Mid-Winter Festival

Welcome, one and all, to our Mid-Winter Festival!

Featuring:
Prize Old Mummers – offering a traditional mummers play, with a modern twist, plus Morris Dancers and folk singers.

The Mary Rose and Royal George Dancers from Portsmouth will be bringing their unique and very entertaining Morris dance style to the event.

Also enjoy live music from Plastic Shamrocks. This band are a four piece group of experienced musicians playing uptempo and familiar Irish/English folky songs and tunes along with some pop classics with a folky twist. The aim is to provide the audience with some great sing-a-long songs and tunes to tap your foot to, or maybe even dance.

Wonderful, delicious, warming food will be available from our friends at Simply Hog Roasts, and of course you’re mor than welcome to purchase award-winning beers (and softs) from our fully-stocked bar.

Running Order:
12pm Event Opens
12.30pm Morris Dancing from Mary Rose and Royal George
1.15pm Prize Old Mummers Play
2.00pm Shanty singing with Spinnaker Shanty Singers
2.30pm Plastic Shamrocks
3pm Close

Master of Ceremonies: Martyn Constable.

This event is free to enjoy, but please give generously to Naomi House Children’s Hospice .

More About Mummers:
Mummers’ plays are folk plays performed by troupes of amateur actors, traditionally all male, known as mummers or guisers (also by local names such as rhymers, pace-eggers, soulers, tipteerers, wrenboys, and galoshins). Historically, mummers’ plays consisted of informal groups of costumed community members that visited from house to house on various holidays. Today the term refers especially to a play in which a number of characters are called on stage, two of whom engage in a combat, the loser being revived by a doctor character.
Taken from Wikipedia

More about Prize Old Mummers:
Over centuries, people have performed Mummers Plays to entertain folk in the depths of winter. There are various traditions of Mumming, plays are known as a “Robin Hood” play or a “George and Dragon” play.
Another style is a “Wooing” play where a young man courts a Lady but is rejected and he is persuaded to join the army The Lady then accepts the hand of a Clown or Fool. However, Prize Old Mummers have reversed the role and in our play the Woman tries it on with King George, failing that, the Foreign Knight, The Devil or even The Doctor. This plot in then interwoven with the George and Dragon tale.
Prize Old Mummers are so called because the magic elixir used by the Doctor to raise the dead combatants is a bottle of Prize Old Ale, formerly brewed by George Gale and Co of Horndean. The brewery ceased trading in 2006 but the name of their very fine barley wine lives on in the name of our mumming side.
The play, while having a very traditional appearance, is littered with references to current affairs and issues of the day. References to popular culture, environmental issues and political satire are used. Dressed in tatter costumes with faces obscured in many shades and colours, they endeavour to keep alive a tradition while raising funds for charity.

As well as our Mid-Winter Festival, we host a number of events at the brewery throughout the year. Please find out more information via our Brewery Event Calendar.