Holbeck Moor Mummers in 1963
Impromtu moment!
In come I, Old Father Christmas,
Welcome or welcome not,
Sometimes cold and sometimes hot.
I hope Old Father Christmas will never be forgot.
But room! room! for the Noble Captain I spy,
And the sound of zimmer frames draws nigh!
Holbeck Moor Mummers
by Brian Senior
Revived in 1962, and still going strong after over 40 Years of Holbeck Moor Mummers performing at The Grove Inn, it‘s difficult to say who actually came up with the idea.
It all began when we were doing some research relating to the song ‘The Holbeck Moor Cockfight’ and to see if we could find where the cockpit had been situated.In the old Leeds Mercury there was a brief mention of Mummers in the Holbeck district.
Brian had seen some Mummers perform at Cecil Sharp House in London. He found a couple of scripts in the library and a play was put together to last not more than 12 to 15 minutes. This was so we could go to as many pubs as possible in one night.
First performance - breath-alysed!
The first performance was at the Smiths Arms in Wakefield in December 1962 after the rehearsals took place at the Grove Inn.
We collected as much money as possible to spend on ale, the traditional custom; but this all stopped with the 1967 Road Safety Act which brought in the breathalyser!
Since then we have given all the money to charity.
An ‘Irish’ Turkish Knight
At Manchester University Folk Club the company was short of a Turkish Knight. The main guest, the legendary traditional Irish singer Packie Byrne volunteered.
The script was hastily written out and pinned to the back of his shield. Packie brought the house down with his Donegal Irish version of The Turkish knight.
Fearsome fight
One Christmas in 1973 when during a particularly fearsome fight the Gallant Soldier‘s sword broke in half, it flew across the room and hit some poor innocent female on the face. Pausing only to pick up a napkin to stem the blood she continued to encourage him on to victory!
We were once asked to perform at the Ilkey Literary Festival and after the first performance a gentleman came up and said he was J.B.Priestley and could he buy us all a beer and go round with us for the rest of the afternoon helping to collect money!
Last Christmas the Mummers only managed to get out on six occasions but still managed to collect over £350 for St Gemma‘s Hospice in Leeds. One year some wag picked up a copy of the script and rewrote the first few lines:
In come I, Old Father Christmas,
Welcome or welcome not,
Sometimes cold and sometimes hot.
I hope Old Father Christmas will never be forgot.
But room! room! for the Noble Captain I spy,
And the sound of zimmer frames draws nigh!
Long may they continue.
Find out more on www.folkplay.info/Forum
Brian Senior, 2005