Christmas carolling
As we head into the Christmas break, St Albans Morris celebrated the season with an evening of carolling at the White Hart Tap.
Our practice season resumes in January, following our traditional Plough Monday meal at the Lower Red Lion.
Merry Christmas to all!
St Albans Mummers
Christmas is fast approaching and some of our dancers will soon be found around the locales of St Albans, performing the traditional mummers play of St George and the Dragon.
The Mummers first appeared in St Albans over fifty years ago when a group of friends, mainly members of St Albans Morris Men, decided to put on a play every Boxing Day. They chose a play which had been modified from an earlier text by “Neggy” Wilson, a schoolmaster in the Hertfordshire village of Croxley Green, about fifty years before.
The Mummers have become a major feature of Christmas in St Albans, raising money for local charities. You can find out more about the St Albans Mummers by visiting their website, or you can download their leaflet to find our where to join them this Boxing Day.
Croxley Mummers
When not dancing, some of St Albans Morris may be found ‘mummering’.
Chris Hillier, 3rd from left, as Father Christmas with the Croxley Mummers.
The custom of ‘Mummering’ or The Mummers’ Play has a long tradition over several centuries and the story line can take many forms. The play itself is loosely based around the hero, St George.
The play performed by the Croxley Mummers originated shortly after the First World War when Neggy Wilson, headmaster of Croxley Boys’ School, decided to gather together a Mummers’ Troupe in Croxley Green. He created a version of the play from accounts of those used around the country and this was the version performed until the mid-1950s.
In 1994, a group of friends meeting in a Croxley pub revived the play, with St Albans Morris’ Nigel Moorcroft the original St George and our treasurer, Chris Hillier playing Father Christmas.
It soon became the tradition for this imaginative group to be asked to perform the play yearly on Christmas. The Croxley Mummers raise money for local charitable works, including the Watford Peace Hospice and to date, in this, the 25th year of the revival of the original play, they have raised over £7500.
This year, you can see the play performed around Croxley Green on 23rd December.