Are either of you dancers yourselves - if so who do you dance with?

Mr Paul Bryan of The Ilmington Traditional Morris has kindly agreed to organise the actual dance for us and will be issuing details later.

Have any sides already signed up, and if so who?
Several have expressed interest and are listed on a later page.

How are you expecting to manage this?
In outline, for the record we shall need to assemble the dancers in a collecting ring, count them into the Main Ring, issuing a numbered sticker to each dancer, do the dance for at least five minutes, taking digital photos from above and removing stickers from any non-dancers, them count them out, collecting the stickers on the way.  We need to have at least two and preferably three ways of counting the dancers, including photos.  During the day we shall have a number of dance "stations" round the ground, to be used in rotation by the sides.   We shall also ask them to explain to the public what they are doing.

What dance/dances do you plan to do?
We are compiling a short list of dances and music which appear to be common to most of the traditions and we shall consult as to which we ultimately use.

What will the band be?
We have in mind to use one of the sides bands.

Where will it be in relation to the dancers?
Either station it in the middle of the ring or, possibly, on one side and put the music through the existing PA.

Is Lord Redesdale involved in this event?
Not yet - the Redesdale family used to own the local estate and there are still things called "Redesdale" here, including the Town Hall;  we plan to play that card when we have got a fair number of sides on board.

Do you have any funding for this even?
We shall have to fund it ourselves.

How many dancers do you expect to turn up?
As many as we can safely fit into space 102m x 53m.

How many do you need for the record?
There is no existing record, but we want to set something worthwhile and challenging for others to have a go at, which means several hundred, at least.

Have you organised anything like this before?
We organise an annual show which attracts 18,000 to 19,000 people and have organised another successful record attempt.   Our Secretary has also organised music based events.  We are aware that a licence may be needed under the Licencing Act and will have to negotiate with the Local Authority about it - we may actually be able to get round that one, provided they are not silly about it.   The Licencing Officer is well known to us.

The aim is to have a Morris-related day (as part of the over all event) with the record attempt as a centre-piece.  We know that no side will want to turn up for 15 minutes, do one dance and clear off!

Apart from doing the whole thing properly, we also have to do it safely.  That means getting the ring clear, keeping access to the sides even when dancing, providing water on a hot day and having proper medical facilities - we have to have the latter anyway because of our horse activities.

We know we shall have to provide a lot of passes and car parking (for supporters too) and probably contribute to the travel costs of those travelling any substantial distance; there will be nothing to prevent the bags going round at the stations but it wouldn't be practical for the record.