I still don’t know what it was all about!  But that’s not the point!  At 10 a.m. on 10th February, I turned up in St. George’s Street, in company with other faithful foot soldiers, to tune my bells and wet my whistle at the Playhouse Bar.  Snap the Younger  (The Civic Dragon) was there and a Whiffler or two.

Eventually, whistles slightly wetter and bells tuned to the key of B flat, we made a sharpish entry onto the dancing surface outside.  After bouncing around a bit in time with the music, waving hankies and belabouring each other with short and slightly longer sticks we packed in. Duty done we headed towards the Forum.

On the way some found their whistles dry-ish once again and went to check that the Vine still sold beer! Find out that it did, they stayed a while to celebrate before  rejoining the group later. By which time the advance guard were in full cry in company with Golden Star, King’s Men and Fiddlesticks.   It was good to catch up with old friends and find Georgia Steward  (the boy Dave’s daughter) all grown up and dancing with Golden Star.

As well as watching each other dance, and criticising what we saw, the three sides managed some mass Morris in front of a broadly appreciative crowd.  Although truth to tell we weren’t all that bothered whether they like it or not!

Alas it was over all too soon! (Irony!)  Whistle Wetting time was upon us once more! So we went by way of the Bell to our next stand at the Castle Museum.

Some of the side visited Snap the Elder and Co  (the former Civic Dragons) hung up in the Castle Keep. Others lingered in the Bell. Refreshed and united the side danced in the Rotunda. The space was quite limited and we danced close to some of the audience and others looked down from the mezzanine floor above. The acoustics were great! And levels of interest among the watchers high.

We all agreed it to be a great place to dance in the winter!

Dancing over, a procession gathered outside to be led by the Minehead Sailors’ Hobby Hos’ (which doesn’t look like a horse at all)  The hos’ was led by people with musical instruments making a lot of noise. “Things like this,” one sage observer noted, “give folk music a bad name!” 

Ever the gentleman,  Snap the Younger,  with Whifflers and Standard Bearers in attendance,  pushed his way to the front!  Well it was meant to be a Dragon Festival!  And the Minehead Hos’ looked less like a dragon than horse! In fact, it looks more like a boat made out of sacking which doesn’t explain why it was at the Dragon Festival in the first place! But as I said, “ I still don’t know what it was all about!”

In the end, honour restored to our friend Snap, the procession set off and Kemp’s Men took themselves off to other things! - Richard

More photos in the 2011 album.