Hello Ravens,
We're thinking about our 10th birthday celebration! Right now, we're in the
early planning stages and we need YOU to help us decide what to do.
There are two options -
1. An away weekend. A mini holiday with dancing, drinking and perhaps a bit
of sightseeing. Would involve travel and hotels - there will be costs with
this plan.
2. A London weekend with another team. Day or evening crawl, with a
meal/social and perhaps breakfast the next day. This will probably be
cheaper.
Bear in mind that we will be having a weekend away with Whip The Cat at
some point this year.
PLEASE FILL IN THE GOOGLE SURVEY HERE BY 2ND MAY!
<https://forms.gle/s4wMsX9y7g6r2UcZ7>
Thanks everyone!
Party Planners
Hi everyone,
I meant to mention this at the egm and totally forgot!
Simon Vaughan is very keen to have ravens dance at his wedding, evening June 3rd. Unfortunately he's really limited on numbers so we would need to keep it to 5 dancers, Tommy and musicians.
I'll add it to the sign up sheet and hopefully we can work out a minimal team. He'd love to just give us an open invite but is so close to capacity of his venue he can't!
Any questions, just let me know.
Becky
Sent from Samsung Mobile on O2
Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg>
Hello,
Here are the pubs for the Waterloo Piccadilly crawl -
Starting pub is tbc but likely to be either
The Three Stags
<https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Three+Stags/@51.4967488,-0.1134955,17…>
- they're a maybe
or
The Tankard - they were closed but not permanently closed, I think.
I'll ring/email tomorrow and update on the whatsapp
The Steam Engine - YES
The Pineapple - YES
The Horse & Stable - YES
Crown & Cushion - YES
The Walrus - YES
The Vaulty Towers - also tbc. They were closed for a private event. I'll
try my best to get this one tomorrow and update again.
Nearest station is actually Lambeth North (Bakerloo), but only 10 mins walk
from Waterloo East and Waterloo's Jubliee, Bakerloo and Northern lines.
We'll be aiming to be in the last pub by ten, so please listen to Emma for
drink-up and move on calls - we're gonna be really flying this time!
Ta,
R-a x
Hi everyone,
Hope you're all well and enjoying a festive break one way or another!
The new year and a new DERT will soon be upon us! So here's a spreadsheet
for you to tell me all about your rappery hopes and dreams. Please fill it
in assuming everything with COVID is fine. We will of course continue to
monitor the situation and make any changes we need to to stay safe.
There's a few sections but only a couple of questions in each so please
persevere! The answers will be really helpful for me to help you do what
you want to do :)
https://forms.gle/goiM8a6h2yavy6SQ6
1. Who are you and do you want to go to DERT
2. If yes to DERT, what do you want to do at DERT?
3. How to pick sets for DERT
4. DERT Showcase
5. Anything new you'd like to learn
6. Anything else you want to share with me
I'd also love to know if there's anything you'd like me to do differently
at practises or on crawls. There's space at the end for thoughts, but if
you'd rather share something anonymously then feel free to do so here
instead:
https://forms.gle/3LQ3bCAf5QyCQwNT6
Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
Emma
Hiya,
Here's the email with the deets for Friday.
Pubs -
PoWF - 7 for a 7.30 start. Tried to book a table but it was all very
confusing. I'll try to get there a bit earlier and get us a space. Two
dances here.
Smugglers Arms
Green Man - maybe
Albany
George and the Dragon
The Grafton Arms - check space on the day
The Jack Horner
Everyone said the pubs would be very busy, I have my doubts but we should
be prepared for that.
The nearest tube to the starting pub is Warren Street and Euston Square is
very close. Great Portland Street and Euston are fairly near and it's a
10-15 min walk from from Kings X. The last pub is not far from Goodge
Street and Tottenham Court Road.
Personally, I'll be looking up the night buses.
There's gonna be hods of us so please help timely transitions between pubs
by listening to Emma for drinking up calls and exiting quickly.
Thanks! See you all tomorrow,
R-a x
Hi Ravens,
It's that time I'm afraid, subs need to restart soon!
Because of the way the dates have worked out we need to pay for half a
month in November, and then go back to normal monthly subs in December
(paid on the first of each month).
What this means practically:
If you're on the *waged* subs you'd need to pay *£6* as a one-off payment
and then start up your *£12* standing order in December.
If you are *unwaged* it would be a *£4* one-off payment followed by *£8*
standing order.
Those who have continued paying subs throughout the last year or so do not
need to do anything! Up to halfway through November yours will be earmarked
for DART, and from then on will go back to normal raven money.
Bank details:
TOWERRAVENSRAPPER
Sort code: 40-06-21
Account number: 52567121
Please feel free to ask if you have any questions or problems with payment,
don't suffer in silence :)
Miriam
Hiya,
Here's the info for tomorrow's crawl in email form.
The Rocket - (7 for a 7.30 start) Maybe but let's start there anyway.
Somer's Town Coffee House - Yes (2 dances? If there's an audience
downstairs)
The Boot - Yes. She said it would be very busy, but we're welcome
The Harrison - Yes. Again all the tables are booked and it'll be busy
The Lucas Arms - Not keen maybe
The Queens Head - Strong Maybe
The first pub is pretty much equidistant from Euston and Kings Cross and
the last pub is closest to Kings Cross/St Pancras. Please be there and
ready to go at 7.30. (When I hear back tomorrow morning I'll try to book a
table as well)
Think that's it. Looking forward to smashing this!
R-a x
Hi Ravens,
Business emails are back! This is a bit of long one, please persevere, it's
only actually 3 points!
*1)* Please do have a look at the *Sign-up sheet*
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XHQc6j0g7HQto7rhOs6k0bfkw-XmFb8jmCeRa4…>.
In particular, please could you double check that you have made and
recorded a decision one way or the other for the *crawl/social next
Thursday (28 Oct). *
There's also now options to indicate your interest in a Christmas
crawl/social (including at least one free drink!) on 17 December (exact
date tbc), a paid event on St. Patrick's day, a possible Mabel's Day in
December and DERT in March 2022.
Please feel free to add any notes about your decisions on the sheet (i.e.
'no because not keen on pubs at Christmas, on holiday etc', or 'yes this is
a great event, would love to go', or 'maybe, I might have a work event' )
or reply to me. This would be super helpful in making decisions on
attending events in general, but not required if you'd rather just say give
a decision and leave it at that. Equally, if you have no idea what an event
will entail and therefore can't make a decision, do shout.
*2) *A small reminder that the first Monday of the month (the next one is 1
Nov) will be *'new people night'*. If anyone new is looking to join they
will come along on this night so please be prepared to be extra friendly!
Anyone new will have been made aware of Covid testing request etc.
*3) *Finally, in the interest of making the sending of these emails as easy
as possible, I've tested out a new method of distributing and you should
have received this email twice. As such, *could you please let me know if
you have not received two emails*. You may need to check your junk box and
tick 'not junk'/'add to contacts' or similar.
Hope the rest of your week is wonderful,
Tori
Hi All,
Last little bit of business email from me before I leave you in Tori's very
capable hands!
*AGM Minutes / Actions* - please read through the minutes, or at very least
the action points and send me any comments before 11th October. See email
from 2nd October
*Kit check* - please check that your skirt and sash fit in the next week.
If it doesn't (either too big or too small) please bring along to practice
on *11th October*, Hannah TD and I will see what spares there are between
us and we'll try and reshuffle as needed. If you can't make 11th and your
kit doesn't fit please let Hannah TD know so we can look at sorting out a
swap.
*Events:*
- *Chippenham - *Yesterday evening we decided that given the minimal team
that could make it and a general feeling of it would be nice for our first
dance out to involve more people, that we will decline that invite - am
sure Martin Hanley will get over it!
- Northgate have announced that *Bath Time *will not be going ahead on 30th
October
At the mo, that just leaves us with sociable crawls for the rest of the
year, but it was suggested that we could look to do a day time crawl
perhaps for ourselves. The next crawl would be 28th October, which we could
try the more chilled 3-4 pub type crawl, so please do fill in the sign-up
sheet for that - sign-up sheet link in the WhatsApp group if you lose the
link, along with the code to get in and out of the gate at practice.
That's it from me, over to Tori for next weeks instalment!
Hannah N
Hello, here's the video for the clog dance in case people have lost it :)
Ellie
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Eleanor Weston <ellie.c.weston(a)gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 18, 2019 at 5:49 PM
Subject: Fwd: Clog
To: Eleanor Weston <ellie.c.weston(a)gmail.com>
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Eleanor Weston <ellie.c.weston(a)gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Nov 26, 2018 at 11:48 PM
Subject: Clog
To: Eleanor Weston <ellie.c.weston(a)gmail.com>
Here's a video of the clog dance I was failing to teach! It's called (or
rather I call it) Ottawa waltz and makes a bit more sense with the music!
The tune is Crested Hen's but I imagine other French Canadian/French tunes
might also work.
Thanks,
Ellie
Ottawa Waltz.MOV
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XBPx2_OyLOFRQs6BTzyg-LKut9kwqqNN/view?usp=…>
Hi All,
Please find the minutes from Monday's AGM attached. Despite a year of not
dancing much we appear to have ticked quite a few things off! Action Points
summarised below... Miriam, you've managed to end up with a fair amount of
actions despite not being there! Am sure Emma H will advise though!
One thing I wasn't clear on is when we were starting clog again... perhaps
Emma H can elaborate?
If you have any comments on the minutes, please send them to me by 11th
October.
See you Monday!
Thanks,
Hannah
*New:*
- Committee to regularly, and as needed, sense check Covid situation as
to whether practice should be stopped and communicate to the team if
- Crawls - RAS/HTD to discuss casual crawl options for first crawl
- MS/EH, to acquire second card reader, and work out logistics including
whether this can be linked to multiple devices
- Clog can resume at 1900
- Switch to Morris Fed from Open Morris - MS
- Check kit fits, swaps etc to be done on 11 Oct as needed. HTD
- HTD/ER to discuss web hosting. HTD to experiment. HTD update site
asking people to contact us if they would like to join
- RAS to advise preferred option for archiving digital data. Team happy
with either
- HN to provide all kit and list of items to HTD
*Carried Forward:*
- Video and letter to Pearsons of Earsdon stepping - Revisit as
appropriate
- DoD / 100th Crawl - revisit as appropriate (HTD?)
- HN / HTD check correct amount of neckers
- Max spend on account - MS to investigate if this could be larger in
future
Hi All,
Our AGM is Monday 27th September! Please don't go to the practice hall as
we won't be there. We will be doing this via Zoom starting at 1930 sharp,
but the zoom meeting should be open before this. There were very minimal
replies for an in person element (note the doodle had 5 options some of
which may have been hidden below an advert apparently), so we shall stick
to zoom for ease.
If you are unable to make the AGM and would like to share some thoughts on
any Agenda items, please get in touch with either Becky or myself and we
will ensure these are raised on your behalf.
Updated Agenda attached, please note additional item regarding insurance
with some notes at the end to compare the Morris Fed and Open Morris.
Minutes from last years meeting are also attached, please read these to
avoid my monotone reading them out and to enable a swift ratification of
them. Rolled over Action Points are at the end of the Agenda, and we will
address these separately.
Please do consider standing for committee, role descriptions attached, and
feel free to ask any questions you may have
Thanks,
Hannah
Joint message from Hannah and Martin
We've got some difficult news we need to share. We've been a bit unsure
about the future for a while and think that after 11 glorious years of
adventuring together it's time for something new. There's no animosity
though and we expect to stay the best of friends. We plan to continue all
our usual activities and hope it won't disrupt Ravens... we'll both need
everyone's love and support.
Practical stuff: Hannah has found a new flat to live in for the time being,
subject to checks, and expects to move out around the end of the month.
It's much trickier for Martin to move the grand piano! We'll both keep
shared ownership of our flat for now.
It's going to be a difficult time ahead for both of us as we work through
this but we'll get through it!
Hi All,
Thanks for filling in the sign up sheet, think Becky got most people added
in last night thanks to her phone being more tolerant than mine! If you
have yet to sign up one way or the other for the AGM / Chippenham please do
so.
Obviously still a lot of uncertainty over Bath Time (there hasn't been an
official invite since they asked for interest expressions a little while
ago), will keep you posted...
Regarding the AGM, please find the *draft agenda* attached, let me know if
you have any items you wish to be discussed. Also attached are the minutes
from the 2020 AGM - please read ahead of 27th so we can efficiently ratify
them.
Please do consider standing for a *committee role* - the role descriptions
are attached, but feel free to ask questions if you would like to know more!
At the moment, we will most likely be doing this via zoom to enable as many
people as possible to join us, but there is the potential for a blended
version with some people in person and everyone else via zoom. I've created
a doodle please fill this in for your preferences (think only I will see
your answer with this one)...
https://doodle.com/poll/4dspxtnrbyap6b3z?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link
Either way the usual drinking can be had
Thanks,
Hannah
Hi All,
Monday was amazing! So good to see those of you who could make it and hope
to see everyone else one way or another not too long into the future.
With the return to practice comes the return to sign-up sheet reminders...
Firstly, on Monday Becky called our *AGM* - I believe it should b 3 weeks
notice, so this places us on *27th September*. More info to come soon, but
please fill in whether you could make it or not. If we can arrange to get
people in virtually as well. We would like to! So if you have a suggestion
of a venue for this please get in touch (no Wi-Fi in the church hall, and
phone signal a bit dodge)
Agenda, previous minutes etc. coming soon...
We also have a coupe of invites!
*Chippenham Festival* have invited us to a *Day of Dance on 23rd October*
in Chippenham! There will be other (ticketed) events in the evening that we
can go to as well if we would like, but note there will be no camping.
Should be just over an hour on the train from Paddington - so super easy to
get to. Not sure what the format is, but Martin Hanley (Northgate) is on
the organising committee which may help with it being rapper friendly (may
also help us get a full invite one day!). If you can fill in the sign-up
sheet asap for this, then Becky can work out what needs to be prioritised
for practice (ideally by Monday...).
*Bath Time - 30th Oct*. This is a little tentative, as I think Northgate
have had some issues finding pubs willing to commit to having many rapper
teams to descend on them at once. but just in case - it's there too...
We suggested that perhaps the last Thursday which would usually be our
crawl night that for the time being this can be a social to help get us in
the habit of thinking about that night, then when we're / pubs are ready we
can start crawling instead. These are on the sign-up sheet too, no
obligation to go to them. The first one is only a couple of days after the
AGM, so we'll see whether anyone fancies it or not nearer the time!
You might have seen there is now a gate code to get into he hall, the code
is 2570 and is in the group info on the WhatsApp (along with a link to the
sign up sheet) - thanks Hannah TD!
Link to signup sheet below, thanks to the eager beavers that have already
filled things in!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11XHQc6j0g7HQto7rhOs6k0bfkw-XmFb8jmCeRa4…
Hannah NN
Hello folks,
Next Monday (6th September) will be our first practice back in over a year, hurray! I thought a swift recap over what everyone can expect would be helpful.
Before practice
1. Please do a covid test on the Sunday night or Monday morning. We're doing this totally on trust, so don't expect photos or anything, but if you have a positive test obviously don't come. Similarly, if you're not well, please don't come along.
2. Find your shoes!
3. Remember the dance (if you dance at no.1 please think about calling):
* Jubilee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPaMZUfg2Wo
[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pPaMZUfg2Wo/maxresdefault.jpg]<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPaMZUfg2Wo>
Tower Ravens Rapper dance Jubilee at Hung Drawn and Quartered<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPaMZUfg2Wo>
Tower Ravens are London's all-female rapper sword dance team. The Jubilee dance was written by the team and comprises traditional and recently-invented figures.
www.youtube.com
*
* Westerhope This is on our facebook page but when I share it from here it puts it in...I think Punjabi? Which is a bit confusing. If someone has a good link please share!
* Picadilly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL1iVyCS--Y
[https://www.bing.com/th?id=OVP.8rCXOcbOOz_zPi4O2B2YGgEsDh&pid=Api]<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL1iVyCS--Y>
Tower Ravens Rapper - Whitby Folk Festival 2019<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL1iVyCS--Y>
Taken during the Dance Team Extravaganza on Sunday afternoon.
www.youtube.com
*
1. If you can't come, or generally aren't planning to come back for a while, please let me know.
At practice
1. We'll start at 7.30 (I'm not attempting to make our brains remember clog yet). We will start with stepping and see how we get on. There will be swords but there will be no pressure to dance in a set unless you are happy to do so.
2. You will not be expected to wear facemasks, but please feel free to do so.
3. I don't need to say this because I know how lovely you all are, but please respect other people throughout practice. Some people will want to leap into hugs and dancing, others will want a bit of space and will just stick to a bit of stepping.
4. I 100% expect us to end up in the pub, depending how we're feeling I suspect this will happen sooner or later in the evening!
Love to all, I can't wait to see you in real life!
Becky
p.s. I suspect at some point in the coming weeks I will get something wrong (I've never had to run practice in pandemic circumstances before!). Please push back if I do anything to make you feel uncomfortable or if you're just starting to feel a bit overwhelmed and want a bit of time out. There is no right answer atm.
Hi All,
Plan for Sunday is to meet at Trafalgar Square at 1130. There will be some
walking that will eventually end up at the Harrison where we can have
drinks/food. Likely to be a later lunch of about 2, though we may arrive a
bit before then for drinks.
If you haven't already said you'd like to come, please let me / Martin know
so we can make sure there is space on the table we're booking.
Looks like public transport is generally running as it should, and plenty
of nearby docking stations for anyone that would prefer to cycle.
Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday!
Hannah
Hello ravens,
Thanks to everyone who has got back to me regarding how they feel about dancing again! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to collate the information, I wanted to give as many people as possible an opportunity to feedback and then this week was so hot making a decision seemed way too challenging! I've talked through some issues raised but read the few bits in bold if you don't have time!
Given everyone's feedback, I propose we reconvene for our first practice on Monday 6th September.
There was a real mixture in feelings, confidence levels, suggestions for precautions we would take etc. but there was a real feeling of wanting to get it right for as many people as possible. Many people were in favour of waiting until September to allow people to get double vaccinated, or just to see how this unlocking affects everything. Some people just wanted to wait to allow a larger group of ravens to meet at the same time, given August is always a bit problematic given holidays etc.
Almost everyone was in favour of testing the day prior or day of practice as a precaution. While I'm not going to ask for you to show me pictures of tests or anything like that, we will all be relying on that mutual trust to help us all feel confident to get back to it. There are rumours that the tests will be charged for after July. If this is the case, we will explore what we can do to make sure everyone can access tests so affordability isn't an issue.
The hall has said they are happy to have us back when we are happy to do so but have mentioned that ventilation is really just one way, from the front door. Obviously, we will leave that open, we often do anyway, and we can make the most of the space outside as well. Although it's not ideal to dance on we can spread out a bit.
Personally, I don't fancy the idea of dancing in a mask, and think given the nature of rapper it probably wouldn't help given an entire practice. No-one has requested mask use, but if you do want to use a mask that is also 100% fine.
Depending on how we all feel nearer the time, we might just start with a stepping practice. That's a bit less intense, still super useful, and allows lots of socialising and a chance to feel more normal before we actually start to get close and personal.
I'm sorry that this is later than some people wanted, and sooner than others. I'm really hoping this works as a sensible compromise!
Hope to see some ravens on the 8th of August or back in the hall on the 6th September!!
Becky xx
Hello folks,
So, I'm sure there are some mixed feelings about the lifting of restrictions but it does mean we can actually contemplate dancing again.
I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts so I can get an idea of people's confidence levels, so we can make a plan that takes into account how people feel rather than just going yes, we can dance again! Please email or message me privately so no-one feels pressured to say anything in favour of one way or another.
* Anecdotally, I know several teams are waiting until September before getting back dancing. This allows people to have had both vaccinations and also for the natural lull that is August as people go away.
* We could do smaller gatherings, although I'd rather avoid that when getting back dancing. We're a whole team and I'd hate to fracture that with a rota system or something.
*
* We could commit to all do lateral flow tests the day of practice? That way we hopefully keep risks to a minimum.
*
* Alternatively, we can get back to it sooner and with less caution!
On a personal note, I am still rather nervous, my interactions have all been fairly minimal and I haven't even spent much time on public transport, never mind properly socialising. While the idea of dancing again is really amazing and something I want to do, I genuinely find the idea of that close contact a bit overwhelming. Saying that, I don't want my nervousness to hold us back as a team, so I'm hoping collating opinions will give a clearer idea of how the team as a whole feels.
Hoping to see you all soon!
Becky
Hi All,
Let's go with 8th August for our next in person meet up (though feel free
to organise mini-meet-ups in between if that's just too long for you!)
I propose walking from Finsbury Park to Ally Pally via the Parkland Walk,
and then to have a picnic / drinks in All Pally park. It's probably an hour
and a half walk or so however if you would prefer to just catch up with
everyone in the park, an approx meeting time and location will be provided.
Very easy to get to both ends via the Victoria line - on the way back from
Ally Pally it's a cross platform change onto the Victoria line at Highbury
and Islington. Hopefully that works ok for most of you.
More info closer to the time, and if you want to know more about the
Parkland Walk the website is here:
https://parkland-walk.org.uk/
Hopefully see some of you zoom soon!
Hannah
Hi All,
Given how lovely it was to see everyone, let's do another meet up. Suggest
this time perhaps a walk and picnic - though other suggestions / walk
locations very welcome ☺
Even if we are able to start practicing after 21st June, it might be nice
to have a social thing to look forward to, and if we still can't dance
then, we won't miss out on each others faces...
Please fill in the doodle below with some dates over the next few weeks:
https://doodle.com/poll/mki7e9d3ugxq7gtr?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link
Thanks,
Hannah
