Glenn Osborne was a founder member of the side in 1967 and stayed with the side until 1973(?) when work commitments carried him too far from Gtimsby to commute to practice. He rejoined the side in 2007(?) and soon after took on the role of fool. This mainly took the form of skilfully getting in the way of the dancers and hitting members of the side or audience with an inflated pig's bladder. Everybody needs a hobby.
| Steve Fuller : | Well, here we are sitting in a nice warm pub with a beer in front of us on the 30th of November, 2017. And, uh, I'm Steve Fuller. I'm currently the foreman of Grimsby Morris Men. I'm with, uh, Glenn Osborne, currently team fool and one time founder member of Grimsby Morris Men. So good evening, Glenn. |
| Glenn Osborne : | Good evening. Yes. |
| Steve Fuller : | Now, let me start by asking you how it was you came to be involved in the f- first days of Grimsby Morris, and how that then developed into a, the team that it's become. |
| Glenn Osborne : | 1966, me father-in-law, Stan Compton, and Catherine were at Sidmouth, and they came back and they said, uh, they'd been watching Morris dancing and this, that, and the other. And in about 1967, G- Grimsby Folk Club, they said, "Well, why don't we have a folk- why don't we have a Morris side?" And it, it went from there. Um, John Connelly and Bill Meek, um, were involved. John started dancing and then decided musicianship was better. Um, Sue Cave was the, um, our musician at one stage. And the f- two dances we did originally were, um, Shepherd's Hey Atterbury and Lazarus Bunch Atterbury. Um, we couldn't get the Hey right at all, so we've missed that out totally. Um, Sue Cave didn't like the tune, so she changed the tune to Lazarus Bunchum, and, um, we went from there. The original side with our first ceilidh on thing was, um, me, Stan Compton, Mike Lee, Alan Ferrier, John Ide, and Frank Singleton. And Brian Dawson and John Connelly were the musicians for that. And that was about the December 21st, 1967. Um, and, uh, that's it. The, um, Morris at that time was a bit in the decline, and there was Mike Lee was very enthusiastic about keeping the tradition alive. Although he was a bit scared because he was a solicitor for Wootton Chapman, and he had lots of, uh, little old ladies on his, uh, were his clients who took a fairly dim view of people dressing up in strange clothes and leaping about- |
| Steve Fuller : | (laughs) |
| Glenn Osborne : | (laughs) And going whoops. |
| Steve Fuller : | No change. |
| Glenn Osborne : | So that's, that's me and my origins, if you like, of, um, of, uh, Morris. We went from there. Uh, we started sort of going out and doing things at, uh, we danced at, um, Cleethorpes Folk Festival, and that was 1969, our first, it was the first, first festival. Um, and that was good. We had a, a good time. |
| Steve Fuller : | So where, where did you get the dances from? 'Cause in those days there'd 've been very few books in print, and there was certainly no videos. So h- how did you learn your dances? |
| Glenn Osborne : | The, there was the, the, the Morris book that was in Grimsby Library. |
| Steve Fuller : | Oh, right. |
| Glenn Osborne : | Um, and it was the, the composite version of, um, four or five EFDSS books that were compiled by Cecil Sharp. |
| Steve Fuller : | Yeah |
| Glenn Osborne : | And, uh, um, it was, that was put on the rejected list for some reason. And, um, mother-in-law got it, Catherine Compton, she got it, and I've got it now at, at home. And that's how, that's where we got the, the dances from originally. |
| Steve Fuller : | Oh. |
| Glenn Osborne : | But as I say, we couldn't make head nor tail of the Hey. |
| Steve Fuller : | [laughs] |
| Glenn Osborne : | [laughs] |
| Steve Fuller : | So your involvement then started really through the folk song club? |
| Glenn Osborne : | Yes |
| Steve Fuller : | Okay. So amongst those early memories, what are the particular ones that you look back on with, with the most affection? |
| Glenn Osborne : | Oh, the, the festivals mainly. Um, we went up to, we w- we were always at Cleethorpes Festival. We went up to, um, Hutton, Rudby, which was a forerunner of Redcar Folk Festival, and we danced at Redcar Folk Festival, and that was good. Mike Harding was, what was third on the bill? There was Martin Winn and Reed was top of the bill, then The Yetis, then Mike Harding with Len Garbutt. Um, and th- we danced there, and that was, um, uh ... We were camping on, on the racecourse. Um, it was good. But, um, um, at the Sidmouth, we went down, um, Sidmouth 1967. At the Morris workshops there, at the end of the week we decided to have a, there was always a, a silly night. The last night was a silly night. So we did the fish slapping dance with dabs. |
| Steve Fuller : | [laughs] |
| Glenn Osborne : | And we did a sort of version of Shepherd's Hey Atterbury with dabs instead of handkerchiefs. Um, and these dabs are slippy and slippery as all hell. Clap, clap, clap. Whoa. Sam, who was dancing fool then, managed to get a cod's head. |
| Steve Fuller : | [laughs] |
| Glenn Osborne : | And where the hell he got this, it was a monstrous cod's head about this, about a foot round and big, on the end of a stick. And one young lass in the front row got that in her lap. |
| Steve Fuller : | [laughs] |
| Glenn Osborne : | Really the, the high spots are we danced at Wath. Good time there. Things get too, too mixed up really to remember specific, specific events. I know the, the, the dance we learned at, at Sidmouth with Hugh Ripon, the first time I came into contact with Mor- with Morris, was, were the Tree Bracknell. And, uh, he taught us an awful lot, and he, w- the enth- the enthusiasm rubbed off. |
| Steve Fuller : | Yeah. |
| Glenn Osborne : | And it was good. Good. He, very much an enthusiast. So, um- That's it really in, in that respect. There was, there was a letter in the Anglian Times, strangely enough, about our fish slapping dance. 'Cause Monty Python got a grip of that. But there was a letter in the Anglian Times, um, that one of me policy holders, I was working as an insurance agent, one of me policy holders said, "Dear you dancing Morris thing, what's this?" And there was a letter in there, quite serious, asking for the, uh, the, the origins of the fish slapping dance. |
| Steve Fuller : | [laughs] |
| Glenn Osborne : | So- |
| Steve Fuller : | That's where Michael Palin got it from then. |
| Glenn Osborne : | Yes, probably. Yeah. But we never got any rec- recognition for that at all. |
| Steve Fuller : | Yeah, well, no. |
| Glenn Osborne : | No. |
| Steve Fuller : | Life's like that sometimes |
| Glenn Osborne : | Yes. |
| Steve Fuller : | Now, and- |
| Glenn Osborne : | Such is the price of fame |
| Steve Fuller : | From my point of view, this'll be the last question, but, uh, we can always have some more on. |
| Glenn Osborne : | Hmm. |
| Steve Fuller : | Um, you obviously danced now off and on for 50 years. |
| Glenn Osborne : | Hmm. |
| Steve Fuller : | Why, why'd you return to it, and why do you keep doing it? |
| Glenn Osborne : | It was our 25th anniversary, 25th anniversary, and I can't remember whether it was Martin or, or whoever else was trying to get the, as, as close to the or- orig- original side as possible to dance. Or the, uh, silver w- silver, silver wedding. Uh, the silver anniversary. And, um, after that, um, I was press-ganged into, um, I think, I think certain persons here present, mention no names but he's a squire at the minute, um, plied me with a drink and got me drunk and made me- |
| Steve Fuller : | Ah, sure enough |
| Glenn Osborne : | ... agree to, um, come- |
| Steve Fuller : | Get up |
| Glenn Osborne : | ... and join the plow play. So I did, and then from there on, we, the enthusiasm came back, and I was starting to dance again. Um, now I don't do as much dancing as wandering around and chatting and, uh, collecting money and trying to tell people what Morris is all about. |
| Steve Fuller : | Networking. |
| Glenn Osborne : | Sorry? |
| Steve Fuller : | Networking. |
| Glenn Osborne : | Yes, networking. |
| Steve Fuller : | Very good. |
| Glenn Osborne : | And that's it really. The, um, uh, I carry on because I like it. I love the camaraderie between the, in the Morris side and throughout the Morris world actually. Um, it's, um, phenomenal. You get two people together who are Morris dancers, and invariably you've got a common bond. Um, and it's, and it's literally- |
| Steve Fuller : | And drink |
| Glenn Osborne : | ... far bet- far better than the buffaloes or the masons. |
| Steve Fuller : | [laughs] |
| Glenn Osborne : | I think it is anyway. |
| Steve Fuller : | Yeah. |
| Glenn Osborne : | And you don't have to roll your left trouser leg up. |
| Steve Fuller : | [laughs] |
| Glenn Osborne : | Not all at once anyway. [laughs] |
| Steve Fuller : | Both, both of them. Well, thank you very much, uh, Glen-. |
| Glenn Osborne : | Thank you |
| Steve Fuller : | ... for sharing your thoughts and your reminiscences with us. It's a most enjoyable. Long may it continue. |
| Glenn Osborne : | Yeah |
| Steve Fuller : | Thank you. |
| Glenn Osborne : | Thank you, Steve. |