ORGANISERS of The Flagcrackers' Weekend of Dance which begins today (Friday) have criticised a local landlord who they say will not let the morris men use his pub's facilities.

Dick Taylor has organised the morris dancing weekend for more than 10 years and every year he asks the landlords around the Dales to show their support by letting the dancers use the facilities and have a drink in the pubs.

Every year Mr Taylor said he has asked the landlord of the Falcon Inn, Robin Miller, to join in with the fun, but he had always declined the invitation.

Mr Taylor added: "I've been running this weekend for about 10 years and I've always respected Robin's views when he said he didn't want to get involved.

"But this year I thought I would give him another try and when I went to see him and asked him how he fancied it, he said he would not mind entering into the spirit of things for one tour only."

Mr Taylor added: "So I went and got all the programmes printed with the itinerary on the back which included our stop in Arncliffe - but then when one of my lads went to take the programmes out to all the pubs, he turned round and said it was off."

At first, Mr Taylor said the landlord had told him the problem was that the pub did not have enough glasses for everyone, so Mr Taylor offered to bring a supply of plastic glasses on the day.

However, Mr Taylor claimed he then said the residents of Arncliffe - which was a Christian community - did not want "pagan morris dancers in the village."

Mr Taylor added: "What a show that is for Yorkshire hospitality and this last comment was just sheer ignorance."

The origins of morris dancers are not known, but some believe they date back to the country's pagan past when dancing was part of religious festivals to celebrate the fertility rites of crops and soil.

Meanwhile others believe their origins lie in North Africa and are derived from the French Moresque or the Spanish Morisca dances.

Mr Taylor said: "Whatever its origins we've danced on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral before now and were made welcome."

He added that it had been calculated that the weekend of dance had attracted between 5,000 and 10,000 extra visitors to the dales last year and was a valuable part of the tourist trade.

Mr Taylor also said that the dancers came from all over the country to take part in the event and it would have been nice to have taken the city dwellers to Arncliffe, which he said was probably one of the most "unspoilt" villages in the dales.

Without the provision of another pub in Arncliffe or any public toilets, Mr Taylor said the village would now have to be bypassed altogether.

When approached by the Herald this week, Mr Miller said he did not wish to comment on the issue.

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