Autumn (Fall ) & Winter
During these seasons, the Morris takes on a different, more earthy character - indeed, Cecil Sharp (a key original morris dance collector) called it degenerate! This is when the Vancouver Morris Men perform dances from the border counties between England and Wales (commonly referred to as the Welsh Border).
For these dances, we wear dark clothes and rags and have our faces disguised. The Welsh Border dances are probably the oldest variants of the Morris. Nearly all the dances consist of vigourous stepping and powerful stick clashing accompanied by a loud band comprising melodeon, banjo, fiddle, whistle, drums, triangle, trombone and tuba.
The Sources
The Silurian Border Morrismen of Ledbury, Herefordshire
The Silurian Border Morrismen were the first Morris Ring side to concentrate solely on Welsh Border morris, which they have done since 1979. They were formed in 1969, and initially performed mainly Cotswold dances with the occasional Welsh Border dance thrown in. In 1979, due to fact that members Dave Jones and Keith Francis had unearthed several more Border dances, Silurian changed their kit, blacked up and converted to Welsh Border exclusively.
Old Wonder Not for Joes of Putley Mill, Herefordshire
Old Wonder Not for Joes were formed in 1988 by Dave Jones when he left Silurian. In 1986, Dave Jones discovered an old Pershore dancer, Bill Scarrott, from whom he had collected sufficient information to assemble a suite of Pershore dances. These were the dances on which Old Wonder concentrated. Bill Scarrott died in 1986, shortly after Dave Jones met him. Dave Jones died in 1991. Following Jones's death, Old Wonder effectively disbanded.
"The Roots of Welsh Border Morris" by Dave Jones
This booklet, published in 1990, contains many of Daves Jones's Border Morris notes.
The Morris Ring archives
These archives contain hundreds of pages of historic information on Welsh Border morris, including newspaper clippings and instructional details by (amongst others) Cecil Sharp, Russel Wortley, Geoff Mendham, Ella Mary Leather, Lionel Bacon, E.C. Cawte, Lavender Jones, Maud Karpeles, P. Davenport, John Kirkpatrick, Roy Dommett, Jack Hargreaves and Dave Jones. However, at the time of review by the VMM, Jones's notes from his meetings with Scarrott had not been included.
The Dances
The Welsh Border dances we currently perform fall into three main categories - those sourced (initially) via Silurian, those sourced (initially) via Old Wonder, and those sourced more recently. Since Old Wonder concentrated on the Pershore dances, and Dave Jones modified some of his Pershore concepts after meeting Bill Scarrott, Old Wonder's Pershore sources have been given priority over those of Silurian.
We are particularly proud of our own dance, "After the Ball was Over". This dance was assembled from snippets of dance moves and tunes gleaned from Dave Jones' notes and cassette recordings made during his interviews with Bill Scarrott. Many thanks to Dave's widow, Annie, for letting us go through Dave's files during the summer of '99, and to our 1999-2000 season Border Instructor, Innis Pencarrick, who put it all together to create a great dance with a real traditional "feel".
We have been further influenced by the comments of old Pershore residents George Collins and Sam Dufty who we met on our 2001 England Tour and, as kids in the 20's, used to follow the Pershore Not-for-Joes around the town.
Our more recent dances were the result of encounters with the Leominster Morris (of Leominster, Herefordshire) who were filmed performing Tom Poston's Stick Dance at the Kirklington Lamb Ale in the 90s. Also, we were lucky enough, in 1990, to have a Welsh Border morris workshop in Vancouver run by John Kirkpatrick (the founder of Shropshire Bedlams) - we have been working of one or two dances he showed us.
During these seasons, the Morris takes on a different, more earthy character - indeed, Cecil Sharp (a key original morris dance collector) called it degenerate! This is when the Vancouver Morris Men perform dances from the border counties between England and Wales (commonly referred to as the Welsh Border).
For these dances, we wear dark clothes and rags and have our faces disguised. The Welsh Border dances are probably the oldest variants of the Morris. Nearly all the dances consist of vigourous stepping and powerful stick clashing accompanied by a loud band comprising melodeon, banjo, fiddle, whistle, drums, triangle, trombone and tuba.
The Sources
The Silurian Border Morrismen of Ledbury, Herefordshire
The Silurian Border Morrismen were the first Morris Ring side to concentrate solely on Welsh Border morris, which they have done since 1979. They were formed in 1969, and initially performed mainly Cotswold dances with the occasional Welsh Border dance thrown in. In 1979, due to fact that members Dave Jones and Keith Francis had unearthed several more Border dances, Silurian changed their kit, blacked up and converted to Welsh Border exclusively.
Old Wonder Not for Joes of Putley Mill, Herefordshire
Old Wonder Not for Joes were formed in 1988 by Dave Jones when he left Silurian. In 1986, Dave Jones discovered an old Pershore dancer, Bill Scarrott, from whom he had collected sufficient information to assemble a suite of Pershore dances. These were the dances on which Old Wonder concentrated. Bill Scarrott died in 1986, shortly after Dave Jones met him. Dave Jones died in 1991. Following Jones's death, Old Wonder effectively disbanded.
"The Roots of Welsh Border Morris" by Dave Jones
This booklet, published in 1990, contains many of Daves Jones's Border Morris notes.
The Morris Ring archives
These archives contain hundreds of pages of historic information on Welsh Border morris, including newspaper clippings and instructional details by (amongst others) Cecil Sharp, Russel Wortley, Geoff Mendham, Ella Mary Leather, Lionel Bacon, E.C. Cawte, Lavender Jones, Maud Karpeles, P. Davenport, John Kirkpatrick, Roy Dommett, Jack Hargreaves and Dave Jones. However, at the time of review by the VMM, Jones's notes from his meetings with Scarrott had not been included.
The Dances
The Welsh Border dances we currently perform fall into three main categories - those sourced (initially) via Silurian, those sourced (initially) via Old Wonder, and those sourced more recently. Since Old Wonder concentrated on the Pershore dances, and Dave Jones modified some of his Pershore concepts after meeting Bill Scarrott, Old Wonder's Pershore sources have been given priority over those of Silurian.
We are particularly proud of our own dance, "After the Ball was Over". This dance was assembled from snippets of dance moves and tunes gleaned from Dave Jones' notes and cassette recordings made during his interviews with Bill Scarrott. Many thanks to Dave's widow, Annie, for letting us go through Dave's files during the summer of '99, and to our 1999-2000 season Border Instructor, Innis Pencarrick, who put it all together to create a great dance with a real traditional "feel".
We have been further influenced by the comments of old Pershore residents George Collins and Sam Dufty who we met on our 2001 England Tour and, as kids in the 20's, used to follow the Pershore Not-for-Joes around the town.
Our more recent dances were the result of encounters with the Leominster Morris (of Leominster, Herefordshire) who were filmed performing Tom Poston's Stick Dance at the Kirklington Lamb Ale in the 90s. Also, we were lucky enough, in 1990, to have a Welsh Border morris workshop in Vancouver run by John Kirkpatrick (the founder of Shropshire Bedlams) - we have been working of one or two dances he showed us.
- The Herefordshire Dances
- Brimfield
- Dilwyn
- Colwall Change Set (a Silurian original, based on Upton figures)
- Black Ladies Aston (a Silurian original, based on White Ladies Aston figures)
- Tom Poston's Stick Dance (Leominster)
- The Gloucestershire Dances
- Bromsberrow Heath
- The Worcestershire Dances
- Evesham
- Pershore
- Girl With the Blue Dress On
- Black Boy
- John Peel
- The Ash Grove
- Monkey Cocked his Tail Up
- Sailor's Polka
- The Handkerchief Dance
- After the Ball was Over
- White Ladies Aston
- Upton-on-Severn
- The Stick Dance
- The Handkerchief Dance
- The Shropshire Dances
- Much Wenlock
- Cleehill
To see more examples of us performing dances, please explore our Media Archive
