Anyone for Morris?<P><B>Morris Men facing their last dance</B><BR>From Manchester online<P><BR>A MORRIS dancing team founded nearly 30 years ago may disappear taking with it a "lost" dance it rescued from obscurity in 1980.<P>Thelwall Morris Men have only six members left and as a team requires six dancers it only requires one to be ill or unavailable and they cannot fulfil engagements.<P>Spokesman Andrew White said: "We desperately want to keep going but unless we get some new recruits it will be impossible.<P>"We really need six men and a musician. But we have put leaflets through every letterbox in Thelwall and we haven't had a single response. It would be particularly sad if we folded up because we are the only team to dance the Statham Morris, a historic dance from the Lymm area which we revived in 1980 after it had been lost for nearly 60 years."<P><A HREF="http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/content.cfm?story=302436" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

How sad. Is Morris dancing in general on the decline in England?

<BR><small>Arthur from Foresters Morris Men</small><P>I don't know what the general picture is djb, but here is a link to the <A HREF="http://www.themorrisring.org/" TARGET=_blank><B>website of the Morris Ring</B></A> and as you can see from the list of sides, there's still plenty of it about.<P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited April 21, 2002).]

Thanks! Yep, the Morris is still alive and kicking.

Last dance for all morris men?
By Toby Nation for This is Local London

MORRIS dancers in Gravesend fear the end of their ancient traditions if proposed licensing laws are passed.

The old English pastime is under threat from new laws which could see all venues having to pay up to £10,000 for an entertainment licence.

Folk dances dating back thousands of years could vanish if they are denied the opportunity to perform.

Gill Tomlinson, Squire of Gravesend's St Clements Clog Group, said: "During the summer there are lots of festivals, many outside country pubs.

"Most are just small locals which like the entertainment because it attracts customers.

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Scotland's only Morris dancing troupe seeks recruits, with bells on ...
By CRAIG WALKER for The Herald (Glasgow)

The English expatriates are having difficulty in persuading Scots to join them in their archaic costumes.

The Banchory Morris Men, who wave sticks, hankies, and bells as they dance to traditional English tunes, need to boost their numbers before their annual May Day tour.

But their attempts to increase their troupe is being hindered due to the fact that their home in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, is more used to ceilidhs than Morris dancing.

Neil Bayfield, 59, a founder member, said: "We really need new members to join the group, but Scotsmen don't seem interested. I believe they find the whole thing a little embarrassing and think Morris dancing is English.

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Morris dancers need fresh blood
By Auslan Cramb for The Daily Telegraph
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The only Morris dancing group north of the border has issued an urgent appeal for new members amid fears that "the Scotsman's reluctance to make a fool of himself" could lead to its demise.

For the past 28 years, the Banchory Morris Men have been sustained almost entirely by expatriates from England, and some members are now "getting on a bit".

The troupe, based in a village on Royal Deeside that is more used to ceilidhs and Highland games, has had several recruitment campaigns, but only one of its 12 dancers is a native Scot.

Neil Bayfield, 59, a botanist who helped found the group in 1975, said yesterday that Morris dancing was "great fun, keeps you fit and is not difficult", but accepted it had an image problem in Scotland.

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<small>[ 12 February 2003, 02:52 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Lord of the prance
By Aidan Smith for The Scotsman

It’s one o’clock in the afternoon and Banchory is in weekend leisure mode. The main road is thrumming with people tootling about in cars and on foot. The garden centre is busy - it seems there are parts of this green and pleasant land that aren’t already clad in decking. Across the road, Scott Skinner’s is doing a good trade in pub lunches - the way the coq au vin is selling, you’d have thought the recipe had only just reached Royal Deeside - but, at the bar, business in pints and packets of crisps is even brisker: a football match is about to start on the television.

Meanwhile, in the car park, I am in a totally different kind of weekend leisure mode. I may not be a Freemason but my trousers are rolled up to my knees. There are flowers in my hair but I’m not a member of some Highland hippie commune. I am waving not one but two white hankies in the air but I am not in distress. Well, actually, I am. You see, I’m morris dancing. And it’s more difficult than it looks.

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The knee bells toll for Scotland's solitary troupe of morris dancers
By Paul Kelbie for Th Independent

The jingle of knee bells and thwack of pig bladders threaten to be silenced in Scotland because the only troupe of English morris dancers in the country faces a recruitment crisis.

The Banchory Morrismen, who have performed in the Aberdeen area for almost 30 years, are even considering recruiting women to their traditionally all-male team.

"There's a limit as to how far most Scotsmen are willing to go to make a fool of themselves," admitted Neil Bayfield, a founder member of the squad. "People think, incorrectly, that morris dancing is an English folk tradition but it did used to be very popular in Scotland in the Middle Ages. It can be traced back to the times of the Crusades in the 12th or 13th century."

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Morris men ask women to step into the breeches
By JIM MCBETH fo The Scotsman

THERE is a limit to what you can demand of a red-blooded Scots male. Ask him to remove his pants and dance a fling while wearing an ancient skirt ... well ... what could be more reasonable?

Demand he cavort in a loony English outfit, wave sticks and ring bells attached to his breeks, and you have problems.

Problems so great, in fact, that Scotland’s only Morris dancing troupe is being forced to recruit women to fulfil its obligation to a May Day Scottish tour.

It seems the Highland fling is one thing, but stirring renditions of the Adderbury, Bampton or Bucknell is another.

The Banchory Morris Men of Aberdeenshire find themselves in a position where they will have to break with centuries of male-only tradition to survive.

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Pub law reprieve for morris dancers
By Jack Malvern for The Times


MORRIS dancing has been given a late reprieve from a new law to regulate live entertainment, but pub musicians could still fall foul of it.
The dance was to be made a criminal offence under the Licensing Bill if practised indoors without a licence, but a government amendment to exclude it has been approved by the House of Commons.

The Bill will now go forward for Royal Assent, after which it will become law with effect from early 2005.

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Love this image:

<img src="http://freespace.virgin.net/michael.jackson/abbots-b/abbots01.jpg" alt="" />

From Michael Jackson's delightful Morris Picture Gallery

Hundreds join ancient dance date
By Andrew Rea for The Express and Star (Lichfield)

It is one of Britain's oldest rituals. And yesterday it seemed as popular as ever as hundreds of enthusiastic visitors turned out for the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance.

It involves a merry band of men carrying ancient reindeer antlers for around 12 hours, usually walking twice the distance.

The ritual definitely dates back to 1226 - the dance was performed at the three-day Barthelmy Fair in that year - but many believe it is much older than that, and it has survived and continues to flourish in the Staffordshire village.

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