Halsway Manor Society

Bill Rutter

by Bob Common

As one looks back on one's life, it is possible to see how other people impinge om that life, deflecting it slightly to a new, more adventurous course. The lure of a lady brought me to "Folk," and placed me in the path of a man who was also at the start of a new life, a man who was to influence me and a good many like me for twenty years. Mr. W. A. Rutter, Bill to all and sundry, was involved in Youth work at Templecombe in East Somerset, where he learned to appreciate the value of folk dancing. He felt the need to add his voice to the work of the EFDSS, got himself on to the district committee, then the area committee, and at the retirement of the late Mrs. Margaret Grant, was appointed area organiser at Exeter.

Bill's first observation in the late fifties was that the Society badly needed youth and men, so when he heard that the Dorset jungle was throbbing to the sound of old 78s and the yells of youthful Yetties, he beat a path to our door. We did not take easily to this dumpy, dusky fellow who spoke in a subdued bellow, and in fact it took some years for us to realise this man's true worth.

To the annoyance of some of our elders he taught us to show our enjoyment of the dance, smile, laugh out loud, clap heartily or even yelp with glee as we charged down the middle of the set. He adjudicated at our first contest, and when the record stopped, Pete Shutler launched himself onward. We all cussed Pete's carelessness; Bill gave the team ten extra points for being "Lost in the reverie of the music." We won - but then we were the only team in the competition!

From his example I learned much more. How to take the broadest view of a subject, chance your arm, dive in and make it work. How to make folk more entertaining than academic. How to involve ordinary people. And how to suffer fools.

It is my fervent belief that, directly or indirectly, Bill Rutter has given more fun through folk than any other single person. He had a knack of involving people who would then involve others, and like a chain letter the numbers would grow. For example, Yeovil, Somerset was a good dance area. He told me we ought to have a song club and would I run it? While I dithered the dance club allocated me some money to start, I felt lumbered, and Yeovil Folk Song Club opened in 1964. He attended that opening night to give moral support, declined to give his tuneless rendering of "Johnny Todd", and fell asleep during the second half. I took this as a compliment that we were handling the job properly. The club was a success and produced nine professionals including Taffy Thomas, Chris Foster and The Yetties, more than any other British song club.

Bill's breadth of vision is well illustrated at Sidmouth, the small festival that he inherited and nurtured through many tough years till it matured into the great international Festival that it is today. Through many fights, with the EFDSS, with the council, and with some of the people of Sidmouth, he forged forward, expanding, manoeuvring, cajoling, and encouraging until the festival filled the whole town. On wet days he would remove his pipe from tight-clenched teeth and bellow "it is NOT raining," and the show went on. The weather would not dare defy 'The Director".

As I prepare for the Jubilee Festival, my 18th, I recall the early audiences of 100-200 people in the gardens for each show. I remember the first torchlight procession when locals told me there was a bigger crowd than for the victory celebrations after the war, and I compare them with last year's finale when an estimated 10,000 people sat on the hill overlooking the arena.

As "Sidmouth" expanded, so did Bill's interests, involvements, and region to be administrated. One day a lady said of her property, "For two pins I'd let the folk people have it!" Bill roared into action, whipped up interest, raised an initial £8,000, and Halsway Manor Ltd. was born. Just think of all the thousands who danced, sang, studied, talked, rode, walked, courted and Christmassed in and around that wonderful old building since "The folk people got it". The Society would never have gained such an asset without the drive and initiative that was shown in those early days.

Not all his ideas survived. Eurotrips (Did he invent the popular "Euro..." prefix?), organised coach tours of the continent, ran successfully for a few years but had to be abandoned. Likewise The South Western Federation of Folk Song Clubs.

The annual folk camp became many folk camps, youth camps, and craft camps, under the umbrella of Folk Camps Ltd. My first folk camp did much to increase my repertoire of songs and dances and showed me that there were "Folkies" outside Dorset. I formed friendships that last to this day, friendships that started the first night when Bill introduced everybody, naming from memory 86 of the 90 persons present, and deducing the names of the other four. Quite a trick, thought I!

This is the year that W. A. Rutter, National Development Officer, retires from The English Folk Dance and Song Society. That means that they will longer have to pay his wages, but I predict that he and the inertia that he has generated will continue to influence us all as before. W.A.R. spells war, and I know he will fight for what is best. Long may you do so, Bill.

Bob Common