Cold Ash Mummers

The Cold Ash band grew out of a village play staged in 1993 in which a mummers play was performed. This version was 'borrowed' from a Hampshire play and whilst it bore some resemblance to the local one was definitely 'foreign'.

As a result of researching and writing the village play, I thought it would be good to try to revive the original Cold Ash play as far as we could. Rowlie Brown let me have copies of various publications and I visited the Folk Law Library in London to see if I could find an original version.

The nearest was that of Thatcham plus a few snatches of the Cold Ash play remembered by some of the older residents when interviewed a number of years ago. So with a bit of imagination we have managed to recreate something of the original. I'm certain that there was more to it than what we now have. There are hints in the lines of other characters, probably similar to those in the 'Downland' version.

We have now been performing the play for 10 years (2003) in five local pubs - The Bunk at Courage, The Lamb, Long Lane, the Spotted Dog and the Castle in Cold Ash and the Sun in the Wood, Stoney Lane, Ashmore Green. Some of the original members from the village play are still in it but there has been a gradual change of personnel.

In keeping with the oral tradition there is a great deal of spontaneity and improvisation in our performances which are played with great gusto. We now have our own style which is distinct from the Hermitage band and that's the way it should be. If you want to catch us, look out for posters in the pubs; we're normally there about one or two weekends before Christmas but, again in keeping with tradition, we vary the dates and times a bit.

The performance always starts outside the pub with a gutsy rendering of the Mummers' Song 'God Bless the Master of this House...'Over the last few years we've had a brass quartet (this year part of the revived Cold Ash Brass Band) - they make just the right bold, brassy sound that is needed to attract attention.

The play runs for about 20 minutes depending on how creative we are and how much audience participation (interruptions!) there is. Our costumes are more traditional than modern with strips of cloth hanging from hats and jackets. Christmas Boy calls for the audience's attention and introduces Father Christmas who is dressed in a white smock played more as the Lord of Misrule than the modern version. King George's man says, 'I' am come here to let you understand the meaning of our play...' but none of us really know the meaning! King George and the Turkish Knight are traditional and they square up to each other. After an initial skirmish, King George kills his adversary. In comes Peter Lamb the Doctor. He's been to England, Scotland, Ireland and Dover ('Andover?', as we retort. Andover is a Hampshire town about 30 miles away). Our Doctor 'cures' the Turkish Knight but this part is not quite as long as in some other plays. We also have a Johnny Jack who comes in last but one to plead for charity ('...With my family on my back. Out of eight there is but five, All the rest is starved alive'). Then Billy Wit comes in for some obscure reason followed, as a new character this year by Beelzebub to close the proceedings. We have added an extra verse to the Mummers' Song with which we finish and follow that with one verse and chorus of 'We wish you a Merry Christmas'. The hat is then passed round to collect for a local charity.

Happy mumming to one and all.

Richard Marshall
December 2004
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