Sometimes things don't go entirely to plan, but they often work out just fine in the end. We arrived at the Calleva Arms to find that they'd forgot we were coming, which meant there were a few parked cars around the area where we normally dance, but we still had enough space to do our thing.

A crowd of pub-goers spilled out into the garden to watch the first dances, and one lady asked if she could take a video and put it on social media. Of course, and thank you! The Basingclog Dinosaurs featured in that video, showing off as usual. We were delighted to see two of our former dancers, Hazel (our longest-serving dancer who was also our caller for many years) and Jill (drummer as well as dancer). They retired from dancing last year, and their last dance out with us was at the Calleva Arms, so they they joined us for the anniversary. We hadn't brought the drum, but Hazel jumped into action with a stick and an empty beer keg to beat the time at the end of our final dance of the evening.

We were joined by Theale Tattoo, a step clog team who never fail to impress. We don't know how they can remember their complicated routines, and they always do it with smiles on their faces. Of course, anyone would be smiling if they were listening to the calibre of musician Theale have playing for them.

This was our last pub evening before our August break. Various holidays are planned, visits to the seaside, working in the allotment, a spot of DIY, and one round of jury service, before we reconvene in September for a few more performances and the start of practice season. Keep an eye on our calendar to see what's going on.

Victory Morris invited us to their annual day of dance in Portsmouth, along with many sides from around the region. This is always an exciting and busy day, with carefully organised dance spots around old Portsmouth and Gosport.  We started with a spot under some shade trees at the entrance to the Historic Dockyard, with a good-sized audience of tourists coming in and out of the historic area. That was the last shade we saw on what turned out to be a very hot day.

Our next spots were in Gosport, and we all made a run for the ferry. Packed onto the boat, different groups managed a couple of dances on the lower deck and some tunes on the upper deck during the short journey. In Gosport, we danced in front of St Mary's Church and entertained the punters at the market on the High Street, then took a break for lunch and some liquid refreshment.

Basingclog finished the afternoon with a long spot in front of the Spice Island pub along with Hook Eagle Morris and Mafeking Border Morris - two groups wearing long-sleeved black clothing that had to be baking in the heat. One dancer said it was like standing on top of a storage heater. But the crowds were supremely cheery, the pub was welcoming, and there was a lovely sea breeze to keep us all going.

A few hardy souls stayed on for music and singing sessions at the Barley Mow in Old Portsmouth - a delightful watering hole with a great selection of real ales and ciders. Many thanks to our hosts, Victory Morris!

A few photos below, but you can find more in the gallery and on facebook.

We usually dance at a single venue on our pub evenings, but Winchester Morris Men start at one and finish at another, and we were their guests this Wednesday. We started at the Abbot's Mitre in Chilbolton, where a big crowd awaited us in the pub garden, and we took turns dancing. Winchester are a Cotswold side, and their dances (although energetic) don't take quite as long as ours. They kindly did two dances to our one throughout the evening, and as we had only six dancers we were most grateful for that consideration. The audience cheered the dancers, and Winchester found a couple of people to sing happy birthday to.

After our spot at the Abbot's Mitre was finished and we were packing up to move to the next pub, we were approached by a local journalist, the editor of the Chilbolton News, with questions about our clogs, our hats and our style of dancing, so different to that of the local side. He did a very nice write up about the evening with some great photos, which you can check out at Morris Men at the Mitre - chilbolton.news

Following that delightful chat, we drove on to the Swan at Barton Stacey, where we found another captive audience in their lively garden. The sunshine and heat were easing off by that time, and we danced and played for an hour or more before calling it a day and moving inside the pub for a session. As well as having a very good band, Winchester Morris Men are great singers and we always enjoy singing and playing music with them on our evenings out. 

The sun was shining brightly on Sunday when we arrived at Oak Lodge Care Home in Oakley for their summer fete. A hog roast and ice cream stand had been set up on the front lawn, with residents and visitors picnicking in shady spots, and a group of residents were seated in a garden room with biscuits and glasses of Pimm's, waiting for the dancing to begin. A space had been cleared on the patio for us to perform (under a shady awning, for which we were very grateful), with the residents watching from just inside the double doors.

We did a 35-minute set of dances interspersed with lively tunes from the band, to much applause. One lady and her visiting family (four generations including an adorably chubby baby) had nabbed some shaded seats on the patio and had the best view of the dancers. One of them kindly took our group photo at the end of our set.

After the performance and lots of pictures, Oak Lodge kindly offered us ice cream and plates of hog roast.

Alton Morris celebrated their 35^th anniversary with a day of dance in Alton on 4 July, inviting many Morris sides from around the region. We started off in the Public Gardens, where each side had a chance to do a show dance (ours was Milnrow for 8, a fun dance which gave nearly everyone a chance to perform), and we stopped for a group photo before dispersing to various dance spots around the town.

Our first spot was next to the craft market, where we took some time to browse the stalls full of pretty stationery, pottery and clothing. Then it was time for a lunch break (there are some lovely places to eat in town, shout out to the Hideout Cafe) before we moved up to the Assembly Rooms next door to the museum. We had two spots there – the first with Hook Eagle and the second with Sarum Morris. It was a hot day, but there were always a few people stopping to watch each dance and ask questions about the music and the traditions. We always like it when people stop for a chat.

Many thanks to Alton for a lovely day out!

This is one of our favourite events of the year: a massive Morris party hosted by two local sides. We were based at the rugby club in Towcester, camping on the field, and after a late-night music session on the Friday night, we got kitted up on Saturday morning and boarded coaches for tours of pubs and special sites around the area. We were on a tour with Queen's Oak and a number of really good sides - Old Speckled Hen, Phoenix, Lady Bay, Jackstraws and others.

Saturday's tour started at the Braunston Marina, which was having a narrowboat rally, so it was full of excited people, beautiful boats, and stalls selling nifty trinkets, tools, books and artwork. We followed that with three lovely pubs, each side taking turns dancing at each spot. The standard of dancing and music was really high, and we were delighted to be out with such a great crowd. We've danced with Old Speckled Hen before, of course, and we took the opportunity to do a joint Nine Man, combining our bands for a really cracking sound.

Hot and tired, we rolled back into the rugby club car park in the late afternoon. Our hosts arranged a slap-up meal in the evening, followed by a ceilidh with the amazing Oakstone Trio. We were still in the heatwave, so the ceilidh was moved outside onto the patio. We finished dancing as the heatwave finally broke with a brief fall of rain and a gentle breeze, just in time for the football fans to go into the rugby club and watch England beat Panama in the World Cup, and a music session continued late into the night.

Morris dancing continued on Sunday afternoon at the Boat Inn in Stoke Bruerne, but unfortunately some of our dancers had to go home and we didn't have a full side. Old Speckled Hen kindly invited two of Basingclog to join them in one of their dances, and our surviving musicians got to play along in a joint Celebration near the end of the afternoon.

All in all, it was an amazing weekend, and we stand in awe of the organisational abilities of the host sides. Many thanks to Queen's Oak and Rose & Castle for inviting us!

Sadly, the heatwave was even worse on Wednesday, and it was too hot to dance safely. The picnic at Odiham Castle was cancelled.

It's hot again – so hot! When we started dancing Tuesday evening at the Coach and Horses in Rotherwick, it was around 29 C with a very welcome light breeze.

We had bunch of enthusiastic people sitting outside the pub, watching the dancing and calling encouragement from the shade, and a good turnout from both sides despite the weather. We took it easy with the dancing, working in plenty of breaks for hydration and chatting. One of our musicians brought his dog with him, and she was delighted with all the attention she got throughout the evening. A large tractor with some farm machinery pulled up outside the pub early in the evening, providing a small amount of shade for the dancers, and we resisted the urge to break into a few verses of 'The Combine Harvester.'

If we have a good-sized audience, we like to end with our joining in dance, which is a lot of fun whether people get it right or wrong. Before everyone moved inside the pub to watch the World Cup, several brave folks decided to give the dancing a try. We thought it went quite well, and there were certainly a lot of laughs.

Change of month, change of weather - June has arrived and we're back to rain and chilly evenings. Honestly, it's a relief not to be hot and sweaty, although we did have a little trouble settling on the best spot to dance at Longbridge Mill. The patio would have been ideal on a dry afternoon, but after a wet day it felt less like dancing and more like skating. So we moved dancers and audience closer to the car park and danced on the tarmac - a longer hike to the bar, but no injuries.

We haven't danced with Borderline for a while, but we really should get together with them more often - they're a lovely bunch of people and a lot of fun to hang out with. We traded dances back and forth until the sun went down and the breeze took on more of a bite, then we all headed home. There was time for a lovely group photo before we all scattered.