons, and played in the railway staff orchestra. Sometime before the Great War he moved to Carterton, the village next to Bampton. When in 1926 Jinky Wells had a falling-out with his Morris side, and went off to form his own, Bertie Clark was invited to be fiddler for the original Bampton Morris; he initially learned the tunes from Cecil Sharp’s published manuscripts (presumably relations with Wells were such that he wasn’t going to teach them to Bertie himself!) Recordings of his playing made in 1958 appear on Rig-a-jig jig; dance music of the south of England from Topic Records’ "Voice of the People" collection. A listen to his playing is very instructive. At the time he would have been 81 years old, was quite likely well out of practice and possibly arthritic.
Black and white photo of Morris dancers taken in 1970 in Deanery Gardens Left to right, on extreme left Roy Shergold fool, Bill Daniels, centre of picture Frank Daniels, Terry Rouse, Dave Rose’s face just seen on the right.
