There were ten issues of the BFN magazine in A5 format, starting with No9 in June 1972, finishing with No19 in Spring 1977. Five years worth. Before that time numbers 1 to 8 of the magazine had been an A4 paper sheet issued as a local Bristol branch EFDSS newsletter. More issues were planned, but somehow never materialised - despite pleas from many people. The main reason for the magazine's demise was simply that I found it more and more difficult to get authors, and, as editor, ended up not only writing a lot of the copy, but typing it as well! However I may have one article, as yet unpublished, and sitting in a box in my attic. So someone may be in for a surprise. Thirty years late.
The early 1970s were heady times for the folk scene; many folk song clubs had started in the 1960s, and from these sprang morris, sword and mumming teams. A whole new young generation of singers, dancers and musicians started to take an interest in the traditions of the British Isles, all with an emphasis on getting involved rather than sitting down to listen or watch. Though the new folk were also ardent members of an audience when our new heroes emerged! The movers and shakers of the traditional folk movement started their interests, collecting, analysing, changing, calling, electrifying(!), performing our songs and dances. Bristol Folk News caught this mood and put much of it onto paper. The new magazine had a somewhat academic approach to the folk scene, an emphasis on folklore and also trying to both educate and amuse the readers, the various authors also called a spade a spade, so that we ruffled quite a few feathers, especially in EFDSS. The articles tried to explain the background to our traditions, sometimes with a local (Bristol) emphasis. Sometimes news items appear which have echoed down the years since: the birth of WoMF at Cheltenham Ladies College; the 'Morris On' LP appeared and was reviewed.
From the start there was an emphasis on the look of the magazine, and it was strongly influenced by students who were at the time at Bower Ashton Art College (now part of UWE). The first few covers were printed on a silk screen press in my front room and from No12 (the Bristol '600' issue) there were a series of superb illustrations to accompany the articles when we were joined by Chris Molan, a graphic artist. We always used a heavy art paper with strong colours for the covers, so that magazines were very recognisable. An insert for local news - Bristol (later Avon) Folk Radius was started. This section outlived the magazine by many years, well it was free, BFN sold for 10p or 12p, the Bristol '600' for 25p.
For the web version each issue is fronted by a cover and an index for that issue. The overall index shows which articles from the ten booklets have been transcribed. Some of the artwork creates a problem for web reproduction since it occupied double pages, and was integrated into the text in a manner than only the old cut-and-paste method, Letraset, and an offset lithographic printer can achieve. Salway-Print used one of the very early Xerographic machines. I remember being amazed at the selenium plate used to generate the images. The machine may well be in a museum by now! To reproduce the original effects some pages will be scanned and left as images, but where possible an OCR method will be used to generate html pages. For scanned pages, the text is reproduced on a separate page so that it can be searched.
The ten issues totaled 275 pages of text and pictures. Most issues had 24 or 28 pages, the Bristol '600' edition 55. There was no No13, explaining why we had ten issues of the magazine. For the web, rather than starting with No9 and working through the whole series in order, the indexes have been reproduced, then the articles that interest me most have been transcribed. A list at the top of each index page shows the transcribed articles. Other articles will follow in time - hopefully!
This section of Mainly Morris Dancing is dedicated to the many people who contributed to the magazine and in particular to those below who are no longer with us. Especial mention must go to our printer, the late Brian Salway and to the other two founders of the magazine, Chris Lyons and John Shaw. Chris Molan's graphics bring the magazine articles to life in a way that only superlative images can.
Chris Lyons, John Shaw, John Maher, Brian Salway (Salway-Print), Angela Shaw, Dick Lofthouse, Roger Entwistle, Peter Boskett, Oli Breckmann, Janet Salway, Tom Randall, Judy Smith, Kevin Standring, Keith Prescott, Mike Whitehead, Phil Hurrell, Bill Rutter, Lyn Coles, Fred Woods, Tony Wales, Erik Ilott, Bob Bradbury, Dave Robinson (Buttercup), Betty Reynolds, John Kirkpatrick, Vernon Gay, George H Gibbs, Chris Molan, Graeme Kirkham, Dave Byrne, Roy Dommett, David Searle, Geraldine Maher, Dave Adams, Geoff Rye, Bessie Rye, David Kettlewell, Trudie Wallis, Hugh Blake, Bob Patten, Chris Haytor, Enid Hunt, Nick Hopkinson, Geoff Downer, Angela Tuckett.