Youlgrave Circle Dance Weekends                (web site edited 19July09)

 

This is an alternative, grass roots, very cheap (if you stay in the hall, or camp!) chance to share dancing and dances with other people in the beautiful village of Youlgrave (sometimes known as Youlgreave)   You can come just to dance but we do also invite  teachers or budding teachers to offer one out of eight sessions either of general fun dance (specially in the evenings) or to explore a theme, or try out some new choreography, or simply get some experience of teaching a group.  You don't have even to do a whole session if you only have two or three dances you'd like to share.

 

Youlgrave Village Hall offers very basic on-the-floor, bring-your-own bedding communal sleeping facilities.  It does however have an excellent kitchen and modern Hot Showers! There is a big hall with a wooden dance floor, and a separate dining room.

 

Youlgrave the village is on the top of a steep-ish hill with a beautiful Peak District river running along the bottom of the valley, full of silver trout, with dippers bouncing in and out of the water, and coot and moorhen nesting all down the stream.  There are lovely walks for peaceful contemplation as well as for energetic exploration in between dancing.

 

Alternative accommodation: In the village there is an Excellent Youth Hostel , and plenty of B&B if you want to go even more upmarket. There's a couple of campsites  locally: this seems to be the most local: Camping & Caravanning Club Site,  Hopping Farm, Youlgrave, Bakewell, DE45 1NA.Tel: 01629 636555

 

Programme: Arrive from 1600 (4.00pm) on Friday, leave midday Tuesday at the latest.  There will be a Friday night session, and a Tuesday morning session.  You're invited to join Jill and Ann down by the river each morning, doing some simple Taize singing.   

 

One of the other attractions of Youlgrave during the Spring Bank Holiday is its famous Well dressings. There are a couple of websites showing the 2006 sites: (to be entered later).

 

The bank holiday weekends at the end of May and the end of August have been booked in perpetuity by Annie Toy, so you can plan ahead big time. The hall now has showers, but you need to bring whatever you want to sleep on.

 

The dance weekends are run on a co-operative basis. No one is in charge. People elect to do various jobs and make their own contribution by way of playing music, offering dances or singing sessions, suggesting walks or visits to places of interest in the Peak District. We all cook and eat together, and share the chores. The system we have in place seems to work well and various people have commented that they like the fact that the weekends are very much a group effort. Any suggestions though are always welcome.

 

The cost of the weekends has risen because the cost of the hall is now £30 a head, and so is the cost of the food, but that is still only £2-50 per head per meal. So, staying in the hall is £60 and staying out is £40. The bulk of the food is bought in advance, but contributions of fruit, salad stuff, cheese and treats are appreciated, although perhaps in reverse order! Some people bring fruit, salads or flowers from their own garden. We've never been known to go hungry.

 

Cheques should be made payable to Youlgrave Dance Weekends and sent so they can be cleared a couple of weeks beforehand if possible - send to J.J.Nicholas, 194 West Terrace, Burley in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire. LS29 7HS

 

The address for Youlgrave Village Hall is Holywell Lane, Youlgrave, Bakewell. DE45 1UT (for those with Sat Nav). You go through the village and past the church and then a pub and then the youth hostel - all on your left - and Holywell Lane is a left turn. There is a phone box at the top of the lane (an old red one, I think). Parking is limited, so travel together if you can. Trains and buses are readily available also.

 

Contacts:  Jonathan Joseph -  01943 602551

                Ann Hyde -   01207 239626