The Doc Weir Award is awarded every Eastercon.  It's an old tradition and a good one.  It's an award for unsung heroes, people who put in lots of hard work, but who are rarely in the public eye.

Although there are voting forms in every con pack, there's a very low % of people who actually vote.  The reason is very simple - unsung heroes are unsung because people don't know who they are.  It's hard for anyone who hadn't been to a load of Eastercons and been part of the convention team themselves to know who these people are.

The average member won't know the names of those who work every year to set up the art show, to run green room, to manage the gopher hole, to erect the stage lighting, to manage the accounts, to move chairs/deliver drinks/etc.  At least half the membership probably don't even think consciously about what goes on behind the scenes at all - and some first timers probably imagine it's all done by the hotel or by paid professionals.

If you don't know these people exist (and even if you do, you probably don't know their names), then how can you possibly vote for them?  Hence the low turnout.  Thus, the informal tradition of 'the fix'.  Most years, there's an informal agreement arises among the con-running circles to vote for a particular person and when the subject of Doc Weir comes up, the question usually asked is: "Who's the fix for this year?"

I got the word in the usual manner and was all set to vote, when I was approached by another fan (Jessica Yates) who isn't in the normal con-running circles and had a candidate of her own.  She asked me to vote for Smudge (a member of the tech team).  I said I was already voting for someone else, and wandered on, but several minutes later, I started thinking.  The original candidate was a great person who has done a lot for fandom,  but is also one of the visible people. They've often been up on that stage as part of the committee and have even been a fan guest of honour at an Eastercon - which is about as good as recognition and thanks get.

I know Smudge slightly - having a daughter as head of tech, it's almost inevitable that I get to know some of the regular perps.  The tech team generally arrive on Wednesday or Thursday before the con and work non-stop until about midday on Tuesday.  Some of them never go to any programme items at all.  Some of them move in other fannish circles and are thus known to the people who tend to kick-start Doc Weir nominations, but some, like Smudge and Boggis, really only do tech.  To the best of my knowledge, they've never been involved in fanzines or con-running, they just turn up every year to events like Eastercon/Redemption/Discworld and proceed to work their socks off.

So, I decided to start the 'Vote for Smudge' campaign.  Given that the original candidate would have a reasonable number of votes already, that meant I'd have to work pretty hard.  I talked to a lot of people - I'm like that.  If a job's worth doing, then it's worth doing well.  I like to think that I also did a lot to raise awareness of the Doc Weir award itself.  I became aware of two other candidates while I was campaigning - one was an excellent candidate who has been doing the newsletter for many years (and whom I wouldn't be surprised to see as a winner some year in the future) and the other was a person who hadn't really been doing the job long enough to qualify for Doc Weir (though very hard-working and talented - I'm told they were a bit embarrassed at being nominated and might have turned it down if they'd won).

In the end, we had a much higher voter turnout than normal.  Nearly 10% of the convention members voted for a candidate for the Doc Weir Award, which is really great.

In the closing ceremony, I was sitting not far behind Smudge (who was working the camera filming the stage), when the winner was announced.  It's almost always the case that a Doc Weir winner is totally surprised to win (or even to realise they'd been nominated at all) and Smudge was no exception.  Uttering the immortal words "I'll get someone for this", he went up and collected the cup.

It was one of my best moments in the whole weekend.  (Carrie spilled the beans on my campaign, so I collected a big hug later.)  Apparently he not only won, but won by a good margin.  Thank you, everyone who voted, no matter which candidate you voted for.

I took a few photos on the Tuesday, when I finally found where I'd packed my camera.  Here's what the main hall looks like at the tail end of tech cleardown.

And, here's the man so many of you voted for, so that you can know what he actually looks like:


And to end with the words that Mark read out on stage from one of the voting slips: "That tech guy who does Eastercon and Redemption and Discworld.  I think he's called Smudge."

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 Just back from Eastercon, probably a day later than most other folk.

Mine was a con of four parts.

1.  Morris

2.  LARP

3. Doc Weir

4.  Programme 

The morris, you probably anticipated:  I did the ceilidh workshop, two Border morris workshops and a longsword (which is nothing like the Scottish dance that half of you will now be visualising) workshop and all were well attended.  I was aided by an excellent group of musicians, which freed me to concentrate on teaching the dances without having to play at the same time.

People really got into the spirit of it and had a lot of fun.  It was great to see smiling faces - and the occasional laugh when the longsword groups got into a tangle.  Longsword is a bit like that - the dancers are in a linked ring and you go under and over various arches/swords without ever letting go your hands.  Turn the wrong way by mistake and you can get in a real tangle. 

Longsword is less physically demanding than morris, but a lot less  forgiving of mistakes as you can't just slip quickly back into place as you can after a mistake in morris.

I asked on Friday  if anyone would like to do a morris dance in the cabaret and got two volunteers.  Kethry and Sean (and a couple of the band) gave up a couple of hours of their time practising 'Cuckoo's Nest' with me on the fourth floor landing.  It's not the easiest of dances, as it has some tricky stepping on the chorus and a wide variety of stick moves, but they ended up giving an almost flawless performance in the cabaret and getting some enthusiastic applause from the audience.

I was absolutely delighted.  There's few so happy as a teacher whose pupils excel.

I'm looking forward to doing more dance workshops at Discworld.
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 Because it's my day for talking about folk traditions...

Here - with comments on each photo to explain what is happening - is Saddleworth Rushcart procession.

This is a modern rushcart - and the event is totally unadvertised and totally amazing.

 I took the photos last year.  I'd have gone again this year, but I'd already booked for Discworld and it clashes.

I took four short video clips - they're called Saddleworth Rushcart 1,2,3,4 if you want to view any after the first...



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 for Vera, who noticed Henry's long legs...


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 This is the only photo I've ever seen of historical North West morris garland dancers.  It's from 1910 and Whitworth Rushcart procession.
You can see the Quayside Cloggies in my icon doing a hoop/garland dance, but this photo has all male dancers (as I'd have expected historically).

I've always assumed, but with very little evidence to back it up (which is why I'm rather glad I found this photo) that hoop/garland dances were tied in with the rushcarts as the churches were often decorated with garlands when the new rushes were laid on the floor.

It's rare now to see male dancers doing a hoop dance.






The guys in small skirts at the front are the Coconut Dancers - a dance that is, amazingly, still performed in the same costume today.
The Coconut dancers are  one of the many interesting quirks of morris history and no one is quite sure where the tradition came from, but it's a Lancashire dance just like North West Morris.



They have small wooden discs on their hands and knees, which is the sound you're hearing when they pass their hands over their knees.

Notice, that like all good Lancashire traditional dancers, they're wearing clogs.

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 It is possible that I may have mentioned Earlsdon Morris before - if I haven't, then I should have.

Quite simply, they are the best North West Morris side in the country (well, of those that I've seen, but I've seen quite a lot)

They have the big advantage of having young male dancers performing in North West morris's home territory of Lancashire.  I saw them when I went to Saddleworth Rushcart and they totally lived up to my expectations.

I dance North West with Quayside Cloggies (see icon).  I know good dancing when I see it.  Cloggies are good.  Earlsdon are better.

Here's a trailer for the new Earlsdon DVD:


IF one of my family buys it NOW (big hint) then it will be ready and waiting for my birthday.



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 Anonymous Morris dancing Tinner's Rabbits this afternoon.



The origin of the dance name is in the Three Hares symbol.

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 Having the Queen's Jubilee this June is resulting in an unprecedented demand for morris dancers.

I've had two enquires today alone.  We've already turned down one that clashed with a folk festival, but I'm hoping we can make some of the other ones.  It's an excellent opportunity to raise some money to cover our hall rent for next year.

The other seriously busy period is around May day.  We've three bookings that week.
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 Via <lj user=elisi> John Barrowman wonderfully sending up himself.


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 Spent most of the day in the Red Cross.  Started the day with two bays of books, ended the day with three bays and a window display.  Wish I'd had time to take some photos for you.

I expanded the fiction from one bay to 1 2/3 bays and added an extra shelf of non-fiction.

The window display is mostly nostglia children's books (thanks to the LJ friend who suggested that).

Any Gerry Anderson fans interested in a £7 copy of the Torchy Gift Book?  (In surprisingly good condition, with postage at cost.)

The shop manager is good.  Doesn't micromanage.  Let me get on with the job and said 'yes' when I had to grab shelves from other parts of the shop.

Culled fiction that was past its date.  Added an awful lot of new fiction (raiding the back stock for the ones in the best condition.)  Sorted it all into alphabetical order.

Didn't have time to cull and restock the non-fiction, apart from adding the nostalgia children's books.  (Yes, I know they count as fiction in one sense, but they're 'retro' so they go on the non-fiction shelves along with the other old books.)

I've got over 100 old copies of Look and Learn magazines (issue numbers around 1000) and am still trying to figure the best way to display those.  Unfortunately, one of the boxes was on the floor and there's some damp crept into it.  Not too bad, but I'd like to dry them out if I can figure a way to do it.  Most of the copies are fine, and in very good condition.

Back again on Friday...
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