The Morris Men

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Every May Day, outside the village pubs of England, groups of men with bells jingling on their legs can be seen joyously leaping into the air, clashing sticks or waving white hankerchiefs. This is our traditional ritual to welcome the summer. Morris dancing, so quintessentially English, dates back at least to the 15th century, or more likely to our pre-Christian roots when it would have been associated with fertility and other Pagan rites.

Woodchurch Morris Men, who started dancing together in 1990, are proud to perpetuate this ancient tradition that was once "Merrie England" personified. Now, in the 21st century, with times of change the Morris Dancer, with his hat and pint pot in hand, is ever an icon of Englishness, along with the country pub, the village fair and cricket on the green.

We hope you enjoy our performances. We dance in the Cotswold style, lively dances from the Home Counties unchanged as we know for many generations. Our main activity is to dance on a Friday night at a welcoming real ale pub, where we will be rewarded with a good pint for our efforts. Should you chance upon us as we dance, remember this is our living history and simply by watching and applauding you too are taking part. If you are kind enough to contribute when the hat is passed around then you can be assured of good luck, long life, and the option of extra fertility!

We, of course, support venues where our dancing may help to raise money for local charities or indeed anywhere if there is a chance of free beer. We make contributions to charities of our choice and our collection goes a long way to help with our donations.

We are always seeking to recruit new members to help sustain this wonderful activity and would welcome anyone to join us and learn the dances, or to play an instrument for us, or just to help and support us. Two working legs being the usual requirement for a dancer, and of course a capacity for the enjoyment of friendship and music and the odd glass of ale.

We practise on Thursday evenings in the village from October to April. For more information on the Woodchurch Morris Men, please contact our bagman, Chris Dudman at chris.dudman@btinternet.com or 01233 860456 or the Squire Geoff Smith at gps295@hotmail.com or on 01233 860330.