The Morris Federation

The UK's largest association of morris and traditional dance teams

  • About us
    • Who we are
    • What is morris?
    • Our history
    • Committee
    • Constitution, standing orders and resolutions
    • Equality Statement
    • Joint Morris Organisations (JMO)
  • Join us
    • Benefits of membership
    • Join or renew
  • Resources
    • AGM and day of dance
    • Archive and library
      • Library books
      • Instructional videos
    • Coronavirus Covid-19
    • Face Paint FAQ
    • FedExtra
    • Morris Matters
    • Notation library
    • Related links
    • Sponsorship, Grants and Bursaries
    • Teamfinder
  • News
  • Events
  • Merchandise
  • Teamfinder
  • Members
  • Contact us

5 November 2020

Morris in the Museum in Bedford

It is not often Morris dancing can be said to have made history but Redbornstoke Morris (1976-2018) and Bedfordshire Lace Morris (1981-2016) are the focus of a new display at The Higgins Museum in Bedford.

The display uses the the story of these two sides to explore the nature of “Tradition” and how traditions can change over time.  Titled Innovation & Tradition: 40 years of Morris, the display is on until October 2021 so there will still be time to see it after the current lockdown. The display was curated by Chas Leslie, a volunteer at The Higgins who also danced with Redbornstoke Morris for 20yrs.

Both based in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, Redbornstoke Morris created their own style of dances, and Bedfordshire Lace was the first women’s morris team in Bedfordshire. The display contains items various items donated or loaned by members of the two teams including the rag coat Jenny Howard wore as the Bedfordshire Lace Fool and the smock Jerry Griffiths wore as Fool in the early years of Redbornstoke Morris.

See the exhibition: Innovation & Tradition: 40 Years of Morris at the Higgins Museum, Bedford:  https://www.thehigginsbedford.org.uk/Exhibitions/40_Years_of_Morris/

Redbornstoke & Bedfordshire Lace Exhibition Higgins Museum 2020

Filed Under: Current Members, News Tagged With: ampthill, archive, bedford, bedfordshire lace, Cotswold, dancing, harris museum, history, morris, redbornstoke

28 July 2020

Archive Film of Morris Dancing in Horsham 1989

West Sussex Morris Unwrapped – Morris in Horsham 1989

MF AGM Horsham 1989On 21st July, Screen Archive South East, in collaboration with partners at the West Sussex Record Office, made available a variety of archives. Through their portal, called West Sussex Unwrapped, they present a film that features a festival of Morris Dancing through the sleepy streets of Horsham in 1989, while the West Sussex Record Office blog features records, photos and historical information about Morris Dancing in West Sussex. The film and the blog will be available throughout the summer.

The film shows teams from all over the country arriving at the market town and dancing their way through the streets and squares on the occasion of  The Morris Federation’s AGM and weekend of dance in 1989, hosted by local team Magog.  See: Male and Female teams of Morris Dancers and folk dancers perform their routines in the town centre in Horsham (film 4063)

Dancers featured in the film include teams still going strong today, including Jackstraws Morris and Windsor Morris

Find out more about: Screen Archive South East and the West Sussex Record Office.

The same film is also on the BFI player at: Watch Morris Dancers invade Horsham 1989 – BFI Player

Filed Under: Current Members, News Tagged With: archive, horsham

16 January 2018

Morris Matters Archive

The official archive of Morris Matters, dating back to January 1978, is now available to view online and/or download from our resources section.

Included in the archive is a special collection of articles written by Roy Dommett, which were originally published in Morris Matters.

Please note that Morris Matters is not published by The Morris Federation and is not part of our membership package, so to subscribe, send a review or other contribution, please contact Beth Neill using the contact form on the Morris Matters archive page.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: archive, dancing, Morris Matters, publication, resources, Roy Dommett

12 April 2016

Legacy morris

Girls who took part in the Abingdon Old English Revels in 1910 - photo courtesy of Duncan BroomheadIs it just this winter, or are lots of the old ‘greats’ dying off? Maybe it’s just an age thing. We dutifully made our wills when we married (both been through divorce so it seemed good advice), naming parents and siblings and percentages of total inheritance etc. And sat back feeling pleased with ourselves.

But we have never given a thought about what will happen to the morris ‘stuff’ that we have. When I think hard about it, I realise that although our families know that we are mad about morris, they may not feel the need to pass on any photos or paraphernalia to one of the Morris Orgs. There was a recent incident of a notable person within the tradition who died and their family were found to be turfing all their books into a skip. Fortunately, someone within the morris happened by and was able to perform a rescue mission.

You may not think that you have much of interest to anyone else, but your photographs of dancing over the years, old kit, bits of notation, collections of badges, old programmes, musical instruments etc, may be worth considering. It’s all much less traumatic if you leave instructions.

The Federation is happy to store items in the archive, or redirect them to a more suitable home so that they are not lost to future researchers into the morris.

We had our first legacy donation last year too, to start a research project on women in the morris, such a lovely way to celebrate a life spent dancing.

So, why not stop and think about death for a moment, and let your family know what you want to happen to your morris ‘stuff’. Don’t let it end up in a skip. And maybe mention a legacy donation.

And here’s to the next life where there will be no creaking joints, no hangovers and no team politics!

Filed Under: News Tagged With: archive, donation, legacy, research, wills

News

Practices go online

6 January 2021

Leeds Morris Men go digital

26 December 2020

Mummers Plays online

24 December 2020

Upcoming Events

  1. Talk – How to make a beast – Geoff Roberts (LIVE on Zoom)

    Saturday 23 January @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  2. Workshop – Cotswold Morris – Bucknell Jig (LIVE on Zoom)

    Sunday 24 January @ 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
  3. Talk – Morris from the Archives – Jameson Wooders (LIVE on Zoom)

    Saturday 30 January @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
  4. Workshop – North West – Lockdown Dance for 4 – Chinewrde Morris (LIVE on Zoom)

    Sunday 31 January @ 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
  5. Workshop – Virtual Ceilidh Calling Masterclass (LIVE on Zoom)

    Saturday 6 February @ 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm

View All Events

Connect with us

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright ©2016 · The Morris Federation · Website by: Picablue