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THE FLUFFIES
What, some of you may ask, were the Fluffies? What you should ask is
who were the Fluffies as over the years that they were active, many members
took part.
The story goes back to 1982 when the Club lost one of its key members, Stan Gee. Stan was a figurehead of the Club and also active in folk music and dance so after he died, when his wake was being planned, we decided to set up a "Fluffy" team of so-called Morris dancers, like the cheer-leaders in America.
The team decided on some music (provided by Geordie) and got Liz to devise and develop a dance which was simple enough for us to follow, even if not entirely sober, but still interesting to the onlookers. The end result was performed at several places and the helmets, skirts and shakers still exist. The first performance at Poynton involved crepe paper skirts (which got ripped off at the end of the dance by a sex-mad audience) and newspaper shakers. By the time we went to Chapel-en-le-Frith (photograph above) we had dyed mop heads as shakers but for the last performances we had the proper things as you will see on the video.
In its most recent incarnation, the team has used the Sousa music 'Washington Bell' and entertained the Dales and Matienzo at loud volume (thanks to Tony).
Enjoy the page!
Fluffies appearances
Poynton Folk Club - 1982
Kinder (Stan's ashes being deposited) - 1983
Buxton Carnival -
Ashbourne Carnival - 1985
Chapel-en-le-Frith School fete - June 1986
Pindale Cavers's Fair - 1993
Matienzo celebrations at Dalesbridge - 2010
Matienzo 50th anniversary fiesta - 2010
Fluffies - the video
This video was made at the cavers' fair in Pindale and includes footage of events at the fair before the Fluffies come on in the evening. See if you can spot who was there.
Now we have the 2010 video too.
Fluffies - the team
There were eight members in the team but many people took part over the years. In the list below, people marked $ were the original members, * indicates a leader at some time or other and ! indicates a mascot.
|
Granville Shillito $ * Len Gee (two left feet) $ Phil Boardman $ Chris Freer $ Barry Davies $ Nigel Dibben $ * John New $ Steve Mills $ Geoff Dale Street $ Jid Jordan $ Frank Brown $ ! |
Alan (Todge) Burgess Alan Gamble Jerry Brookes Nick Smith Sheryl Stubbs ! Mark Davison ! Allan Berry Paul Stubbs * Bill Booth Howard Taylor Pete Clewes |
Anthony Boardman Tony Brocklebank Steve Martin Mike Tomlinson Andy Brown Kieran Rooney Tom Howard John Dickinson Phil Papard Liz Taylor * Arthur Quin ! |
and supporters: Vera Glen, Ethel Burton, Sue Morton, and others not forgetting our choreographer and instructor Liz Taylor.