Reporter's Diary

Press, 1 April 1980, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Morris dancers DIAMOND Harbour Domain will ring to the sound of bells arid clashing sticks at Easter when 'Morris dancers from the four main centres, and possibly from Australia, will gather for ■ New Zealand’s first national Morris ' Festival. For many years, British Morris dancers have assembled .'at Sid- . mouth, in Devon, for an annual folk festival, and the Easter gathering is to be a mini-Sidmouth, according to the squire . (leader) of Erewhon Morris dancers of Christchurch (Mr Bob Crowder), who is organising the festival. On Easter Saturday, the dancers will travel from Diamond Harbour to New Brighton. v : a ferry arid an old bus* from the Ferrymead .Transport- Mu-, seum, where they will dance through the mall and encourage public nar- . ticipation. In the afternoon, :they' will entertain . the. crowds at the Ferrymead Festival, and return •to -Diamond, Harbour in .the evening,...where ..they . will camp, under canvas in . the domain. On Easter Day they will hold workshops and seminars at the domain. . Mixed dancing WHILE in Britain.' the home of Morris.’.dancing, women are barred from ..belonging to the. Morris. Ring (the traditional association of Morris. dancers)) New Zealand Morris dancrersMiave no. such .restric-

tion on their ranks. In New. Zealand, the equivalent association, the New Zealand Morris Ring, 'has both male and female members! Mr . Crowder says; In Australia, though, tradition has. been adhered to, and the - Morris. Ring there is an all-male affair. •So,:’when the Australian representatives, attend the 'festival at Diamond Har- . hour, as the local organ- . isers hope they will, they are likely,to be invited to. take part in a debate on . the controversial issue of .whether women should be allowed in the hallowed Morris Ring. • Too late THE oft-repeate'd theory, held by .musicians, actors, and singers - alike, that every audience will invariably include a lot of ■ people suffering from chronic bronchitis,- was . certainly true at the final performance of “Statements”, i at the Ngaio Marsh Theatre on Saturday evening. No sooner had the intensely dramatic play started <than several people. were ■ seized, with irrepressible coughing fits. One such person, a woman sitting in the back row. coughed, on and off, right through the performance until, finally, she was . heard to ' whisper to her neighbour, '“I 'thinkwrFd better go and get a glass .Of water.” At that '.verv ■moment, the ■ actors - took their curtain call and the house lights went on. -c-- ’-

Rudest noise ORGANISERS of the Royal Easter Show have banned the “rudest noise” ■in the history of the giant.. Sydney event. The noise,something of a cross between a flatulent elephant and 'an out-of-tune euphonium, has been , deafening visitors and .scaring the animals 1 since the showbegan on Friday. The noise is made by a plastic trumpet sold by stall holders for between $2 and $3. , It proved too. much. The Royal Agriculture Society, marketing manager (Mr Keith ’ Lewis) said: “We - could not stand it any more. It was horrible. The thing made its appearance at the Moomba Festival in Melbourne recently and has been driving everyone crazy since.; So we decided that public sanity was more important than money and' banned it.” ' But ’ Mr Lewis’s pronouncement fell on deaf ears. The. next day, three stall-holders were still selling.the trumpet and-were doing a roaring trade. ’ * ’ ’ ‘ Pied Piper HUNDREDS of pre-school children are expected to turn .out at noon on April 16 to follow the Pied Piper from the Bridge of Remembrance to Cathedral Square. ' The Canterbury Playcentres’ • Association will recreate the fable of the Pied Piper as the highlight of its publicity week — but thepchildren will not be..led into the side, of a mountain and 'never seen again, as, in the legend. .Instead the Pied, Piner, playing his flute, • will lead the .'.procession

along Cashel Street and Colombo Street into Cathedral Square, in time for them to take part in the “junk play.” programme — a collection of boxes, cardboard; pegs, and. other “junk”, organised by the association for the children to play with.

t,Language laughs BORDERLINE illiteracy affects all levels ;of . society, . according to “Literacy Di- . gest,” the journal of the : United States Reading Reform Foundation. “He’s a Don Coyote” is just one classic from an American ■ journalist’s two-year study of the language of American Government officials. Others include: “It warms the coggles of my heart”; ' “They treated him as if he had the' Blue Bonnet plague"; and “Let’s leave it to prosperity”. Insur- ■ ance company policy holders' have also put in- some memorable claims. Their ailments have, included - “very course veins,” “yel- ! low- jonders,” “a broken colour bone,” “damaged knowse,” and “flea-bitus.” ; Short tenure/ ' WHEN Mr Justice Savage was sworn in as a judge ' of the Supreme. Court in Wellington last Friday, it • was for the shortest tenure in the history. of the . Supreme Court in New Zealand — four days. Today the Supreme Court changes its name to the High Court, and so all SuCourtjudges -become High Court judges.,