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SHIFTIN' BOBBINS (R8x32)
Roy Clowes Ormskirk 6 (1983)
1- 8
1s cross RH to double triangle position with 2s+3s & set, 1s cast up to
top & dance down to between 2s & 3s
9-16
1L dances RH across with 2M+3M while 1M dances LH across with
2L+3L, 1s followed by 2s+3s dance down centre
17-24
3s followed by 2s+1s dance up (3s+2s cast off to places), 1L dances
LH across with 2M+3M while 1M dances RH across with 2L+3L
25-32
1s dance up to top, cast down to 2
nd
place opposite side & dance
½ Fig of 8 around 2s to end in 2
nd
place on own sides
Much has been discussed over the years on the inspiration for this dance and the water has been muddied,
possibly by looking for a Scottish connection, by linking it with jute weaving in Dundee as the chorus of the Jute
Mill Song includes the lines:
Shifting bobbins coorse and fine
They fairly mak’ you work for your ten and nine
In the Dundee mills, a shifter’s job was to keep the weavers supplied with full bobbins (and therefore taking
away the empty ones).
However .... this dance was written to remind people of the Lancashire heritage of spinning and weaving.
Roy Clowes, who lived, danced and taught in Lancashire, was an Inspector for the Ministry of Fishery & Foods,
specialising in plants (The Nurseryman was devised in his memory), but he had many connections in the world of
fabric and cloth, so he dedicated this dance to Lancashire spinners and weavers.
As the cotton was gradually stretched and twisted to make thread it was wound onto large bobbins, and the
dance figures reflect the movements of the old spinning machines.
The original tune of the same name is by Muriel Rimmer.
