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May Heydays circulation list
by Announcements for May HeyDays 20 May '22

20 May '22

Hi, Fellow Folkdancers Now that the dust has settled on our first - and successful! - May Heydays folkdance festival in Evesham, I am looking at updating our email circulation list of ongoing supporters. Many of the names on our list were inherited from the Eastbourne International Folkdance Festival and may not be known personally to Mecki and me as MHD directors. Or, I may have lost the link between your email and name in the early days of taking over the festival. So, as a start, I am sending this note to those emails on the list for which I have no first, second or full name. If you wish to stay on our list, would you please reply with this info? If I do not hear from you by, say, the end of June, I will assume you no longer wish to be informed about our future plans and will take you off the list, so as not to trouble you with further circulations. Thanks Regards Monty Crook May Heydays Ticketing

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May Heydays update
by Announcements for May HeyDays 19 Mar '22

19 Mar '22

Dear Festival Supporters, We are pleased to be able to report that the preparations for May Heydays 2022 are progressing well. Programme Updates: The programme is quite stable (though I wouldn't print it out just yet!). We have recently added the Jane Austen Dancers from Bath; they will do a workshop and a couple of performances on Sunday as well as joining in some of the dance sessions with the rest of us. Further events have been added for your delectation: • Mike Courthold will run two American workshops • John Sweeney is offering a waltz workshop on Sunday • James Eisner is on our books to do a couple of singing workshops • Daisy Black will weave a story or two…… • Jenny Norris is leading French/Breton sessions with Confluence • Work is in progress to set up some music sessions, so do bring along your musical instruments! If you are interested in calling, we are considering putting on a calling workshop - in addition to the Callers' Round event to be led by Brian Stanton. Let me know asap if you would like to take part, and we’ll go ahead with this! It will be in a hall with a PA system available for recorded music (bring your own recordings) and an experienced caller on hand. If you would be happy to volunteer as a guinea-pig dancer, watch out for the workshop and just turn up! Meanwhile, we’ve had good discussions with the caterers and will soon be able to add full details of the menus and the meal voucher system to the website. We will be encouraging you to buy vouchers in advance to reduce queuing at meal times. A small set-back for us was to learn that work is underway at the school to upgrade, amongst other things, building names and room numbers – making some of the site maps & plans already drawn up redundant. Ah well, something else for Monty to ably sort out………… Can I remind our supporters with roll-over tickets to let us know as soon as they can of their intentions this year. And to our wider group of supporters, please check out the programme on the website, and see if this new/old venture of ours is enough to persuade you that the time is coming to dip your toes back into the dancing arena – and May Heydays 2022 is the place to do it! Day tickets are also now on sale! May I end with a plea for a photographer to step forward? We have lost our planned volunteer and would really like someone to capture our first May Heydays for posterity. That in itself should be a sufficient incentive but there is also a free weekend ticket up for grabs, free camping and long lasting gratitude and relief! Keep safe and we hope to see as many of you as possible at Evesham. Mecki Director

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May Heydays 2022
by Announcements for May HeyDays 27 Jan '22

27 Jan '22

Dear Supporters May Heydays News We thank you once again for your previous support for EIFF and your interest in our fledgling moved to Evesham; and hope that 2022 finds you in good health - and waiting for May Heydays to finally start! Programme: Our Director, Mecki, has had the artists lined up for some time but the committee took the decision to wait until January before reviewing things and seeing what sort of programme could be devised. The committee is now out of hibernation and the plans for the 2022 festival are taking shape. Envisaging a reduced number of attendees compared to 2020, we are, initially, setting up a three-tier festival: two American/English events plus one International from Friday evening until Monday lunchtime, followed by our joint Monday afternoon dance. Check things out on: https://mayheydays.org.uk/ See the programme page for the latest info and the Venue page for pictures of the 3 planned dance halls. If we get more bookings than would comfortably fit into 3 halls, we will extend the programme to the 4th hall. Tickets: In view of the late start, we have decided to keep the ticketing simpler this year, with the Friday - Monday full weekend ticket price set at £97 and £48 for concessions (as planned for the shorter event of Friday – Sunday back in 2020). Camping will be held at its same rate of £20. Booking forms will be on the Tickets page in time to start new sales on February 1st. Day and evening tickets will be available later, at prices of £48 (£24 concessions) for All Day and £14 (£7) for Evening tickets. Concerning Covid: things are still fluid but it does look hopeful that the situation will have improved come May. Our folk dancing activity is a particular case, involving, as it does, touching, close contact, meeting lots of partners, plus, often, laughter and noise – all in an indoor setting. We therefore think that people should ideally be triple vaccinated and take a lateral flow test as a sensible precaution prior to coming to Evesham – plus of course not to come if having any flu/cold-like symptoms. We would hope that all our committed attendees are prepared to follow the applicable guidelines at the time, whether those dictated by government or plain common sense. The next 3 months: Keep an eye on the website in the lead up to our event to stay abreast of plans and changes. We will be providing site plans to help in finding your way around the new Venue and updating info on Where to Stay (awaiting updated information from Evesham T.I.C.), on the planned menus (see Food), an updated train timetable (see FAQ) plus any other useful information. Finally: be assured one and all, it is our intention to run a festival unless circumstances contrive to stop us doing so. In the event of not being able to go ahead, the committee has agreed that we will refund all ticket sums held at that point and re-set for 2023. Festival Committee, January 2020

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May Heydays - looking forward to 2022!
by Announcements for May HeyDays 19 Jan '21

19 Jan '21

Dear May Heydays Dancers, As we all know, Covid is here to stay for quite some time yet, and we therefore don’t think that we can run our festival this year. There is really no way we could guarantee the safety of you, our dancers, or our performers and, even if we did try to run it, it probably wouldn't be financially viable due to reduced attendance - if the government would even allow it. Plus, of course, insurance could well be an issue. Prior to booking our performers for 2022, we will consult with the other relevant festivals to find out which acts they are planning to book for next year, so that, between us, we can provide you with a varied programme. We will start planning for next year's festival in the autumn and will keep you updated on our plans as they take shape. One innovation we may try is offering some concerts as maybe people newly back to dancing won't want to dance all day long? If you have any other suggestions for 2022's programme, we'd be delighted to hear from you. Anyone who would now like a refund of 2020's carried forward ticket, please contact : tickets(a)mayheydays.org.uk. Monty will contact you if he does not have your bank details (your name as it appears on your account, sort code and account number). But, if you have changed bank details, do advise him. Many of you agreed to donate a sum (say, 5%) to the festival last year; anyone who didn’t and now wishing to do so, do let us know. Refunds requests can be made at any time and will processed in the order they are received. Please allow some time for this; if we don’t hear from you, monies will be held over for 2022. Looking forward to the time when we can all meet again. The May Heydays Team -- Tel 01308 423 442

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May Heydays - postponement to 2021
by Announcements for May HeyDays 17 Mar '20

17 Mar '20

May Heydays Hopefuls, In view of the general situation – the government telling over 70s to stay at home for the next 3 months, event organisers including folk dance clubs cancelling events nationwide and our foreign callers being stopped from coming into the country (or getting back home) - the committee has decided that we cannot run May Heydays in 2020. We will therefore postpone it until next year. As previously stated, you can have your ticket money held over for 2021 or apply for a refund, to tickets(a)mayheydays.org.uk. Those who booked for camping could, if they wish, elect for a refund just of the camping money (unless they paid via the agency). Please note that we cannot make cheque payments so your refund request will be processed by a bank transfer. Whilst we do have the bank info from payments received by cheque, to be on the safe side please confirm them to us. If you paid by bank transfer direct to May Heydays we will also need you to let us have the full relevant re-payment details (account name, sort code, account number). You may do this, for example, by a single email to tickets(a)mayheydays.org.uk, by split of info in two or more emails, or by phone to Monty Crook on 01308 423 442. For the limited number who booked via WeGotTickets, you will also have the option to hold your money over to next year. Any refund requested will be paid by the agency. We will give more info on this when we have confirmed the details. Please give us a couple of weeks to consult with everyone who may have incurred costs on our behalf. Most of our suppliers/performers/De Montfort school will not charge us anything at all, so the total of incurred costs we will need to recover will be quite minor in the great scheme of things. Once we know what our total cost is for 2020, we will apportion this cost to all ticket holders (except, for those paying via WeGotTickets, where we will not be able to make any such retention). We will have a full bank holiday festival next year (unless the government decides to delay VE Day celebrations for a year!) - for which we have lined up Geoff Cubitt, Colin Hume and Kalia Kliban as our main callers and a wide variety of bands: Contrasaurus, ECDB, Knotted Chord, Jon Berger & friends, Keeping Thyme, Momentum, Portland Drive and the Derby duo of Doug Eunson and Sarah Matthews. We have not yet booked an International dance teacher but will do so in due course. So, something to look forward to at the end of this tunnel! Note that the ticket prices for next year will be somewhat higher than for this year's shortened festival, and there will be a small extra amount to pay for those who do not request a refund this year. We are very sorry to be the bearer of such disappointing (but probably not unexpected) news, especially as we have all invested many hours in getting it off the ground, and, of course, we were looking forward to the weekend as much as you. It was not to be. We extend our best wishes for good health during the coming difficult months. The May Heydays Committee Tel 01308 423 442

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Dance competition and ticket deadline
by Announcements for May HeyDays 31 Jan '20

31 Jan '20

1. May Heydays: Annual Original Dance Competition The festival proposes in this and future years to invite any caller out there to devise an original composition to be danced and judged by dancers at the event, with a single winner. The author's attendance at the festival would be very welcome but is not a condition of entry. This year's genre will be "Playford-style", by which loose term we mean a dance which might have been published between 1651 and 1801. The tune used will not be part of the competition, but may be new or existing, or a description can be given of the music required (such as 3 x 32 bar smooth jigs). The dance must be suitable for an ordinary dance club in England, rather than for a display team or workshop. Full rules for the competition will be published shortly. 2. The Deadline is Nigh Today's the day, so don't delay, to book your place at May Heydays It must be said, no other way, tomorrow morn the price we raise…... Early-bird weekend ticket today: £85 Weekend ticket from Feb 1st: £97 (With apologies to those already booked and anyone who appreciates accomplished verse). Mecki and the team

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Workshops - a clarification
by Announcements for May HeyDays 28 Jan '20

28 Jan '20

The wording in our previous mail on workshops to be provided by Carol and Joanna seems to have led to some confusion. It was not our intention that those who have booked for the weekend had to state which workshops they would attend. It was to give the chance to be involved in developing the programme by asking people to vote which of the offered workshops they would like to see included over the weekend. The choices on offer can be accessed via the Programme page on the website - which leads to the following page: mayheydays.org.uk/choices.html You can vote for up to 6 of Carol's offered nine workshops, and up to 5 of Joanna's offered ten. Mecki will base her selection on the votes received. Saturday's Costume Ball Due to the popularity of the Saturday Ball we have decided to utilize our "spare" hall, the large gym, if at all possible. We will have to get some anti-reverberation measures in place to overcome issues that hearing aid users may have with the acoustics. We are working on that. So, please bear with us, while we try to sort this out. Meanwhile, please keep stating your ball preferences on the booking form. Mecki and the team

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May Heydays Update
by Announcements for May HeyDays 26 Jan '20

26 Jan '20

Dear Supporters IT’S ON THE UP! Come all ye festival supporters, toe-tapping sons and swinging daughters, All those who’ve not yet filled the urge to book a ticket, make a splurge, The time is nigh so act at once, delay no longer, be no dunce The ‘Early-bird’ will soon take flight and disappear on Br*x*t night - From Feb the 1st the cost gets higher - read it on a May Heydays flyer. We want you, one, we want you all, we’re waiting here to take your call Come book in droves, you dancing host, online, by email, pigeon post, Remember though, the deadline’s tight, Jan 31st, at 12, midnight! A weekend ticket for May Heydays costs £85 until Friday, then moves to £97! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Further news: 1. Workshop Preferences Those who are booked and have not yet done so are invited to pick their preferred workshops: by Carol Ormand <http://www.mayheydays.org.uk/choices.html#Carol> and Joanna Reiner <http://www.mayheydays.org.uk/choices.html#Joanna>. Just reply to this mail with your selection. 2. Costume Balls The Saturday ball has now reached its pre-bookings limit. However, it will be up to Joanna to decide when we have a full house. Dancers who have not booked are welcome to queue in the hope of getting in. The good news is that Rhodri's Sunday evening ball still has pre-booking places left. Dancers can also queue on the night (last year everyone who wanted got in). 3. New Callers Keeping up the Eastbourne tradition of offering new festival callers a training experience, we have a double session "New Callers' Showcase" on Saturday afternoon. If you wish to take part, please reply to this mail and we will pass your name on to Rhodri and John who will be your mentors in 2020. So far, these sessions are under-subscribed - we'll pinch the second slot for a surprise workshop if numbers remain low (last year we had 6 callers). 4. Callers' Forum For the first time, this year we are offering a double "Callers' Round". These are two workshops where callers can discuss issues close to their heart. Colin Hume has volunteered to facilitate one of these, we are not sure yet who will do the second one. We're open to offers. 5. Sorry Love, Tea Dance is Off! The tea dance will not be happening this year as too few of last year's 'trainee' callers wished to take part. With a shortened weekend, we'll to use the hall for other things. We are all really pleased by our weekend numbers so far (currently 170, with 37% new to the festival) but please don't worry about space. We have a spare hall!!! Mecki and the team Tel 01308 423 442

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Points of Interest
by Announcements for May HeyDays 13 Jan '20

13 Jan '20

An Update on How We Are Doing - and Points of Interest. 1. Attendance It's a pleasure to report we have just received our 150th weekend booking - ahead of last year at this time (131). Over 35% of these are newcomers to us - including two from Brisbane! But, we'd like at least 50 more (100, says Mecki !). Lots of our regulars are still to put pen to paper - so, remember you have until 31st January to book at £85 a ticket - then it goes to £97. 2. Callers' Showcase As in the past few years, we will be running the Callers' Showcase. So, if you are a newish caller who would like to call at May Heydays, please reply to this mail, and we'll pass your name on to Rhodri and John who will be leading the workshop. Feedback will be given behind the scenes, while the next caller starts explaining their dance. That way we'll get through more dances than was the case last year, and it should be a more satisfying experience for everyone involved. 3. The Hard of Hearing We've had a mail from a dancer affected by hearing loss, and we want to ensure all can enjoy the weekend. The points raised have been discussed with callers, the sound team and the school; all will do their level best to make our weekend a pleasurable experience for EVERYONE, not just those who have no trouble with their hearing! An advice sheet has been developed for callers and the sound team which will give tips on how to facilitate the process of enabling everyone on the dance floor to have the chance to hear what the caller is saying. This will include using a microphone on the dance floor when demonstrating a figure, for example. However, it is important that everyone in the room is considerate and keeps the noise down, especially during walk-throughs. As we all know, noise levels can be high and difficult for all dancers, not just those with hearing issues! From looking at the venue pictures, fears were raised that there will be reverberation issues with some of the halls. We have spoken with - and been round - the school twice, with a member of the sound team. The smaller gym has had some remedial work done which, we have been assured, has addressed reverberation issues in that particular hall. The only other hall known to suffer from reverberation is the Large Gym. This is a space suitable for over a hundred dancers but in view of current number expectations we do not anticipate its use this year. Should numbers rise substantially, such that we need this Gym, we'll look into working on the reverberation issue beforehand. The guide for callers regarding hearing loss issues will be published shortly on Facebook. The whole team is keen to hear of further points anyone would like to see added. 4. Carol's Workshop Programme. Once you have booked to come, you get the chance to participate in the Programming Process! Carol Ormand has sent us a list of 9 possible workshops. Unfortunately, we only have space for six! Have a look at this page: http://www.mayheydays.org.uk/choices.html. It gives you the chance to state your preferences. Voting closes on 31 January! Mecki Testroet, Director Monty Crook, Ticketing -- Tel 01308 423 442

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Update
by Announcements for May HeyDays 20 Nov '19

20 Nov '19

Dear Festival Supporters, I'd like to give you an update on how May Heydays is doing. The good news is that we've just had our 100th + 101st bookings; so, thank you, Elizabeth and Sheila from the Cardiff area – a complimentary bottle of bubbly awaits you at May Heydays! That's over 100 dancers not counting stewards, concessions, performers and other helpers (like the committee). This number is 60% higher than the number of bookings we had at the same time last year; it’s just lovely that you have booked so early and especially gratifying that over 25% of bookings are newcomers. We can all discover the delights of Evesham and the De Montfort School together! The current main points of interest are: We still meet dancers who haven't heard that the 2020 May bank holiday date was moved from Monday 4th to Friday 8th in 2020. That is the only reason we will have to stop on Sunday evening. We look forward to going back to a full bank holiday weekend in 2021. Preparations are going well. One good bit of ‘news for campers’: if you have a dog you would like to bring along, you can. Naturally, they have to be kept under control at all times and can only be walked in the designated areas (this will be made clear when you arrive). No pet dogs are allowed in the school buildings. Dance display news: we will have the Stratford Renaissance Dance group performing Sunday lunchtime; they are also leading a workshop. I have invited Black Adder Morris, a team with a vigorous and original style, to come along and entertain us. To add yet more colour, the Polish folk dance group Wieśniacy (roughly, ‘Veeshnatsa’, = Folks) has expressed an interest in performing. I'll keep you informed once we know the details. We still have vacancies for stewards. As we are a completely new team, we do not know you as well as the previous team did. So, if, for example, you are quite happy to chip in a bit of your time and help stewarding at a workshop or dance without becoming an "official steward", can you please make yourself known to Jeannie (stewards(a)mayheydays.org.uk) or me (director(a)mayheydays.org.uk). That would be really helpful. Thanks. Please help us to keep spreading the word and if you are interested and haven’t done so, do book soon. We have plenty of dance space in reserve should numbers rise above 250, which is one of the attractions of our exciting new venue. We look forward to seeing you there! Mecki Director

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