History
This event was previously called the Folk Group Easter Meet.
It was first held in Kings Stanley (Gloucestershire) in 1963, and as the Folk Group had only recently formed at the end of 1962, the numbers were small and it was held as a joint meet between the Folk Group and the North London and East Herts DA. 42 people camped in a farm field, and all activities were held in the bar of the King’s Head pub and in the nearby village hall.
The Easter Meet for 1964 was also held in Kings Stanley and numbers were not much higher. But by 1965 a number of articles written by Bob Whitlock (Folk Group Founder and Chairman) had been published through Camping (the Camping Club magazine), and the appeal of “Easter in the Cotswolds” was gaining ground. Due to the size of the hall, the venue was moved to Blockley.
When the Easter Meet opened in 1965 the response was tremendous as 340 people arrived, but so did the weather! On the first night there was a massive blizzard, and the wind, snow and bitter temperatures drove some people to pack up and go home the next morning. To quote Bob Whitlock, “it was almost merciful that the snow fell that first night, as far too many people had arrived than could be accommodated!” But 300 people still remained and spent the weekend enjoying the activities, with singers taking over The Bell and dancers taking over the village hall. Bob led morris, mummers and dance workshops, and the dancers took their new skills out to busk in the streets.
In the following years to 1967 the Easter Meet was again held in Blockley, with the number of people growing each year. Activities were still broadly the same although there was more emphasis on dance displays and busking, even including tours around the surrounding villages. A key part of the weekend was always the Folk Group attending the Church Service on Easter Sunday, followed by a dance display outside the church.
After Blockley there was a significant break due to the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease, with all national meets cancelled to prevent the spread of the disease, so the next Easter Meet was not held until in 1972 at Towersey in Oxfordshire.
The early Easter Meets were less formal and structured, with limited dance workshops for the adults, some activities for the children, a visit to the local pub at lunchtime for a singaround, and a dance in the hall in the evening. Children growing up in the late 70s and early 80s have memories of craft activities such as making Easter Bonnets, learning calligraphy and painting eggs.
Workshop sessions as we recognise them now didn’t really feature until the late 80s, and the daily programmes were very relaxed. Activities included making corn dollies and basket weaving, and beginner instrument sessions. The main focus was on meeting up with friends and enjoying the weekend. and having a really good dance in the evening.
As time went on the Easter Meets grew in size. In the 60s we would get 300 people, but by the early 90s we were accommodating over 400 units, so bigger sites were needed and more entertainment and activities were included. The size of halls available to us meant that the evening dance had to be split over several venues, and at the height of this period it was not unusual for there to be a choice of 28 workshops in each of 4 sessions per day, with 3 dances of different genres each evening.
Organisation of Easter Meets was rotated through the individual Areas of the Folk Group, so each year a different Area would take on the task of finding a venue, then organising and running the full meet.
Through the early 2000s we hit several more issues with running the Easter Meet. Foot and Mouth Disease returned in 2001, and two other Meets were cancelled due to weather conditions. It also became steadily getting more difficult for individual Folk Group Areas to take on all the organisation and to find suitable venues, so we have now settled on a limited number of venues, with each Meet organised and run centrally by the national Folk Group.
The Easter Meet, now know as the Spring Festival, has changed over the years from the early days of being concentrated in the village, to the height of the 90s with our large Easter Meets where every second is occupied. However one thing has stayed the same: it is organised by our members and run completely by volunteers.
All workshops and activities are provided on a voluntary basis by our members who want to share their talents and the love of their hobbies. We always put on a great weekend of activities, both organised and impromptu, with the aim of spreading our love of folk music, folk dancing, singing and crafts to others.