1905: Helston Flora Day (Photo: Griffiths & Leaver, Helston)

Although the name Flora or Furry is widely used for this group of dances it has not always been the case. In the late 18^th century, it was known as the Faddy and differentiated from the Furry which was the name of the day.

In 1790, The Gentleman’s Magazine stated: It is called the Furry day – supposedly Flora’s day – not I imagine, as many have thought, in remembrance of some festival instituted in honour of that goddess, but rather from the garlands commonly worn on that day… About the middle of the day, they collect together to dance hand-in-hand round the streets to the sound of a fiddle playing a particular tune, which they continue to do till it is dark. This is called the Faddy.

In 1803, Richard Polwhele considered that Furry was the name of the celebration and dismissed the use of Flora as a “vulgar error”.

There is a famous legend, here adapted to Helston, of the heavenly battle between St Michael and a dragon or serpent (the Devil), during which the Archangel hurled a stone at his opponent, resulting in Satan being knocked from the sky and drowning in the nearby Loe Pool. It is suggested to be connected with the 8th May celebration – the day of the world-renowned Flora Day. The focal event of the day is said to be the midday Furry Dance believed by some scholars to be Pagan in origin, certainly pre-Norman.

The Helston Furry Dance

From Inglis Gundry’s Canow Kernow

Note the reference to the Helston Foray

Brass bands did not appear on the scene until the 1850s. Before that, it was the reed and brass bands who in turn, inherited their position as local entertainers from the musicians playing any instrument which was at hand. So, before the sound of the brass band is indelibly imprinted on our minds, we should reflect on the day’s beginnings when it may well have involved a wide variety of instrumentalists including the  cornet, clarinet and big trombone, fiddle, cello, big bass drum, bassoon, flute and euphonium!

Listen now to the Helston Furry as played at the Benbow Cornish Session in 2021.

William Sandys, in 1846, referred to it as the Furry Day when the dancers were Faddying around the town.

By the time we reach the 1880s, Furry was in popular use for both the day and the dance although some folk still adhered to the name of the dance as the Faddy.

Perhaps the ditty with reference to Truro contributed to this confusion:

Jan said to me one day, “Can you dance the Flora?”

Yes I can with a nice young man, off we go to Trura.

 

The Helston Furry Dance

From Inglis Gundry’s Canow Kernow

1861: Helston Flora Day. The Company marched to the Market House, headed by their excellent Brass Band, and opened the Bazaar at 11 o’clock, in the presence of an immense assemblage of persons. (17^th May 1861 – Royal Cornwall Gazette)

1886: Ladies and gentlemen, wearing summer attire and decked with flowers, assembled at the town hall and, headed by the Helston Volunteer Band, playing the celebrated Furry dance. They tripped in couples up Coinagehall-street. (13^th May 1886 – Cornishman)

1892: Shortly after the hour, the Helston Volunteer Band, under bandmaster Amos Blight, struck up the quaint old Furry Dance music. (12^th May 1892 – Royal Cornwall Gazette)

8^th May 1901: Helston Furry Day with the Band leading the dancers up Coinagehall Street

1901:The Dancers in Coinagehall Street

Furry Day 1908 style

Notwithstanding that the event and the day belongs to Helston, the dance was performed throughout Cornwall as this photograph shows

The song, The Floral Dance, by British singer and composer Katie Moss, became very popular which is probably the reason this name is used, by some, for both the day and the dance – perhaps to the annoyance of many! Thirty-year-old singer Katie Moss was a student of the Royal Academy of Music and was so fascinated by the tradition, in celebration of the Furry Dance that she wrote both the lyrics and a version of the music after visiting Helston. The festival was on 8th May 1911 and included the Hal-an-Tow pageant, a celebration of music and dancing, with Helston Town Band providing the music. It is said that she loved the spectacle of hundreds of local children taking part in the dance, all dressed in white and wearing Lily of the Valley buttonholes.

1912: The coming of May was celebrated at Helston in accordance with an old custom in the borough. The Town Band started from the Market Place at an early hour and marched around the town playing the old Flora tune. (9^th May 1912 – West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser)

1912: Helston Flora… returned to the Corn Exchange, where the country dance terminated this part of the proceedings. The procession was headed by Helston Town Band, under Mr A Blight. (9^th May 1912 – West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser)

Flora Day at Helston (Photo: Print from a glass plate by A H Hawke of Helston)

1913: Helston Flora. Helston Town Band, under Mr Amos Blight, rendered the necessary music. (15^th May 1913 – The Cornish Telegraph)

Flora Day 1920s: The dancers posing with Helston Town Band for a group picture (Photo: courtesy Paul Phillips)

1921: At Helston Flora on Tuesday the attendance was not so large as usual. In the early morning, eight couples, headed by the Helston Town Band, danced through the main streets. The principal dance was at noon when the couples assembled at the Corn Exchange. (12^th May 1921 – Cornubian and Redruth Times)

1923: Helston Flora celebrations were carried out in great style on Tuesday. The music during the whole day was supplied by the Helston Town Band. (10^th May 1923 – Cornubian and Redruth Times)

1924: Haunting strains of the dance were heard in the streets as early as seven o’clock, when eight couples were escorted by Helston Town Band, Bandmaster W A Harris, and afterwards the party was entertained to breakfast by the Flora-day Committee. (9^th May 1924 – Western Morning News)

1924: Flora Day at Helston.The Furry dance tune was heard early in the day, played by the Town Band … a crowd filled the roadway outside the Guildhall to witness the most picturesque dance of the day. (15^th May 1924 – Cornubian and Redruth Times)

In 1931, the Celto-Cornish movement and the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies entered into debate regarding the correctness of the word Flora and whatever the outcome of those discussions, it seems to have become the Flora Day when the Furry is danced. No further mention of Faddy, it seems.

1934: It was in gay spirit that thousands of people gathered in Helston on Tuesday morning for the famous Flora celebrations. The Helston Town Band, which leads the procession, is the only band in the world that can interpret correctly the simple, lilting air of the dance, which perfectly interprets Flora Day. (10^th May 1934 – Cornishman)

1930s possibly (Photo: Facebook – Paul Caruana posting)

An arrangement by W E Moyle, probably written during the 1930s when he was working at Stotts’s Music Shop in Fore Street, Newquay

1938: Flora Day. Only a few bars, yet the lilt of it has gone round the world, and it is played by the Helston Band in a sort of bouncing whimsical way that no imitators could achieve. (7^th May 1938 – Western Morning News)

1940: Helston people experienced an unexpected thrill when they were awakened in the early hours of May Day by the strains of the famous Furry Dance. Practically the whole of the [Helston] Town Band are on active service but a few members, home on leave, with others too young for active service, assembled at the Town Hall and following the age-old May Day custom, paraded the town playing the Flora. There were many expressions of gratitude to the bandsmen. (2^nd May 1940 – West Briton)

1940: Helston Town Band players turn out to celebrate Flora Day during the Second World War (Photo: The West Briton)

1944: Despite the war, the show goes on (Photo: Judges Ltd)

Helston, of course, has the most famous tradition but Furry dances are held all over Cornwall, some with a tradition stretching back many years. One of these is at St Agnes and an account of their events can be found here.

1946: Floral Town on V-Day. The procession was led by Helston Town Band, under their bandmaster, Mr H J Joyce. (13^th June 1946 – Cornishman)

1948: Through thronged streets the carnival went, headed by Helston Town Band, the only band in the world, they say, that can play the Flora Dance properly. (2^nd and 9^th September 1948 – Cornishman)

1949: Helston’s Record Flora Day in Blaze of Sunshine. Some went to the fair or picknicked on the Island but wherever they went the Furry tune went with them. Helston Silver Band, led by Mr S L Hender and augmented by several P.O.’s and C.P.O.’s from Culdrose, played the tune as only they can. (12^th May 1949 – Cornishman)

1950: Flora Day preparations … on Wednesday at 10.25 on the West of England Home Service, Renee Cunnack will revive some memories of this Festival. Helston Town Band will have a full programme. In addition to the many dances which it will be accompanying around the customary routes… (27^th April 1950 – Cornishman)

The Helston Furry Dance – or Flora

From Inglis Gundry’s Canow Kernow 1960

1950s (Photo: courtesy Roy Blewett)

In 1977, the famous Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band from Calderdale, Yorkshire, made an instrumental recording of the music using the title Floral Dance. Terry Wogan often sang along with it on his radio programmes and it seems that his listeners clamoured for more. So it was that he and the Hanwell Brass Band, in 1978, produced a recording which climbed to number two in the hit parade and remained there for six weeks. Once again, it was titled the Floral Dance and the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies made its feelings clear as it talked of Helston’s Furry Dance tune having been raped from its home town.

1970s probably (Photo: Facebook – Paul Caruana posting)

1974: Helston Band with Harry Pascoe on bass and with sprigs of Lily of the Valley in their hats

Merv Davey (Dr Folk), in his article Ilow Dons  Kernow – Cornish Dance Music for Cornish Story in April 2018, wrote: Just as Guize dancing tends to be associated with certain dates in the calendar so does another long-standing Cornish dance tradition, the Furry dance. The Furry dance is essentially a processional dance for couples with a certain number of bars travelling forward and a certain number of bars performing a figure on the spot.  Many towns and villages have their own Furry Dance. A description of Helston’s Furry dance on 8^th May appears in the Gentleman’s Magazine of 1790 and there are several early 19^th century records of others taking place around West Cornwall in early May. It was clearly seen as a long-established Cornish tradition in 1801 when adopted for the first John Knill ceremony in St Ives. This ceremony takes place every five years on 25^th July and commemorates the eccentric John Knill, erstwhile mayor and customs collector in St Ives. Although early 19^th century histories locate the Furry dance largely in the West it seems likely that it was always a Cornwall-wide tradition. It was certainly widespread with different dances to be found across Cornwall in the early twentieth and new dances, together with the tunes to go with them, continue to be composed today.

Emphasising Merv Davey’s point about it being played Cornwall-wide, this is the Furry Dance at Newquay in 1949 (Photo: courtesy of Newquay Old Cornwall Society)

This superb book by Ian Marshall is well worth a read as it includes the evolution of the melody from it’s very early days

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic prevented Flora Day being held but the intrepid musicians of Helston Band were determined that the event would be marked, and a virtual event was put in place. All credit to them.

 

2020: Helston Town Band – the Covid affected event

 

2020: Kevin Johns, Musical Director of Helston Town Band, reflects on the Covid affected event

Despite all the odds, the name Furry Dance has survived and most seem clear that the Band plays, and the dancers dance, to the Furry Dance but that it is held on Flora Day.

This day-long event is a part of Helston’s and Cornwall’s cultural tradition and will hopefully, be a long-lasting legacy.

 

Please feel free to comment or suggest additions to this page through our comments section.

        

 

Dances in other areas:

 

North Cornwall Furry (Bodmin Riding)

 

Heva Dance (Newquay)

 

White Gold Dance (St Austell)

 

Bolingey Furry