Mayday in East Sussex and Kent etc.

I wasn't working on Mayday, so we were up before dawn to watch Shalesbrook Morris  (above) and Ashdown Forest Morris Men dancing in Ashdown Forest.

Yes, you probably can see members of the audience wrapped up in blankets!  The sunrise wasn't that spectacular and it was rather chilly.  The sun is somewhere in this photo.

It had got a bit warmer by 7.30, when Ashdown danced the Boosebeck sword dance at the Hatch Inn.

In the evening, we went to the Kettle Bridge to watch Kettle Bridge Clogs dance.  Glyn got recruited into a public dance at the end.  He'll have to work harder at the right team colours.

Happy (belated) Mayday!  Glyn also tried the waters at the Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells - but the beer tastes better!

May Day dancing in Kent

Still catching up with this week...!

On May Day, Kettle Bridge Clogs danced out in the evening at 'their' bridge, then we all went to the pub for some more dancing, until it was too cold to sit out.


Click this image to read the history of the bridge.


On Bank Holiday Monday, they danced at Whitstable, as guests of Oyster Morris, along with a number of other teams.


- including (in descending order below) Oyster Morris Men, Old Palace Clog, Dead Horse Morris, Gong Scourers Manic Morris, Kettle Bridge Clogs (who seemed to have got an extra, very small, dancer bopping along, in team colours!) Click the photos for video links for each team (not necessarily the same dances as at Whitstable, just what I could find).


Dancing continued down by the sea - very sunny but also very cold, with a strong wind.

Clerical Error Border Morris at The Raven

To make up for not going on the Plough Tour this year (snow stopped me driving to Kent on Friday), we went to Llanarmon-yn-Ial where Clerical Error Border Morris Dancers were at The Raven this afternoon.


Denise having a good time -


One rule for taking photos of morris dancing - always try to use the pub as the backdrop, not the car park!

Last of the Morris Men?

A great video documentary by aRCe Productions - click here to view.

Thanks Brian!

We play but the young don't dance - Yomiuri Shimbun article

It seems Hartley Morris Men have been inundated with press reporters recently. Brian sent me a scan of this clipping today. I've asked him for a higher resolution scan, so my friends in Japan can read it.

笛吹けど若者止らず is the headline (if you do not have Japanese/Chinese character fonts switched on via your computer's regional and language settings, that might just look like a random jumble of characters). I suspect it is a pun on this - fuefukedomoodorazu - "We have piped unto you and ye have not danced". 若者 = youth/young people/lads etc.

More on Morris dancing - on Time.com

Click this link to see my cousin Brian on Time.com. The wallhanging behind him in the scenes where he is speaking direct to camera is my quilt, "Dancing Colours". Morris dancing, if you didn't know already, is fun!